At 03:19 PM 1/23/2005, you wrote:
>I tried it with the heater on, and with it off. It was off first, the
>needle came up a bit, opened the heater valve and BANG it was like I
>had cut the wires to the gauge.
>
>That said, I've had the car 14 years now and I can tell you that I have
>never had this happen before, even with colder air.

That being the case, I'd lay money on the thermostat. Dunno if trick works
as well on Vanagons, but on my old Dodge (same symptoms) I checked this
way: after your next drive, feel your radiator. If it's hot and your gauge
still shows a low temperature, you've probably got a bum thermostat. Or you
could pull it out and throw it in a pan of near-boiling water to see if it
opens. Wouldn't be surprising if it was bad. I once got two out-of-box
failures in a row. Those lousy dollar a day sweatshop slaves in
[china|mexico|etc] have no pride in workmanship!

John Bange
'90 Vanagon "Geldsauger"