Date:         Wed, 07 Jun 95 13:44:16 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Boiling radiator light etc.

On Wed, 7 Jun 95 13:31:49 CDT Smith Woody said:
>I have a slightly different problem with my '86 Camper GL.
>My coolant light comes on every now and again although the coolant
>temperature is, evidently, perfectly normal.  The coolant reservoir is full,
>even over the tube to the overflow tank.

there is a tech bulletin on this (somewhere out on the gopher files) ...
it's not just the vanagons, but all vw models for certain years (and 86 is
one of them). one "cure" is to check the ground connection on that big
connector in the dash pod, where the circuit foil is connected to the wires.

on my 88 bus, i think it's the coolant level sensor itself that's gone a bit
wacko. sometimes it will come on, and if i shut the engine off, and restart,
the light will not come back on. but today, in traffic, i had to swerve
suddenly to avoid a nameless/faceless idiot (you know the kind: cut over in
front of you to make a turn immediately). and what-the-hell? the coolant light
came on and started blinking. ?? so i check the tanks and everything is ok.
i think the coolant level sensor is gone bye-bye (or i need to rattle the
dash pod wires again).

>I lose virtually no coolant over extended periods of time.  I've not added a
>total of a quart in over a year.

yup. that's about my loss rate. i'm still not used to this water-cooled stuff
... are we SUPPOSED to be losing coolant at all?? do LARB's (Large American
Road Barges) lose coolant? do Honda's lose coolant?  since i can't find any
leaks/seeps/weeps/drips/drops and there isn't any white smoke out the
tailpipe, and it's a very small amount ... i'm guessing it's just evaporating.

>Now if I could just find a CHEAP (but reasonably conscientious) place in the
>Washington, D.C., area (preferably Virginia suburbs) for some relatively
>minor body work, I'd be a happy camper.  I can't believe they want almost
>$500 to fix that little ding!

see if you can find a company called Press-a-dent (or something like that).
supposedly they do good, non-invasive surgery and it doesn't hurt the wallet
so much.

joel