Not to restate the obvious, but have you made sure your radiator fan is
working, and also coming on at the correct time?

John

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Nettles" <enettles@CENTERSTAGE.ORG>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 11:56 AM
Subject: Epic Journeys (Long... Frustrating)

> I am also having two problems that other people have mentioned...
>
> 1) A well bled cooling system that used to never even get halfway now
> rides a bit higher, is prone to overheating, and generally scary to
> drive. Is it just the difference between the green stuff I used to use
> and the new orange stuff?
> 2) Now that I've switched to the proper coolant, the coolant level
> sensor doesn't register the fluid level properly.  New Sensor needed?
> Just take it out and brush it off?
>
> Keep reading for the story on how it happened ; )
>
>
> A few weeks ago my girlfriend and I had just packed our 4-5 day packs
> and picked up a new can of butane for the camp stove.  We were headed
> off from her new place in Greensboro, NC to go backpacking in the
> Smokies. Unfortunately, about fifteen miles out of town I got a coolant
> warning light and when I checked found that I was experiencing
> "catastrophic" head gasket failure.  SIGH!
>
> So I filled it up with the remaining green stuff I had... (Yup, I knew
> it was coming... The PO had used the stuff and the last time I changed
> coolant was before I knew of this AMAZING list) and attempted to get
> home.  Well, stopped one more time and added a gallon of water before
> getting it home, certainly ruling out hopes of a trip to the mountains.
>
> So, I began to take things apart, my first foray into engine work of
> this kind, (having only done simpler things like water pumps and
> alternators and steering racks I was a little bit nervous). I had to do
> it myself, I was in NC, supposed to be on my way to FL in 5 days, and
> then to drive from FL to my new address here in MD, but not a mechanic
> in town would touch it.  The one guy that knew how to said that he
> wouldn't do it because it cost the same and was less frustrating to put
> a new engine into the car. I knew that that wasn't entirely the case
> because it was also time to do things like replace hoses.  Dealership?
> HahaHAhahahahaha...
>
> Well, since I was working very intimately with Mr. Murphy, luck decided
> to teach me about cylinder sleeves coming off with the heads. I called
> around and around, couldn't even get anyone to put the SLEEVES back on
> for me! About to have to scrap my van, I called Ken Wilford, (having
> already ordered via overnight and 2day an almost complete kit of hoses)
> wondering about getting a ring compressor.  The man saved the day for
> me... In fact I will say that as far as my van goes, I simply wouldn't
> have one today if he wasn't there that afternoon. Mr. Wilford told me to
> use a hose clamp to go around the rings and tighten it down to the point
> that the rings were compressed, and then use the sleeve to push the
> clamp off of the back of the piston.  It worked like a charm, and
> suddenly there was hope! (Actually I was having a LOT of fun getting so
> far into my engine at this point)
> As I scrubbed my old heads I began to find evidence of a little
> cracking, and so out went an order to the busdepot, overnight of course,
> for rebuilt heads. Doh, forgot to ask for the listmember discount, oh
> well... But I did remember when I ordered that engine gasket kit...(2
> Day Priority?) which I noticed didn't have a gasket for the oil cooler
> in it, which of course was the only one from which I leaked oil... but
> anyway!
>
> Hoses, gaskets, heads arrived.  My engine looked clean enough to eat off
> of.  I did not.  The girlfriend began to hate the smell of gojo... I got
> more bloody and banged up (2 good scars from this job!) and the engine
> went back together remarkably quickly.  Got everything on, together, and
> in, and took her down to have that place I snapped the collector pipe
> welded, and the guy even threw in a real tailpipe... (first time I'd
> ever seen one on my van!) What a day...
>
> But I noticed... This orange stuff doesn't seem to cool as well as the
> green? And hey, the coolant level sensor doesn't seem to sense coolant
> with this stuff either. (Solved that problem, shorted out the
> connector... no blinky light!)
> Hrm... Well.... After extensive bleeding (cooling system, the knuckles
> were beginning to heal by this time) I set out for Florida... Cruised
> along comfortably into South Carolina, although suffering a little from
> WAY overfilled expansion and collection tanks, no real troubles.  Even
> through most of South Carolina (at who knows what speed since I didn't
> have a speedo cable yet) right until Hilton Head.
> Looked in the rear view mirror to see lots of smoke billowing.  Pulled
> into a gas station some time around 2am.  The owner of the gas station
> happened to be driving by, seemed to be a little scared that there was a
> vehicle spewing so much smoke from the back, right next to his gas
> pumps... Told me there were fire extinguishers inside... looked
> generally very concerned, as if he felt he were sitting on top of a
> large bomb and I were a crazy and sleepy-eyed loon holding the
> detonator.
>
> Well, it was just coolant, Yup, that expensive orange stuff... (Good
> thing I bought a whole case).   I looked underneath and lo and behold, a
> heater hose had broken free of its 13 year old nylon ties, and fallen
> into the drive axle, where it got caught up, tore the CV boot, and then
> ruptured...(Catastrophic comes to mind again?).  Simple enough, I
> thought, thinking I would just rout the remaining heater hose from the
> coolant distributor on the driver's side to the collector on the
> passenger side...
>
> Until the years old plastic collector shattered in my hand... at 3am on
> a saturday night. Well, it was either try to make something out of pipe
> fittings from Wal-Mart or call AAA... It'd already been a long day so I
> opted for the tow.  Of course 6 hours later, Bubba finally showed up
> with his tow truck, for some reason with a cab full of passengers, so I
> spent Sunday (my birthday) in the van with half of my worldly
> possessions on top of the flatbed.. Every time Bubba whizzed by a state
> trooper on our long journey to Florida, his fear was evident and I could
> smell the sweat on his brow.  At least we didn't get arrested.
>
> We arrived in Florida, Bubba charged about $150 more than the AAA stated
> the cost would be, I replaced the heater hoses, and a new coolant
> distributor was installed.  The system bled again, and hopefully all
> would be ready for the ensuing trip to Maryland.
>
> Of course not.  She overheated twice on the way back to Greensboro where
> I picked up the other half of my worldly possessions, and when I left
> there the van was only good for 30-45 minutes a hop before the bubbling
> whistle of my now VERY expensive coolant pressure cooker returned.
>
> So before I even made it into Virginia I stopped and got my radiator
> cleaned out, just had the guy rod the junk out of it, he of course
> charged $18 for a gallon of the red juice.  Thought all was well, but
> instead the time to overheat was simply lengthened to about 45-60
> minutes.  There went another couple of Franklins. Eeep. I continued
> bleeding the system at every overheat, every stop for gas, and made it
> into Baltimore about 14 hours late for my first day of work.  Had to go
> to DC the other day for business, and it looked like everything was
> going great, until traffic went from a crisp 70 in the slow lane to a
> sudden standstill.  Took less than two minutes to overheat.  Fifteen
> minutes later, back on the road again, but can't seem to get any more
> air out of the system.
>
> I'm at a loss.  Dunno if this still sounds like a bleeding problem and I
> need to give it more RPMs or if new heads can make the engine hotter or
> if its the coolant or something else entirely. I've already got $2000
> into the problem, and at an $85 a week salary I can hardly afford the
> minimum on the card, let alone drop a whole lot more into it.
>
> Does anyone have any idea about this?
>
> Thanks,
> Eric
>
> 87 Wolfsburg
> (Maybe unnamed is the root of my troubles?)
>