Date:         Tue, 15 Oct 1996 02:47:09 -0300 (ADT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         smitht@unb.ca (Tim Smith)
Subject:      Re: Temp Indicator On Dash rises to max: 84 Vanagon

>needs more gas".  This is contrary to my symptom which says that the
>engine is really hot (temp level is maxxed in the dashboard).

HEY RED ALERT, your engine is REALLY HOT, never ignore that gauge!! It's
really hot because you haven't enough coolant in it and it's sucked dry.
The LED is telling you the coolant is low.  You must have a huge airbubble
in that van. Bleed it again.  When you start it up and rev the engine can
you hear coolant rushing through the front heater core?  That's a good sign
of a bubble.  

I'm having fights with my sensors right now.  DPO tried AlumaSeal etc. to
seal holes in main steel rad 'hose' (not a hope!)  I've flushed with
Prestone SuperFlush and rinsed about 4 times but the temp sensor won't rise
above white zone even though engine is at normal temp. range.  It came back
some after the flush, but is functionally useless.  Likewise the level
sensor was acting up.  It's now back to normal. I'm running 50/50 Prestone.
If you drained the system totally, via the cyl. jacket bolts 2 gals coolant
just won't do it, go get another gal antifreeze and mix it up, then really
bleed it.

Once again, you DO have an overheat problem! Even with my screwed up gauge
reading way below normal it pegged full high in 30 secs while I was
refilling when I went up front to play with the bleed screw with the engine
running.  I know the engine feels cold, and you just started it etc, but
that gauge isn't lying, the tiny bit of water being circulated is boiling
hot.  Don't forget, you don't get any rad. heat up front until the
thermostat opens, up til that time the engine is recirculating the 1 gallon
or so it has in the block/heads and heater cores and it overheats FAST if
low especially since the pump hasn't enough to push anyhow.

Tim Smith