At 06:29 PM 2/10/2002, Bob Stevens wrote:
>1/ After an entire weekend of driving up steep hills to heat the engine up
>enough to get the fan to come on, no luck. The temp gauge stays at the LED
>so the engine does not appear to be overheating. Coolant stable in both
>tanks. No leaks or coolant loss.

Well... the fan ought never to come on until the needle is well above the
LED, so that's entirely normal.  Drive slower up steeper hills -- or to be
simpleminded, just let the thing sit there and idle.  If the wind isn't
blowing through  the radiator it will certainly heat up enough to run the
fan within a few minutes after reaching normal operating temps.  On my '84
the fan starts in low speed when the needle is about halfway or a bit less
from LED to red zone.  I've never had it run at high speed except by my
directly shorting the thermoswitch contacts.

>obtuse reason I turned on the air conditioning dial about halfway. The
>engine cooling fan immediately went on! Whenever I turn on the air
>conditioning, the engine cooling fan comes on and the temp gauge is still in
>the low-LED area.

Yes, the fan should always run when the A/C is on.

>  Fan works, so maybe it's the thermoswitch, which I now
>have, but not installed. Seem reasonable?

You haven't demonstrated a problem yet...

david

--
David Beierl - Providence, RI
  http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
'85 GL "Poor Relation"