Date:         Wed, 29 Jul 1998 12:54:51 -0400
Reply-To:     Rick Koller <rkoller@HELIX.NIH.GOV>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Rick Koller <rkoller@HELIX.NIH.GOV>
Subject:      Re: New Syncro Westy Purchase  and  belt/Drivetrain questions
Comments: To: "Cort, Joel" <Joel.Cort@USA.XEROX.COM>, Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
In-Reply-To:  <67E29010AC4BD111955E00805F0DBA317AA00A@station10.roch875.m
              c.xerox.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

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Joel et al,
        Congratulations! I love my syncro-westie. My words of wisdom for you (and
the rest of the List!) are concerning the jumping ps belt. Be careful and
to monitor the alternator light until you figure out why this is happening,
I can only guess that maybe the belt it binding up and getting pushed off
or its too loose and flying off. The reason to watch the alternator light
is this: I had a belt break (the A/C belt to be exact) and it knocked off
the other 2 belts, the alternator belt and the ps belt. The alternator belt
is also the waterpump belt and I was lucky to notice the alternator idiot
light had gone on and was able to stop quickly. The engine got hot real
fast and was blowing coolant out of the overflow tank pressure relief
holes. I was going about 70mph when the belt broke so  the engine was
mighty warm to begin with, I didn't loose too much coolant so I think I
escaped any  damage to the engine.  I let the engine cool down and as the
it cooled, it started sucking back coolant from the overflow tank and as it
continued to withdraw coolant back into the block  I added coolant to the
overflow tank. I added about 2 liters until it stopped sucking it in and
did a quick roadside radiator bleed to eliminate air bubbles in the system.
Then I drove on to the Baltimore Orioles baseball game I was headed for. I
also drove with the rear bleeder valve open for a few hours (the one on the
thermostadt housing) which I think helped purge any small pockets of air I
might have not gotten out in the roadside bleed. I did another radiator
bleed when the engine was nice and cold after the game.
        I think that you'll enjoy your new purchase and will learn to recognize
the various idosycracies of the beast .

Rick Koller
'90 syncro-westie
'91 autobox