Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2017 08:01:56 -0800
Reply-To: Steven Johnson <sjohnso2000@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Steven Johnson <sjohnso2000@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Friday post, some van, some other...
In-Reply-To: <3DA7AA89-4D28-4AF8-A090-098CB99882D7@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
From day one, whenever my cooling system has been worked on by any
mechanic anywhere, be they VW dealership, independent shop or other, not
one has properly bled the system. I've had to check every time after
looking
right after receiving the key and sure enough, the overflow reservoir was
low
or empty. Top off, drive a few miles, check again. Top off... drive
some more
and top off. You can not count on anyone else to keep your system topped
off correctly. You must do it yourself.
Steven
91 Westy
On Fri, Dec 22, 2017 at 7:32 AM, Eric Caron <ecaron1@comcast.net> wrote:
> Hi Mark,
>
> Hang in there. It may be just what you think, good meaning
> service providers not doing a detailed job. I sure faced this a lot in my
> area. I even had a time when I had the van driven 10 miles home and when I
> called the shop with my observations they took it back by flat bed to redo
> the work. Ugh!
>
> Fingers crossed you get a easy long term fix.
>
> I’m sure others will have better mechanical suggestions. The white smoke
> is concerning but if you fill and bleed and all is well then perhaps just
> burning off spilled coolant.
>
>
> Eric
>
>
> On Dec 22, 2017, at 09:48, Marc Perdue <mcperdue@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Yeah, so, my van seems incapable of running longer than a week or two
> without something happening, dang it.
>
> You all may recall I had written about the red blinky light coming back on
> just after starting the van up. There was plenty of coolant, and the temp
> seemed fine, though I discovered it was leaking a small amount of coolant
> from the lower thermostat housing.
>
> I took the van into my local Volvo shop because they love working on vans
> and they're closer than 40 miles away. They fixed it and cleaned it up
> inside and out, an additional service I got for "free" from many visits
> getting vehicles repaired. The van looked and ran great . . . for a while.
>
> Last Saturday, I bought a "new" car to trim down my fleet of vehicles. I
> know, that doesn't make sense. I bought it so I could get rid of my POS BMW
> wagon, plus we're giving my wife's Volvo to my daughter. New car is a 1999
> Volvo V 70 R with 81K miles on it. Woot!
>
> Back to the van, I was driving the van up to the DMV to take care of stuff
> for the new car and I noticed that whenever I went uphill, big clouds of
> white "smoke" went billowing out the back. Well, I noticed this when I was
> about a mile from home, so I took it back home and grabbed a different car
> to go to the DMV. Sigh...
>
> I checked the van later and, while I can't see any signs of a leak, the
> coolant reservoir is empty and the expansion tank is down by about an inch.
> For the moment, I'm thinking that the shop, after replacing the thermostat
> housing failed to deal with any coolant having been lost during the work,
> and/or bleeding the system...
>
> There's no end with this van...
> Marc Perdue
>
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