Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 23:40:59 -0400
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: No Coolant in Small Tank Behind License Plate-why it goes
down after filling the system.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Fresh water/coolant contains some amount of entrained air. After filling the
heating of the coolant will drive this air out and at some point it will
leave the system and be replaced with coolant in a properly operating
system. Anyone experienced with large boiler/industrial heating systems
knows about this and the use of air/vapor separators. It becomes more
obvious in the Vanagon since there is so much capacity compared to the size
of the expansion/overflow tanks.
This entrained air/oxygen is why systems that regularly have coolant added
end up with so much internal corrosion. Every time you add coolant water,
you add fresh oxygen. This is also one of the advantages of long life
coolants and why the auto/truck industry has went this way. New vehicle, get
the air/oxygen out of the coolant and let it be. In 5 years/100,000 miles it
will need a water pump, hose, heater core or maybe a head gasket anyway.
Don't believe this works! Ask anyone on this list that owns a house with
baseboard heat when the last was they changed the plain water in their
boilers and baseboards?
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Scott Daniel - Turbovans
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2012 2:56 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: No Coolant in Small Tank Behind License Plate
one suggestion..
fill your license plate bottle with whatever coolant mixture you use.
another is ...in my world, it takes up to 4 warm-up-cool down cycles for air
to get out, coolant to get in ..
I 'know' proper bleeding should make that not be so ..
but it is anyway, in my world.
I would never give someone a van back after touching the cooling system in
any way until I had seen it go through several warm-up cool down cycles.
Period.
re the smell...
it's always a good idea to smell in the left upper vent every time you park
the van, as any smells...like coolant, raw gas, or burning oil will be
readily apparent there.
At least LOOK around in the engine compartment..
there is always some 'residual burn off' affect...
coolant spilled on exhaust or the engine ....it shouldn't take 'too long'
though for that effect to go away.
When you have a vanagon worked on ...
it's not like 'oh, it's fine now, I don't have to think about it' ..
No ...it's the other way around...
"It was just worked on ..nothing counts until I see several successful
sorties go by ..
AND I've looked at the area worked on ...for tools left there, for loose
things not tightened ...etc. etc. etc. "
you know the old saying ....sometimes there isn't time to do it really right
the first time..
but there's always time to do it right later.
top up your license plate bottle to the full level line ...
look around the engine and under the van for any drips .
and really ....
the smart thing to do is check the cooling system for a few days after
having it opened up or coolant changed.
I always tell people..
it is normal that it may pull coolant out of the license plate bottle at
first ..for a few warm-up cool down cycles..
and guess what else..
what the shop explains to the customer to empower them to operate their van
successfully ..
is MORE IMPORTANT than the work itself !
in my world anyway.
< after all..........someone pays, they expect to get what they paid for.
There is no excuse for any shop to not produce that.>
Scott
www.turbovans.com
On 9/14/2012 9:59 AM, Donna Skarloken wrote:
> Happy Friday - I just picked up my 87 Syncro last night from a
> reputable garage where I had the coolant system flushed and replaced.
> It was late and dark so I didn't check the coolant before I left the
> garage and had to drive about 25 miles home. All seemed well, except
> when I parked and shut off the motor I could smell coolant VERY strongly.
>
> This morning I was all set to go to work but decided to take a look at
> the coolant level behind the license plate because that strong coolant
> smell bothered me and I was unable to check it the night before. I
> discover NO coolant in the tank behind the license plate. I had to go
> to work so could not do a further inspection, and it was still dark out.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> I have not had any problem with low level or no coolant in this bottle
> prior to taking it to the shop to have the coolant flushed. (I left a
> voicemail for the mechanic; he is quite busy so I am not sure what
> time today that he will get back to me and of course I am stressed out
> about this since I spent a whole bunch of money at that shop this
> week. The shop does specialize in Vanagons, otherwise I would not have
taken there).
>
> Thanks, and have a great Friday and weekend.
>
> Donna, 87 Syncro
>