A conservative mechanic did it for me... he doesn't believe in engine
conversion or modifications... this is about as far as he goes... I live in
Southern California... at one point does the fan usually come on??? Its ran
cooler ever since its been in... except when a hose to the radiator was
loose.. and after I tightened it returned to never above the midpoint... we
get a lot of stop and go traffic around here... too much... If I had a
bigger stock like oil cooler then the water would warm up quicker wouldn't
it... I don't think it was after market... but another German manufacture...

>From: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
>
>What type of thermostat did you install? Most aftermarket t-stats do not
>work properly in the Vanagon. They allow enough leakage when closed that
>due to the massive capacity of the cooling system do not allow proper
>warm up in cold weather. The proper t-stat will actually have a rubber
>seal on the center disk to provide a solid seal when closed. There also
>will not be an air bleed (small hole with a rattle piece) in the top
>disk. If the temp gauge is reading mid way with the fan on, you may also
>have bad gauge and poor heater output can be caused by a blocked
>(externally) or clogged heater core. Road dirt does accumulate on the
>outside and things clog on the inside after some time.
>
>Dennis
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
>Of John Connolly
>Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 4:13 PM
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Running too cool
>
>List,
>
>I know alot about aircooled, but am feeling my way along on the
>vanagons. I
>have a new (to me) 87' Syncro, and it's running too cool. I know this
>because I have 4 vanagons, and the other 3 run in the middle of the temp
>gauge, AND have much better heat.
>
>I suspected the thermostat was bad, so I replaced it last weekend, and
>still
>have the same symptoms. Does anyone have any thoughts on what the
>problem
>could be? If I'm driving on the highway and pull over to let it idle for
>5
>min, the temp climbs to the "normal" range, then the fan kicks on to
>keep it
>there, but as soon as we are travelling over 30mph the temps drop to
>barely
>register on the gauge, and the heat is barely noticable (like an
>aircooled
>:-)  ).
>
>Anyone?
>
>I know I can put a cover on the radiator, or part of it, but my other
>vehicles don't have this issue, and it is annoying being winter and all
>that!
>
>John
>Aircooled.Net Inc.

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