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Date:         Mon, 17 Jun 1996 10:10:19 MST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Mike White" <MIKE.WHITE@law.utah.edu>
Subject:      Troubleshooting Overheating...

It's summer time once again (for those of us north of the equator), the heat has settled in, and the bus is getting cranky.

Following St. Muir's advice I checked everything he suggests and more. Here's my list thus far of things to check to stop that overheating. PLEASE add to the list. I am stumped in finding something else to do to cool off my bus:

* No crap in cooling fan * Belt to generator taut * Engine tuned properly: - valves adjusted - timing adjusted - fresh oil - carb adjusted (adjusted slightly rich to burn cooler) - good compression ( > 100 in my case) - all spark plugs are firing * Bottom and top of engine scrub washed clean. (It is shiny under there!) * Oil pressure release spring and valve clean and operational

I've done all the above and then took it to my mechanic buddy. He's quite good, but this time was very busy and basically did a 15 minute check, ran it on his emmissions tester, and said "Since you have a 1776cc and an advanced cam, it going to run warmer. Put air scoopes on the sides or drive without a deck lid"

Last summer it passed the dipstick test just fine when running in the evenings ~75-80 degrees, and would be slightly unhappy when it was +95 degrees in the day. I do have a slightly advanced cam, but it also has drilled out oil passages, and they heat didn't seem to affect it as much last year.

This year so far when driving I can feel it has a little less power when it gets hot, and after a drive I can touch the dipstick for about a half second and have to let go. It has that "hot smell" to it.

I hesitate to do this, but last year when I tried that Valvoline synthetic it went balisitc in the heat department. This time I strayed from my Penzoil SAE30, and put in Castrol 30. It's hot again. I don't want to blame it on the oil, but I'm stumped!?

I guess I could possibly get a thermometer and drop it down into the dipstick hole and get some real numbers.

Can anyone add to my list of things to check to see if I missed something obvious, and maybe the list will help out someone in need.

Thanks,

- Mike White

[Mail: mike.white@law.utah.edu - mwhite@eng.utah.edu] Visit my '57 23-Window VW BUS at: [http://cloud8.law.utah.edu/]


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