Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2015 10:42:49 -0700
Reply-To: Vincent Dow <ianvincentdow@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Vincent Dow <ianvincentdow@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Logan Pass - blew the expansion tank temp sensor
In-Reply-To: <CA+rcdKWmmM5UaYDDAw+8TA2hthPy1fxX+TFYOFDkTBwGxZgs3w@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Your concern for the health and safety of the wildlife makes you my kind of
people!
I wish I could offer something to get you up and going again - but i don't
know that part of the country. If you were in L.A. I'd invite you to come
stay at my place.
about four years ago, I had a fuel hose split open under my van, near the
fuel pump. I had just started the engine, and walked around to close the
sliding door, when I see a stream of liquid - like a small dog peeing.
(sniff it) GASOLINE!
So I did my first ever fuel hose replacement right there on the sidewalk in
Montreal. Had to learn how to repressurize the fuel rail and all that. Got
it going again...
We went up north for the weekend. van was great.
Then, on the autoroute back to montreal, in thick traffic, and late to get
to an opera, a woman pulls up beside us and says (in French of course)
Ca coule en arriere votre vehicule! (she's pointing) IT'S DRIPPING BEHIND
YOUR CAR!
Vous AUREZ un feu! YOU'LL HAVE A FIRE!
I thought she said Vous AVEZ un feu ( YOU HAVE A FIRE!)
Imagine my shock, having just replaced a bunch of fuel lines, when a
passing car says YOUR VAN IS ON FIRE.
So I killed the ignition right there on the freeway, barked at Kathleen to
get in the driver's seat, and I jumped out, and pushed the van by myself
across two lanes of traffic to the side of the road.
When I got down to look at the drip, turned out to be coolant from a split
hose. I had an old bicycle inner tube with me, so I fashioned a quick
band-aid repair, and off we went . Even made the opera.
an interesting side note of this: I suspect that my subaru conversion is
not sufficiently heat-protected. I've had so many issues around the
headers, cat and exhaust. I've gone through two front-engine-crank seals
since 2009. they come out hard as ABS plastic. Two dry/cracked radiator
hoses, one timing belt...
anyway, best of luck. I know your pain.
Vinnie
On Thu, Jul 9, 2015 at 10:22 AM, Goetz Aust <gkaust@gmail.com> wrote:
> Rather an exciting day at the top of Logan Pass in Glacier National Park
> yesterday. Wanting to get an early start we arrived at the top of Logans
> Pass from the east and in the parking lot by 7AM on a beautiful clear
> morning. Nothing unusual going up the pass except for slightly high
> temperature.
>
> Steam and coolant spilling out the back and onto the parking lot. Tried to
> cleanup as best as possible using towels and paper towels. Within minutes
> the mountain sheep arrived to try to lick the coolant from the trail of
> coolant in the parking lot and about 50-100 yards of coolant on of road.
> Spent the next 1.5 hours chasing the sheep of the road from one end of the
> spill to the other until the Park Ranger arrived. Got many people upset
> wanting to take pictures until we explained what we were trying to do. The
> biggest ram, named Randy by the park ranger, stayed around for the next +4
> hours taking every opportunity possible to get back on the road to lick up
> the coolant. Apparently the animals are there every morning to check the
> parking lot for coolant and the ranger suggested that the animals knew our
> leak before we did just by smelling the air.
>
> After the ranger arrived I managed to find my problem - the temperature
> sensor had broken at the threads, and popped out of the expansion tank and
> I knew I wasn't going to be able to fix it especially without access to a
> phone or wifi. We were forced to have our Westy towed down the west side
> of the pass to Kalispell. We had hoped to get a flatbed truck but that
> didn't happen - nevertheless it was quite the ride going down the west side
> of the pass. Fortunately we have AMA (or AAA in the states).
>
> We are currently in Kalispell, the Westy (named Westley by my wife; based
> upon the movie line in Princess Bride "my one true love") is at the
> Autohaus in Kalispell. The part is on order and we hope to be on the road
> tonight.
>
> I'm not much of a mechanic, and surprised the shop didn't have a look at
> the engine. They seemed to be comfortable with my interpretation of what
> happened. They quoted me roughly $350 for work that needs to be completed
> which seemed excessive but it was explained to me that it will take some
> hours to ensure that all the air bubbles will need to be cleared. I'm
> hoping that there hasn't been any damage to the motor with such a sudden
> loss of coolant even though appeared to shut-down normally. I mentioned
> that the fan is pretty load on high but after receiving a quote of $600
> plus 4-5 days for the part I turned that down.
>
> We are still hoping to make to the west coast (Washington and Oregon). If
> you have anything I should be aware of, recommended repair shops on the way
> to Oregon, or things we should see let me know.
>
> Goetz
> 1987 Westfalia (Westley)
>
>
>
> ,
>
