Date:         Sat, 6 Sep 2014 12:40:28 -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: Flickering Oil Light at Idle [now white-knuckles]
Comments: To: "SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott )" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <540B588A.1060306@turbovans.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

On 09/06/2014 11:55 AM, SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott ) wrote:

"oil temp ..not hard for it to get up over 250F on long hot hills
...kinda scary. [...] Owners manual says to ease off or take a break it
oil temp gets too high I think I saw once."

It's happened to me more times than I like. Mid-afternoon, in the
neighborhood of 3-digits hot, no shade, pavement heated to molten lava
temperatures, the grade endless and steep, the road narrow and
shoulderless. No pullouts. No where to go. Except up. Up, Up! The up is
endless.

I watch the oil temp gauge climb higher and higher, edging to 250
degrees, and my only option is to back off throttle until I am at crawl
(1st gear, AT), which prolongs the climb and gives me a lot more time to
listen to the engine roar and dwell on thoughts of the cooling system
blowing.

The engine has a different sound depending on what gear it's in. 3-spd
AT. 3000 rpm has a much higher-pitched and seemingly louder roar in 1st
gear than it does in 2nd, where the pitch is lower and not as loud, and
3rd gear is much quieter.

That's probably me going faster than sound and ahead of the engine
noise. Yeah, that's it.

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
Bend, Ore.

On 09/06/2014 11:55 AM, SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott ) wrote:
> Of course, the percentage of vanagons with their original engine ...with
> say 150K to 200+K miles on it is, rather low.