You can't make a determination if the vehicle is running hot without measuring the coolant temperature with a known good gauge. I mean if your oil pressure light was coming on, the first thing you would do would be to check oil pressure with a known good gauge.

  You could always put a pot of water on an electric hotplate under the thermostat housing with a good thermometer in it, pull the temp sensor and hang it in the water. Increase the temperature of the water, watching the thermometer and the dash gauge. When the water gets to operation temp or the thermostat open temp, note the position of the needle on the dash gauge and use that as your baseline.

  That being said, the temp gauge in my van stays around the LED most of the time unless I am in stop and go traffic. Then it goes just above the LED and the radiator fan comes on. This only happens in the winter, the rest of the time the A/C is running and the radiator fan is on low constantly.

  Good luck,

TJ Hannink
Goldibox - 1987 Vanagon Camper, Wolfsburg Edition
1981 Bluebird Wanderlodge, FC-33
Winter Park, Florida
http://home.earthlink.net/~tjhannink/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wolfsburg_campers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FC_wanderlodge
FAVOR website:  http://home.earthlink.net/~clubvanagon

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