Listees,
If all this info exists in an archive please direct me off list.
Vehicle '87 Vanagon westy, 54k miles (really). It was first purchased by an
anal-retentive retired engineer located in New Mexico, the vehicle is
gorgeous and has been perfect, until this problem.
Yesterday we headed down the road, running 60ish on a 4 lane, ambient temp
about 70 degrees F, when I noticed a flashing red light located in the
temperature gage. I pulled off, killed the motor, & looked it up in the
drivers manual. The belt was OK, the overflow tank was empty, the fans at
the front of bus were not running, (we never heard them come on at all,
during the whole limp home). After a few minutes I restarted the motor &
started home, it took several miles to start blinking again. The ride home
was about 25 miles & I had to let it cool twice, traffic was very light & I
was able to kill the motor & coast  ( I figured starting from a stop on the
roadside would create a lot more heat). The temperature gage itself never
got above it's normal mid position. I have never seen any trace of leakage
under the motor.
So, where do I start? Where are the senders for the gage & red light
located? If the motor was hot, why didn't the gage indicate it? Where are
the thermo-switches for the front fans? ( The fan fuse is OK). Do I have to
go to the VW dealer & buy coolant, or is any phosphate-free coolant OK?  I
have the Bentley Manual, but I'm asking for the wisdom of the list before I
start digging into that monster.
                                                                      TIA,
                                                              Ron Komoroski