I just got done battling a similar problem, although mine's a diesel.  I had
a cracked head which I fixed which got the oil out of my coolant, but didn't
change the running hot.  Replaced 2 thermostats, flushed and bled the system
a few times which would marginally help for short times (sometimes).
Finally pulled the radiator and replaced it - (the radiator place said these
were impossible to clean out because of their design?) and now it's fine.
You should definitely exhaust all other possibilities first as the new
radiator was $360, but that was definitely the problem.... and I don't know
how to make that diagnosis other than trial and error - I was able to push
fluid through it with a hose, I could feel it get warm, but must have just
had enough crud to cut the cooling ability...
Good Luck,
Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf Of
Rob Le Duc
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2001 9:57 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: overheating

having an overheating issue while highway and high speed driving ....  van
is fine around the city and at idle .....  once up to highway speeds temp
needle rises to overheating area    had heads done about 2 months ago and
flushed coolant replaced with havoline orange new t-stat ....   just looking
for a few ideas   maybe i am missing something?????

thanks rob

86 syncro   'althea'

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