Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2015 12:59:03 -0400
Reply-To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Re: The Vanagon cooling system.. it's counterintuitive.. (long
post)
In-Reply-To: <CAHTkEuLZWtSGODgRZOqo3gax+DjZWfE6jpERZujn-uh4FAg5Tg@mail.g
mail.com>
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At 12:09 PM 9/7/2015, Don Hanson wrote:
>Thank you, I will keep your helpful  'offer' in mind, David... Â
>
>Â As I recall, you turn the key to run and that
>blinky light (coolant level warning in the
>center of the temp gauge, 84 chassis, who know
>what dash pod or sender... started
>blinking....stayed blinking....all day.
>Â Eventually I will make the time to try again to trace down the problem. Â
The question is, when you turn the key on does it
blink continuously, or does it blink for two or
three seconds, stop, and a few seconds later
start blinking again. If it stops and starts
again, your gauge and panel voltage regulator are
ok but a new-style coolant level controller is
triggering. If it simply starts and keeps going,
you need to check the voltage going to fuel and
temp gauges; but the strong likelihood (which we
can prove) is that there is a bad capacitor
inside the gauge, which can be repaired or the gauge replaced.
>Â I lose patience and get quite frustrated after
>a few times digging around under the dash pod,
>messing with brittle tabs of those switches and
>wires and foils. Â I am pretty proud of myself
>every time I take the dash apart when I don't
>make things worse, and I can still use my van
>after I am done...Not fixing the
>problem....well, there IS that, too....but not
>making it worse...that is something, eh?
Yes, it is.
>Â Â The coolant level warning *has* moved up on
>my "to do" list, but certainly not to the top, yet...
>cheers.. Â
Whenever you get there. I'm simply saying that
it's not a mysterious system, it has only a few
failure modes, and we can determine with
certainty what its problem is and cure it. If
your panel has a tach Van Cafe has replacement
gauges to fit it; if not, repairing the existing gauge may be more practical.
Yrs,
d
>On Mon, Sep 7, 2015 at 7:49 AM, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
>At 11:51 AM 9/6/2015, Don Hanson wrote:
> So I monitor my gauges, though I may make the time, after yesterday's
>scary coolant "incident", to give another try at making the Coolant Level
>blinky light on my dash function..
>
>
>The low-coolant system has three components: the
>overheat warning blinker in the temp gauge, a
>coolant level controller 191 919 376 or 191 919
>376A, and a pair of stainless steel pins
>swimming in the coolant pressure bottle. If
>you have an '85 or older you may have controller
>251 919 376 which is taller and should be replaced with one of the newer ones.
>
>I can say with assurance that together we can
>get your low coolant warning system working
>correctly. First thing to do is pull the tape
>off it, turn the key on (engine off) and
>describe in detail what the light does in the first fifteen seconds.
>
>Yours,
>David
>
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