Date: Sat, 5 May 2012 16:59:32 -0700
Reply-To: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Back From Mothballing, Mystery Coolant Leak - bump
In-Reply-To: <4fa58732.47bfe00a.496b.ffffd5fe@mx.google.com>
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Oh, THANK YOU DAVID for increasing the number of things that I will
worry about.
The H-shaped "plastic bomb" thing -- I sure hope someone comes up with a
replacement part so I can just swap it in before mine blows. With my
luck the thing would decide to blow when I'm in the backcountry and out
of cell phone range.
For the expansion tank, uh I'll look for the warning signs. Are new
tanks available?
For the bleeder valve assembly at the front end of the engine
compartment, mine blew last year and I have this outrageously expensive
machined block of aluminum replacement. That, at least, should not fail.
Say, BTW, I followed your suggestion to pressurize the cooling system
with a bicycle pump. I didn't know that the nipple on the expansion
tank's cap was a one-way device. The connection between the pump and the
nipple is less than air-tight and so the gauge on the pump sagged back
to zero after every stroke. I thought it was showing pressure in the
cooling system.
And so I'm looking at a couple small leaks from where hoses are clamped
and wondering how or why I sprung so many leaks.
It wasn't until I loosened the cap on the expansion tank and heard that
hissing sound that I tumbled to the fact that I had probably been
putting a lot more than 10 psi into the cooling system. Happy I didn't
blow a gasket!
--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
Bend, Ore.
1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in
San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.
On 05/05/2012 01:01 PM, David Beierl wrote:
> At 01:12 PM 5/5/2012, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
>> This can't be good news.
>
> Think of it this way...it's time. Just like it's time -- *really* time
> -- for that H-shaped plastic bomb back by the pressure tank, and the
> pressure tank itself if it hasn't been replaced already. Since the
> H-thing is NLA, someone needs to start making up an equivalent from
> copper tubing or such. There's a metering hole in the middle of the
> thing, it's not complicated but not totally simple either. For the tank,
> look for internal stress cracks in the neck area and around the
> midsection flange. If you can't see through the tank to find the cracks,
> consider it toast.
>
> And when you're bleeding Mr. Quite Rightly after his new radiator,
> handle the bleeder valve in the engine compartment very very gingerly.
> That's another plastic fitting that's past its sell-by date and probably
> NLA.
>
> Yrs,
> d
