You are not rambling. Three years ago I had severe ignition failure from
sitting in traffic at Bonaroo with my '85. The residual heat seams to bleed
off rapidly in my experience and the temp only spikes while running and
diminishes shortly after turning the ignition off. My cure was fairly
extreme, I opened the hatch and removed the lid. This got me to the show and
the Tennessee natives did not laugh too loud.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Shawley" <easywind1975@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 8:53 PM
Subject: Sitting in traffic question

Suppose you are faced with sitting in a long line of traffic where the
column of vehicles maybe moves every few minutes or so.  From a cooling
standpoint is it better to turn the vehicle off in between or does the
residual heat need the engine running to cool things off.  Here's the
context.

2 years ago I overheated driving into a music festival, found out later that
the big rad fan resistor was bad (86 w/ AC)

1 year ago same festival, very nervous but no overheating or warning light,
I did see the temp gauge rise above normal and I would rev the idle
occasionally.

This year things seem cool mechanically but the memory of overheating and
being heckled by a WV local still stings, plus there'll be a rugrat in tow.

So should I
1) cut the van off after moving a few feet (and save some gas/polar bears)
2) cut the van off afer moving a few feet and waiting a minute or so
3) leave the van run and raise the idle a little to get that h20 pump
humming
4) cool out and crack a cold one while waiting for traffic to move

Oh yeah I noticed that the fan didn't come on when I turned the AC on the
other day (I don't use it much), I plan to check the ballast resistor and if
that's ok get the van up to temp and let it idle for awhile to see if I can
get both fan speeds to kick in.

I'm I rambling and being too paranoid?

Ryan

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