Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:26:52 -0500
Reply-To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Head problems? was <no subject>
In-Reply-To: <1322536890.26966.YahooMailRC@web180311.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
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Just re-posting with a subject...
At 10:21 PM 11/28/2011, Evan Mac Donald wrote:
Ok list, I need some help. I need somebody to
tell me the symptoms my poor '85 1.9 WBXer is
suffering from are not from a cracked head. Lie
to me if you must. So, to explain. My van
(Butternut) has always self-bled her cooling
system very quickly, and easily. No fights, no
real fussing, just a couple of top-offs after a
couple of careful hot-and-cold cycles, and Viola!
Done. This is from several waterpumps, hose
replacements, damage repairs, etc. Always bleeds
fast, after the damage is gone. The last run we
made in beasty was at the end of September, to
Busses by the Beach Bus Boo, in western Michigan.
Lots o' fun. I live in eastern Michigan, so the
trip is only about 180 miles. No big deal. Done
the trip LOTS of times, and in much worse
weather. This time, about 5 miles from being
home, the heater stops working, and the temp gage
maxes out. Quickly. And the coolant level light
blinks. The weather at the time was about mid
50's, in °F. UH-oh. not good. I stop, and the
light stops blinking, and the gage returns to
normal. Huh? Check the tanks, and both are full
of air. Now, my reservoir tank never has bubbles,
after bleeding. So , I fill the tanks, and start
home again. Cycle repeats. First I have heat,
then none, and the gage does its dance. It is the
old style gage, that maxes out the temp needle,
if the low-level alert light comes on. I have
tried several times, over the intervening time,
to get the bubbles to go away, and my heat to
return. I completely emptied and refilled the
entire system, with a pressure flush in between.
I even unhooked the belt from the water pump, and
spun it with an angle grinder, to get things
moving around, without actually running the
engine, and risking further damage. This will
really only clear the heater cicuit, but that is
a big section of the problem, all on its own. No
joy. My thought is that I have cracked a head,
into a coolant passage. I do not want to do a
head if that's not whats wrong, but I do not see
any other solutions for this problem. My question
is: are there any other likely causes of this? Or
am I going to have to replace a head? TIA, and I
hope everybody is over their tryptophan
overdose... Evan Mac Donald "...in the absence
of facts, myth rushes in, the kudzu of history." -Stacy Schiff
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