Date:         Sun, 9 Aug 1998 14:33:25 -0700
Reply-To:     t bill <tbil@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         t bill <tbil@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Trip Report - hot weather mod
Comments: To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Just back from my 3000 miles summer trip.  From HOT Texas to Hot LA,
to hot MS, to Cincinati, to Michigan.  Several side trips from there,
including Chicago.  Then down to St. Louis, back to MS, LA, and HOT
Texas.

The 83.5 Westy ran great the whole way.  Noticed that the water temp
gauge might as well be the outside air temp.  At 70 degrees it is
below the LED.  At 80 it is on it.  At 90 it is above it.  And at 100+
it goes 3/4 of the way up to where the high speed fan comes on.  The
fan comes on as needed to keep it from going higher. [Not that I can
hear it over the road noise.  I can just barely hear it if I'm driving
down the smoothest of highways. Amazing considering how loud it really
is.]

Sooo, I don't really like the idea of running it that hot.  I figure
why not install a switch on the dash that manually turns on the fan
and leaves it on.  At least until the temp comes down a ways.

The job was a snap.  Too easy, I thot.  Tested it out and it brought
the temp down nicely.  Left MI and headed south.

Just one tiny problem.  Seems the German auto engineers (or what
passes for one there) never really considered that the Vanagon would
be in 100+ heat.  Usually, the only time that fan comes on is if you
are sitting or going slow in traffic.  So these guys figure that if it
is really hot, lets turn off the AC while power is going to the fan!
So I flip the switch to cool the engine and in a few minutes the
engine is cool but I'm boiling over!

In St Louis I take off the control unit and figure out what all those
wires do.  None of them is what I want.  So now, back in Texas, I'll
trace the wire from the compressor back and see where the cut off box
is.

Can anyone save me some time and tell me where it is?
It's plenty hot working on the van today.

TBill
83.5 Westy
Now 149k
(for sale)
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