I'm now the proud owner of an '86 = Westy, bought from a guy who'll remain anonymous. He lives 950 miles away and = I drove that newly purchased van all the way back to my home in St. Louis = fighting coolant overflows and the blinking red light.

Before I bought it, PO did flush and = fill, then later a radiator replacement. He worried that not all the air = was out yet and advised I stop and "burp" the expansion tank if the blinking = light showed low coolant.

The engine ran (still runs) great, = plenty of power. But after only a few miles, she spit a lot of coolant out = of the fill (license plate) tank. (I trailed a nice steam cloud as it = hit the muffler). Following PO's advice, I would "burp" = the expansion (with pressure cap) tank. Lots of "air" would come out. This = went on for many, many miles: coolant overflow and/or blinking red light, = find a place to stop, "burp" tank, sometimes add coolant. The = intermittently overflowing fill tank would leave a nice mist of coolant on the back = window at interstate speeds.

Maybe you are laughing now. At = about mile 600, I realized that "burping" the expansion tank of a hot engine was = just flashing a lot of the coolant to steam (as it went from 14psi or = whatever to zero) and the "bad air" I was letting out was steam and that I was = probably forming steam voids elsewhere in the system as well. Very stupid = of me. If anything, stopping every 15 miles to make the problem worse. Perhaps I define "knowing enough to be = dangerous."

Engine runs great still, but now I = get intermittent white smoke from the tailpipe and water dripping from = it. Even after I stoped my dumb "hot burping," still got a lot of air = coming out of the expansion tank (replaced the pressure cap about halfway through = the trip, hoping that was the problem). Evidenced by a train of = little bubbles entering the fill tank when the engine was hot.

I am fearing that my = hot-engine-burping, or maybe the flush and fill or radiator replacement led to overheating and a = bad head gasket. I believe the PO's statement that the recently redone = heads were fine before. I checked the temp gage every 10 seconds, I swear, = and it never got over 3/4 scale (stopping, slowing) and usually (on the = highway) sat right over the little light.

Something I learned that may help = you: The low coolant light is a "latch" circuit: It stays on until the = ignition is cycled off no matter what--I could often just pull over, turn off = the ignition, restart, and no blinking light. I attributed these = transients to steam slowly venting out of the expansion tank (that little valve = is very small).

Please advise: Have I fried a = head gasket? How can I tell if combustion gases are getting into the = coolant and forcing it out? I checked the archives: Nobody has = warned of "hot burping." Is it so obvious (or am I that dumb)? Can = these engines really run so well when blowing/sucking coolant into/out of = the cylinders?!

BTW, I'm not looking to blame the PO = or anybody but myself. Just looking for advice on cause/diagnosis, and = perhaps to warn others. Feel free to highlight, make fun of, or discuss in = detail my ignorance.