Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2018 14:22:08 -0800
Reply-To: Toomey Douglas <drt@UOREGON.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Toomey Douglas <drt@UOREGON.EDU>
Subject: Re: Thermostats especially in colder weather
In-Reply-To: <DM3PR20MB07151DDC5BAFEDCC0F757DCBA01F0@DM3PR20MB0715.namprd20.prod.outlook.com>
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This has been an interesting thread. Two years or so ago a new radiator was put in my 87 van and after that the temperature gauge ran consistently below the red indicator light; prior to the new radiator it ran on the high side of the red light. This did not really concern me, until recently, when I noticed that it is harder to get the cabin warm in the winter.
I had mistakenly thought the new radiator was more efficient. From this thread, it seems that the thermostat may not be working well. Except for the slight lack of heat, is there any downside to my gauges indicating a cooler temperature for running?
Thanks,
Doug
> On Jan 4, 2018, at 1:24 PM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Of course in colder weather it will take longer for an engine to warm up. With a thermostat that cracks open to early it may never warm up. Most vehicles with small engine do not have 5 gallons of cold coolant available so even if a stat opens early they still warm up. Another reason is that the intake air used for combustion is also colder so a lot of cooling occurs just from intake air. This is a real problem with diesels as they do not have throttles so every piston stroke takes in the full volume of air and at idle there is just small amount of fuel burning to warm it.
>
> However, your engine still uses the mixing approach and the heaters alone have a lot capacity for cooling the engine. If the temp gauge seems to only go to some point lower than normal it could be a bad or lazy stat.
>
> Dennis
>
> From: Neil N [mailto:musomuso@gmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, January 4, 2018 3:12 PM
> To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
> Cc: vanagon <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
> Subject: Re: Thermostats especially in colder weather
>
> Thanks for that brand suggestion Dennis. Though I'm running a different VW engine in my Vanagon, I have to wonder if the thermostat is part of the reason my heater is barely adequate in cooler temps (e.g. 0ยบ C) Amazon also shows a "Mahle Original TX...." for my engine.
>
> Though my engine has a different cooling system routing, it seems that in colder weather, my temp gauge needle to take longer to get into position. I thought that was normal. Seems not.
>
> Neil.
>
> On Thu, Jan 4, 2018 at 11:52 AM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> ..... I just installed a Mahle TX 24 87D. First road test, WOW! Granted it is now ~50 here and sunny. Up to temp, gauge needle dead center in ~3 miles. I will be stocking these. And man the heat works again.
> You can get them here.
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D3DH4J6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
>
> Dennis
>
>
>
>
> --
> Neil n
>
> Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general
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