The flashing light was telling you that you were low on coolant and that gurgling was the coolant boiling violently warping heads and cooking gaskets. Somehow coolant was lost, the system lost pressure or bad head seals or a cracked head or a bad ressure cap  forced coolant out. It is also possible the radiator fan did not work. Any way, something is wrong.

Dennis

----- Original Message -----
From: Patricia Lenihan <pdl_749@YAHOO.COM>
Date: Tuesday, August 1, 2006 2:03 pm
Subject: Naive question - flashing red light

> Dear Wise Volkspeople,
>  Thanks to this list for so much wit and smartness. But I have
> what is likely a dumb question.
>
>  In a 1988 manual transmission Westy, purchased early in June
> from one-owner-all-her-life, a VW-wise friend changed the oil last
> week. Then, on Friday we tried taking her for a trip, fully packed
> and loaded with 4 people (she'd been driven to and from town many
> times before, with only 1 or 2 aboard. She also had been driven
> from Minnesota to Denver, and Denver to Santa Fe, without incident).
>
>  We got about three miles, up and down hills, when the
> temperature gauge red light began flashing. When we stopped, you
> could hear the oil bubbling and gurgling. Coolant looked ok.
>
>  Could there have been an issue because her oil had always been
> synthetic and we changed to castrol gtx 20w50? Not sure if it had
> been synthetic but just wondering what effect such a switch might
> have.
>  And, could this be a radiator problem?
>
>  Thanks in advance.
>  Patricia
>
>
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