Date:         Mon, 29 Apr 1996 11:04:50 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Ed Mellinger <meed@mbari.org>
Subject:      '84 wassertemp gauge

Hi Folks -

On my '84 van, the water temp gauge moves around a lot with changes in speed and 
load... from about one needle-width into the "normal" range when going down a 
long hill, to about one needle-width above halfscale when climbing a long hill 
or idling in traffic.   The total swing is probably 3-4 needle-widths (don't 
you just love a calibrated gauge?)  The engine warms up in a "normal" amount of 
time, compared to other watercooled things I've driven, so the thermostat is at 
least partly working.  Is this kind of temperature swing normal for the 
wasserboxer?

Concerning the engine that melted down while the water gauge happily read 
"normal"... I've always thought it ironic that the only engine gauge most cars 
provide (if they provide one at all) monitors a system that's tightly regulated 
by a thermostat.   The temp gauge spends thousands of soporific hours giving you 
one binary bit of info: "engine cold" vs. "cooling system OK"... then on the day 
your fanbelt breaks, you have just a few tens of seconds to notice the gauge 
heading into the red... after which it's Old Faithful time, or worse.  Now it 
seems they've managed to put the sender somewhere where it doesn't even SENSE a 
"loss of coolant accident"!  I know, the gauge does give clues about stuck 
thermostats, clogged radiators, etc., but not to the average driver.

Pardon the rambling,
Ed Mellinger
meed@mbari.org