Date: Sat, 5 May 2012 21:31:23 -0400
Reply-To: John Meeks <vanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Meeks <vanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Back From Mothballing, Mystery Coolant Leak - bump
In-Reply-To: <4FA5D255.4040505@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
HA! ~ Not at all though it read as such. But a NEW cap in the
travelling parts bin. Priceless! Right in there with the spare fuel
pump, ignition switch, and spare engine.
John Meeks
'91 Vanagon MV
Northern Michigan
Vanagon Rescue Squad
www.vanagonauts.com
On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 9:22 PM, Rocket J Squirrel
<camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> John Meeks -- are you suggesting that one of the Top Five items a Vanagon
> drivers should carry are modified cap AND a bicycle pump?
>
>
> --
> 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 06:09 PM, John Meeks wrote:
>>
>> Rocket man, take an old cap and destroy the pressure/vacuum seals
>> inside the cap.You can then pump it up and read the gauge on the
>> pump.
>>
>> BTW this is one of the top 5 spares to carry.
>>
>> John Meeks
>> '91 Vanagon MV
>> Northern Michigan
>>
>> Vanagon Rescue Squad
>> www.vanagonauts.com
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 7:59 PM, Rocket J Squirrel
>> <camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> 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
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