Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 07:09:11 -0800
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: My Vanagon's blinking coolant light problem vs other
peoples'---it all blends together
In-Reply-To: <CAFnDXk1m3gnfMfGbWu86Q6rCNh56XAnQRW_dbLkUFwQ-w4DPwQ@mail.gmail.com>
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OK, I agree that the low coolant lights on Vanagons are good things, like
many have pointed out...they can save your engine... And we have these
cited episodes where indeed these things seem to have done that. But
nobody has bothered to post those episodes where the light comes on and
cuts a trip short when only the warning system is having issues. Nobody
mentions jumping out of the van at 2pm during a snow storm to toss
everything on the deck lid out to check the cause of the blinky-light and
find exactly nothing wrong, other than the low coolant warning system. How
many hours of stress do you suppose vanagon drivers have endured trying to
decide if the warning is valid or false? and what do you suppose the ratio
of false indications to actual low coolant problems is, in the overall
world of Vanagon land? Do you NOT go drive the van, in the hope that the
warning is real? or do you go with prior experience and ignore the blinker?
A warning system with little assurance of it being real, no good. I can
cite plenty of episodes where my low coolant light simply fooled me and
caused me problems that were just plain not there.
On Dec 13, 2014 4:50 AM, "Jim Felder" <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:
> David,
>
> I actually have, stashed away in my instrument spares, a Vanagon temp gauge
> with the capacitor repair performed by none other than you. I got it from
> you when I was having similar troubles which, unbeknownst to me at the
> time, would be magically solved as a by-product of my finally fixing my
> faulty turn signal wiring and the system's grounds.
>
> Now I guess it is finally time to install!
>
> Jim
>
> On Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 8:26 PM, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net>
> wrote:
> >
> > At 09:04 PM 12/12/2014, OlRivrRat wrote:
> >
> >> I have had 2 encounters recently with Vanagons that
> >> displayed the BlinkingCoolantLight@StartUp & Quite ByAccident on
> >>
> >
> > This is a common experience when the timing cap inside the gauge is
> > leaking but not quite enough to fail hard and just blink all the
> > time. Both the key on, wait, key off part and the sensitivity to
> > temperature and especially to humidity. Given the symptoms it's not
> > likely to be anything else. Van Cafe has the gauges for
> > tach-equipped vans and in a pinch I can fix them if you can't, or
> > can't get it done nearby.
> >
> > Yours,
> > David
> >
>
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