Date:         Tue, 16 Jul 1996 10:39:44 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Shawn Wright" <VWNUT@smus.bc.ca>
Subject:      Re: Wasserboxer cooling (was:Re: aftermarket instrumentatio

On 16 Jul 96 at 7:50, James Cohen wrote:

> Interesting discussion, but it's apples and oranges.  Shawn, I think it's
> inappropriate to compare the cooling of your Turbo inline 4 Jetta with the
> WB.  There are stark differences in the oil cooling systems, the loads
> placed on the engines, and the way the engines are designed to deliver
> their power/torque.  It is all ancedotal info.
Agreed. What I was attempting to show was the correlation (or lack of) 
between oil temp and coolant temp under extreme loads. I now longer 
assume that the engine is back to normal just because the coolant 
gauge is, although with the aircooled w/b case, this is much less of 
a problem. Although the title is w/b cooling, I believe John also 
drives a diesel Westy, so the comparison may be more applicable in 
his case.

> I have found the cooling to be adequate on all the WB's that I have driven
> under all conditions UNLESS there was a problem with the cooling system (an
> all too frequent occurance).  One of the most common is/was the failure of
> the cooling fan switch.  When the cooling fan doesn't go on when it should,
> you get over heating (incidently, this was true with the GTIs/Jettas as
> well).  If you're over heating in 1st and 2nd I'd look into this.
My cooling fan does come on, usually only when creeping in traffic 
under normal driving, and normally shuts off after a minute or so. 
What concerns me is when driving for prolonged periods under load at 
low speeds (unlike in traffic) like on rough hilly roads, the system 
cannot seem to keep up and temps will continue to climb even with fan 
on almost continuously. Possibly the lower temp fan switch would 
help. I just don't like driving under load with temp gauge at 3/4 or 
above.

> But if you don't think the cooling system as stock is sufficient, you can
> add a fan switch and thermostat with a lower temp range.  VW makes
> replacements that just drop right in. Select the range that you want!
I plan to do this when I change coolant.

Shawn
'88 Westy 332k (Kyra)
'85 Jetta TD 350k (Jenni)