Date:         Wed, 20 Aug 97 14:02:26 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Where is Coolant Temperature Sender?

On Wed, 20 Aug 1997 13:02:12 -0500 you said:
>Today my temperature guage decided to quit. I've checked my Bentley but
>can't find where on our '86 Syncro Westfalia the sender unit is located
>. Would someone please help me?

i'm not 100 percent sure about the syncro, but on the non-syncro with that
same engine, there are TWO senders on the thermostat housing (which is up
in the left front corner of the engine compartment, actually just "outside"
the compartment, but you can see it (big black bump-knob thingie on the
large black coolant hoses on that side) from standing at the back of the
bus (hatch open, of course! :)

ok, now. one of the senders sticks off to the left side ... that's the BLUE
one for the brain/ECU/computer. the other one sticks out toward the front
of the bus and is SILVER in color (actually, only the base of the gizmo is
silver, but ...) and is the one that drives the gauge.

it's much easier to see from underneath, but you WILL get coolant in your
face, hair, eyes if you loosen it from under there. :( <the voice of
experience> it's a bitch to do from above (through the engine compartment)
though.

what do you need? a new sender, a new o-ring (get it anyway!), and some
towels and rags. there is a big C-clip that holds the sender in a "tube"
on the thermostat (the "tube" has a slot cut in it, for the c-clip). you
need to remove the electrical connection (press down on that silver wire
across the long side of the connection ... just like the fuel injectors ...
that springs the wire outwards from the sides of the connector and lets
you pull it off. it's harder to press than it looks). or you might choose
to leave the connector connected, so you'll have something easier to pull
on ... but it's gonna get pretty messy really quickly when you pull that
thing out ... about a cup or so of coolant is coming out.

which brings up another point: wait OVERNIGHT before you do this!!! that
coolant is still hot after six hours!!! <again with the Voice of Experience>
and it is NOT fun to have hot coolant on your skin. :(

... awright, remove the connector, remove the c-clip, pull the sender out,
get coolant in your hair and on your clothes (wear some eye protection!) ...
now, you need to stick your finger into the "tube" to kinda clean it out and
make sure the old o-ring came out with the old sender ... cause it doesn't
always come out. you might wipe around inside the "tube" with a rag to
remove any residue from the old o-ring or crud or whatever.

then just stick the new sender (with new o-ring attached) into the "tube"
and put the c-clip back in place and clean off the electrical connector
(cause i KNOW it got coolant on it!) and clip it back on.

total time? probably an hour or so ... looking, thinking, looking, crawling
under the bus, looking, cussing, etc. :) once you've done it a couple of
times, you can do it in about 15 minutes: looking, cussing, doing. ;)

oh, and the new sender costs only about $12 ($1 for the new o-ring!!).
good luck!
joel