Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 10:52:13 -0400
Reply-To: "Forhan, Thomas" <Thomas.Forhan@MAIL.HOUSE.GOV>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Forhan, Thomas" <Thomas.Forhan@MAIL.HOUSE.GOV>
Subject: More 91 Carat cooling, Radiator R+R Question
Went through a bunch of coolant stuff on my friend's overheating Carat
Sunday, thanks for all the hints.
We picked it up from his (now former) mechanic and drove it a block to my
house. He had just "flushed, filled and bled" the coolant: but we found the
overflow tank empty and the expansion tank half full. No visible signs of
leaks, so we more-or-less properly bled the system and it took two more
quarts of coolant.
I say more-or-less because we could not get the last bit of air out of the
expansion tank- the one on the left. Although highly regarded members of
the list stated that no - absolutely nada- air should be in that tank, our
best efforts at bleeding the system still result in the coolant level about
a quarter inch below the filler neck. I also noticed that the expansion
tank has a molded in "min" level about a third of the way down the tank.
Why would there be a minimum line if that tank is supposed to be
completely full? Comments, please!
Still, I do not think the system leaks. Since it cannot be tested, we
replaced the expansion tank pressure cap with a new one. A 12 PSI static
pressure system check held steady. After two hours of driving and cooling
down, the levels in the expansion and overflow tanks did not change so they
seem stable.
We also did a cold start system test with zero pressure. The indicator
slowly climbed to 8 PSI. This second test seems to indicate that it is
unlikely that any cylinder is pumping exhaust gases into the system. Still,
I'd like to try testing the coolant with the chemical that changes color
in the presence of exhaust gases, but I cannot find it at Trak or Pep
Boys, the only places open on Sundays around here. Anybody know what this
stuff is called, and where to buy it?
We looked at the fan wiring, and there was quite a bit of home grown wiring
done by the owner's (former) mechanic that effectively disconnected the
high range of the fan. We undid this and replaced the switch with a new
one, since we had it anyway. We then rebled again.
Though we fixed some problems, the temperature indicator still runs about
three quarters of the way up the gauge with the fan switching between high
and low "on" settings, which suggests to me that it actually is hot and not
a gauge error. This is considerable above my temp gauge, which normally
runs at the level of the coolant light.
Once school is out this week, his wife and four kids want to take the bus
1000 miles one way to visit grandma. The time pressure to solve this is on.
At this stage he wants to simply replace the radiator with a new one.
Of course, the Carat has a/c, and I read in the archives the trick about
not disconnecting the a/c heat exchanger, but simply unbolting it from the
radiator and suspending it while we drop the radiator. With the two of us
never having done replaced a radiator before, aided only by the Bentley,
would someone kindly give us an idea how long this might take?
Thanks,
Tom F.
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