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Date:         Tue, 6 Jul 1999 07:21:28 -0400
Reply-To:     Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Weird  over-heating problem, please advise!
Comments: To: CARY CHIANG <chiang1@USA.NET>

Based on all that you said, it sounds like a bum water pump.

G. Matthew Bulley Bulley-Hewlett & Associates www.bulley-hewlett.com Cary, NC USA 888.468.4880 tollfree

-----Original Message----- From: CARY CHIANG [SMTP:chiang1@USA.NET] Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 1999 6:12 AM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Weird over-heating problem, please advise!

Dear Listees: I recently purchased an '85 Westy that the PO had warned me had a tendency to overheat in traffic. I have owned several mid 80's vanagons and am quite familiar with their cooling system and Bentley procedures, but this one has me baffled. I 1st bled the cooling system per Bentley and got coolant flowing out of the radiator bleed screw okay. After 10-15 minutes of idling, the temp gauge climbs to about 3/5 and the red LED begins to flash. Increasing engine speed to 2-3K for about 30 seconds brings the gauge back to the halfway mark and turns off the LED. Another 4-5 minutes and the LED comes back on and the gauge is again at 3/5. At this point, revving the engine does not cool it off and the temp gauge soon hits maximum and coolant boils out of the overflow tank. The radiator fan never turns on. So far I have:

Removed the thermostat Tested the high and low speeds of the cooling fan Tested the thermoswitch (ok but I swapped in a known good one) Removed the radiator and thermoswitch and checked for obstructions using a garden hose--good flow of water thru the inlet, outlet, and thermoswitch mounting hole. Also inspected the core via the thermoswitch hole. The 11 rows visible had no signs of corrosion. Flushed the rest of the system using the garden hose. Good flow of water both directions. Checked engine timing

I forgot to mention that the radiator is barely warm to the touch when the engine is already boiling over, which explains why the cooling fan never turns on. There seems to be a coolant flow problem at low rpm (revving the engine at the 1st sign of overheating apparantly gets the coolant moving some). I realize the water pump doesn't pump much at idle, but can it be worn out in this regard (there is no pulley play or leakage) or do I have a leaking cylinder head? If anyone has seen these symptoms or has any advice, please respond directly to my address. TIA!!

Cary

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