burnt coolent stinks like chems i think, on our orgone nightmare trip
i had a head gasket desided to not stick around and after the first stop
i found that it was puking from my overflow filling up my res tank. ( no drips just massive
air attack in the system.

I drove this baby all the way looking for coolent spray on the rear window and smoke
or the coolent light coming on. I made it but had to self burp the excess coolent out
every so often, went to mount  saint hellens then drove it back to CA, after this I had
the shop that installed the heads fix the head after some back and forth stuff. AMC heads
worried me. anyway

anyway drive safe and always keep eyes and ears open.

have fun
Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: Ben huot <huotx@VIDEOTRON.CA>
Sent: Mar 23, 2004 7:49 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Help! Problems on the road! Smoke! or something that smells              like it, a...

>>>cover and make sure the main coolant tank (the one
you cannot see from behind the lisc plate)  is FULL.  since some of it poured
out when you opened it.   that one stays full all the time.   and the one
behind your lisc plate (expansion tank) should stay at the max level, below
the cap level...<<<<<

The tank inside the van is the expansion tank, the one behind the plate is
the refill tank. It's not the end of the world if the refill tank is empty
and the expension tank is half full, not the way to go but not the end of
the world, unless your coolant level light is burn.

Still, yes the expansion tank should be kept full and the refill tank
between the 2 lines.

I agree on the electrical problem, sound like a burned motor or wiring
issue, bur be sure you know what burned coolant smell like?????

Cheers, Ben (Back from FL)
http://www.benplace.com/