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Date:         Fri, 17 Jan 1997 22:58:07 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Charles D Earl <cdearl@cats.ucsc.edu>
Subject:      Re: Help! Flashing Temperature LED

On Tue, 14 Jan 1997, Todd Francis wrote:

> Ron Pascal wrote: > >=20 > > This morning it was colder than most (25=B0F). Starting my 88' Westy > > (water-cooled) was no problem however the Temperature LED would not sto= > p > > flashing. > >=20 > > This was with the engine still cold. > >=20 > > I shut the engine and checked the fluid and the pump belt which both > > checked fine. The temp gauge did not indicate that the engine was > > overheating so I decided (since I was already late) to drive to work. > > The entire way the Temp LED kept flashing although the engine was not > > overheating. > >=20 > > When I got to work, I shut the engine, waited a minute and started the > > engine again. This time the Temp LED stopped flashing. > >=20 > > Has anyone else experienced this problem? Could there be air in the coo= > ling > > system? > >=20 > > Help would be very much appreciated... > >=20 > > rp > > 88' Westy > > > Hi all: I had a similar problem with my 85 westy but it also affected my > gas guage and the temp guage, I think(this happened quite awhile back). > The problem was a little electronic gadget that looked like a diode or > something, in the dash that the vw mechanic called a vibrator. He seemed > to think it was a common problem. Maybe someone can elaborate.=20 > Todd Francis > Yes, I've experienced this also. It affected both my gas and temp gauges. They keep reading higher until I thought I was overheating. Actually its happened twice. Each time replacing the "vibrator" also referred to as the "voltage stabilizer" in both Haynes and Bentley. You pull off your instrument panel cover, release all the light and flasher units from the panel and then disconnect the wiring harness and the speedo cable. You can now completely remove the instrument panel as a unit. The stabilizer is on the back, it is a thin black square about 1/4" x 1/4: with 3 little prongs that plug into the ribbonlike circuit board. There is a little screw which holds the unit to the board. You have to carefully bend the prongs with needle nose pliers to fit them in. I paid $7.25 for this unit. I don't know why I had to do it twice, but it did work each time perfectly. The second time took only about 1 hr total. There are pictures of this in both of the above manuals. Not hard to do at all, definitly a money saver (like probably 50-$100). The water light should only blink for about 3 seconds when the ignition is on (before starting).

Hope this helps.--Charles, '83.5 Westy in Santa Cruz


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