Just got back from a short trip to Manning Park for a 2 day camp at Lightning Lake - fantastic weather and great time. It is a 280 mile round trip so not a major haul but there is a fairly long climb up Alison Pass - 1,340 metres in elevation. The weather was great and the camping was good. The fridge worked well and the van drove nice loaded with 2 adults and 2 kids and all of our stuff. No oil or coolant leaks whatsoever! I did have a scare though when pulling into a stop for a break yesterday late morning. Came back to the van to grab a towel for one of the kids and noticed a wet spot under van - directly below the water pump - which felt wet and greasy like coolant. Pulled all the gear out of the hatch and opened up the back to find everything bone dry and deduced it was a car that parked before me that had a leak. A couple of things data wise now that I have an oil temp and oil pressure gauge - I am getting an oil pressure at idle when fully warm 260 F at 19 psi. And 36 psi at 4000 rpm with oil temp at 270 F - this was when climbing the pass. I found I drove around 3600 rpm which brought the oil temp to a shade under 260 F and running 33 to 34 psi of oil pressure. It was interesting to see how my driving could impact oil temperature - the higher the rpms - the higher the temp rose - which also would drop the oil pressure very slightly compared to the same rpm but with cooler oil temperature. I would be interested to know what is the oil temp range for other 2.1 Vanagons (with stock oil cooler) - to me I was surprised a bit that it was getting up in temp toward 280 F. Made a point not to lug the van (thanks Dennis) and upshift sooner and run the van a little harder up the hills than I typically do - in the 3800 to 4000 rpm range or so. Then cool things down by driving around 3500 on the flats and down the hills. Got home and unpacked - watered the gardens then went to check under the van - no oil or coolant drips and the coolant overflow tank was at the level it was prior to the trip - oil level also holding to what the level was before leaving. She passed the first trip of the year. Bruce 86 Syncro Westy |
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