Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 06:40:27 -0400
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Cetin Seren <cseren@fore.com>
Subject: what? electro-waterPump??? was: Re: Oil temp's up again
I've been following this topic with interest.... Depending
on the cost, a generic water pump _may_ be a good idea.
advantage(s):
water flow across the engine jacket, thru the radiator
would be independent of engine speed -- same issue as
electric vs. pulley-operated cooling fans (and one _less_
belt).
one could potentially get rid of the thermostat -- just
have a few different speeds in the pump
probably cheaper than the approx. $200 VW of A charged
me when the last water pump broke down.
can be placed anywhere in the circuit, making replacement
possibly easier (the VW dealer also charged me $200 for
labor -- grrrrr).
can be cascaded for hotter climates
a couple of considerations, though:
1) what makes us think it's going be longer lived than the $200.00 made-of-gold
pulley-driven waterpump?
2) are we going to start going through alternators now that we've added the load
of a water pump to our electrical system? (Need to know the flow
requirements
to make a back-of-the-envelope calculation). -- Maybe they should start
building
water-cooled alternators :-)
Cetin
One interesting thing: the '82 diesel westy is the one with the least
engine heat problems among our 3 VW bricks -- how come??? (It has been
suggested that ours might have a stuck thermostat -- oh well)...
At 04:20 PM 6/24/96 -0500, you wrote:
> I've recently leaned that both Ford and Chevy have produced 12 volt
>motor driven water pump equiped vehicles, so the duty cycle should be
>just what water cooled VW boxes need, and the volume is supposed to be
>considerably higher. Speed shops sell a "universal" equivelant.
Interesting. How much do they want for one?
> So, if we added a powerful 12 volt water pump, should we trigger it with
>an engine heat sensor and use a check valve to avoid having it drive some
>of its flow backward through the inadequate stock VW pump at idle? Then
>again, perhaps we could just remove the stock pump while saving the
>plumbing access. Thoughts? I can hardly wait to hear that I shouldn't
You'd need to bypass the stock water pump -- it would be getting in the way
of the water flow (unlike the cascaded electrical waterpumps, the mechanical
pump would dictate the flow and really mess things up -- the electrical pumps
would actually help each other as long as they are 'almost' identical)
You'd have to run the pump continuously -- just let the mechanical thermostat
& the fan thermostat regulate the flow path & temps. (if you quit running
the pump continuously you risk creating hot spots).
Cetin Seren Direct: 412-635-3479
Software Development Engineer Main: 412-772-6600
Outbound Technology Group fax: 412-635-3350
FORE Systems, Inc. email: cseren@fore.com
Research Park, 5800 Corporate Drive URL: http://www.fore.com
Pittsburgh, PA 15237-5829