I took my two oldest children (6 and 9 yr) on a overnight trip yesterday
from St. George, Utah to the Kaibab Plateau (North Rim of the Grand
Canyon).  This was to serve as a shakedown trip, of sorts, for my recently
acquired 1982 diesel Westfalia.  I was curious to see how it would deal
with the full-on heat of the summer here in this climate.  When we left
St. George (elevation 2700 feet) it was over 100 deg F.  As we began to
climb the Hurricane Fault, about a 1000 foot elevation transition, it
became apparent that I would need to watch the heat gauge.  The LED began
flashing.  I was able to (mostly) keep the flashing off by turning the
cabin heat on full bore.  In this heat it really didn't seem to make much
of a difference, comfort wise, anyway.  We continued to have trouble the
entire climb.

With many stops we finally made it to Jacob's Lake on the
Kaibab at an elevation of about 8000 feet.  The air was sweetly cool at
this elevation.  Slow deliberate travel in the hot house diesel Westfalia
made the arrival in the cool pine forest more of a treat than past trips I
have made there in a shiny new air conditioned Honda at 80 mph.  It felt
like we had earned the destination!  We stayed at a US Forest Service
campground.  It cooled to the 50s (deg F) that evening and was perfect
sleeping temperature.  The stars were bright and the evening meal
delicious.

We drove straight back home the next morning.  Naturally I was interested
in solving the cooling issue.  This afternoon I looked around on the web
and decided I should make sure my cooling system was purged of air.  I
warmed up the van and pulled off the grill.  I thought while I was at it,
I would rinse off the radiator.  I took a nozzle to the radiator and found
that not only bugs were rinsing out, but lots and lots of mud, sand and
twigs.  I rinsed for at least 1/2 hour before the water ran clear.  I
should mention here that I had found this kind of debris packed underneath
the chassis earlier.  It never occurred to me that it would also be in the
radiator.  My current theory is that the van was in a flash flood when it
belonged to a previous owner who lived in Springdale, Utah (next to Zion
National Park).

I was able to purge a small amount of air from the system.  With that and
the removal of the mud, I am hoping the cooling system will perform better
the next trip.

-bret