For starters, if you are talking about a diesel you should put "diesel" in
the subject line or the diesel people won't even see it.

Entity Gary Liess spoke thus:

> I just returned from a camping trip to the Sierra's around Lake Tahoe and
> south. I have an 82-diesel westy with a 1.9 TD.  When driving in the
> mountains the temperature gauge was 2/3 when running at 55 MPH, its warmer
> than I would like but I can live with it.  When I tried to climb (in second
> gear) Monitor pass (8000 ft.) the temp gauge went to 7/8 and then the light
> went on and the expansion tank blew its top and boiled water out.
Did the fan ever go on? In lower gears you need the fan to get air through
the radiator since there isn't enough road speed. If the tank blew and the
fan did not go on something is wrong.

My fan kicks on during long hot New Mexico mountain climbs. It's loud and
impossible to ignore and moves a lot of air.

A more serious possibility is is compression leakage into the water jacket.

> Would putting in a radiator from a gas model 1983 or later improve the
> diesels cooling and would it be adequate? While I was on the side of the
> road on Monitor pass I saw a Vanagon that had climbed the pass coming down
> from the other way, so I'm guessing that the water boxer cooling is adequate.
Someone else will have to answer that question.

> I need more power for climbing in the mountains, at 6000 to 8000 ft.; I
> could only go 35 mph up some of the hills and was passed by a semi. I am
> installing an intercooler. Short of installing a TDI is there anything I
> can do to get more power or torque from this engine?
It sounds like something is wrong. How long have you had this van? Was it
running better in the past? Were you hauling a load or a trailer?

-- Gnarlie
http://Gnarlodious.com/Vanagon/