On 4/19/05 15:50, "James Benthall" <Taobythesea@AOL.COM> wrote:

> Hi all,
> I think my 87 Westy is starting to take a lot longer to warm up.  Is  this a
> sign of
> something bad happening?  I have been told that VW's take longer to  warm up,
> but five minutes seems excessive to me.  [I recently (two months ago)
> re-plugged
> the idle stabilizer back up, and I am wondering if this could be the
> problem?  My
> mechanic swears it runs better without it, but I can't believe German
> engineers
> would make something that they didn't feel the engine really needed.]
> I am scheduled to take her on a 2800 mile trip next month (Minnesota and
> back)
> so this is coming at a very inoportune time ;-)  Thanks for any  advice.
> James in Houston, Tx.
> 87 Westy (The Phoenix)
> 
> 

With what I thought was a long warm up time when I switched from air cooled
to subie power I compared mine side by side with a water boxer.  It took
about the same time for ours to warm up.  My mod  has both a rear heater and
a front heater core.

I noted one thing after that on my mod and found it common with many other
water boxer vans.  The front heater core gets air directly from the outside.
This makes for some very efficient cooling of the water in the heater core
for while you are running down the highway.  This makes for a very long warm
up time.

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jimt
Planned insanity is best.
Remember that sanity is optional.
http://www.tactical-bus.info (tech info)
http://www.westydriver.com