Date:         Sat, 27 Apr 2013 08:20:33 -0700
Reply-To:     Tom Carchrae <carchrae@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tom Carchrae <carchrae@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      coolant overflow fears and thoughts
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My van has been mostly dormant over the winter - although I have been
driving it every week or two, partly for fun, partly to ward off angry
lifter noises.  It seems mostly happy.

But...

I drove for 2 hours on the highway/city traffic yesterday.  Van was
generally awesome.  I was trying to get somewhere in a hurry, so was
perhaps a little heavy on the gas pedal - not that this helped too much, a
racing van it is not (an 84 - 1.9L).  Temps were fine all during the day,
(I have an aftermarket temp gauge, which was stuck at about 190oC for most
of the trip)

When I got home I noticed the overflow tank nearly, well, overflowing.  I
thought, well, it is just hot, let it cool, then check it tomorrow.  When I
checked the next day, the overflow level was the same (nearly overflowing
out the tiny air hole in the top).  The pressurized expansion tank had
perhaps an inch or so of air in the top of it.

I have a theory, yet to be checked, that the overflow to expansion tank
tube has a leak/crack in it.  I don't see any leaks, but I wonder if sends
coolant down and, instead of drawing coolant back, it sucks air in
somewhere.  Or, rather, that this is happening somewhere on the cooling
system.  The pressure tank is holding pressure (it releases it when I
unscrew it), so where else could this happen?

Am I dreaming that a $5 hose could fix my problem?  I'll certainly try it
as a solution.  Or is this a head gasket job.  I had a lot of scares last
summer in that department (on a 4000km trip) with a few coolant pipe
explosions - but these seemed resolved when I switched to a new pressure
cap on the expansion tank.  decent mechanic in regina didn't think it was
head gaskets because no overheating.

I should note that before this trip I blew nearly $2k on a mechanic who put
the previous new cap on it - sigh!

So, I'll drain the overflow tank today, bleed the radiator (which I assume
must need bleeding unless my engine is shrinking) and pour it back into the
expansion tank.

Also, how clean should your coolant look?  I've done a CO2 sniff test on
it, but it still looks a bit filthy to me.  Granted, I did perform two
coolant pipe operations where I 'captured and recycled' the coolant - as
you would on the side of the road.

So yeah, I guess it looks like I need to schedule some time to do my head
gaskets.  Or new engine.  Or I just keep creeping around and shuffling
fluid/bleeding air.

What would you do?  Time is a bit scarce for me at the moment.  Never done
a head gasket job - but I have some new fuel lines I'd like to install and
why not take off a few more bolts and change the gaskets, huh?.. :)

Thanks,

Tom