Interesting! And were is the Subaru's temp gauge sender located in
relation to the 1.9l's? Is one is a better spot to more quickly "see"
the rise in engine temp?

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
Bend, OR
KG6RCR

On 3/7/2009 8:16 AM David Milo wrote:
> Aside from the length of the hoses, the other subtle difference is
> that the Subaru system mixes air to control the temperature in the
> mixing / distribution box, whereas the Vanagon was designed to use a
> manually controlled coolant modulating valve (yes, even in the rear)
> controlling flow through the heater core to control temperature. In
> the Vanagon, you can almost (but not quite) completely shut off flow
> through the heater cores.
>
> In the Subaru, the coolant flow through the heater core is constant,
> and is actually the coolant circuit that modulates the thermostat
> (located on the bottom of the engine, return hose from the radiator).
> As others have pointed out, it is much better protected from the elements.
>
> Dave
>
> On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 10:16 AM, Rocket J Squirrel
> <camping.elliott@gmail.com <mailto:camping.elliott@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     I reckon there are two things that I need to observe: 1. the time it
>     takes for the temp gauge to start moving from the cold pin (Mrs
>     Elliott's Subaru comes up a lot sooner), and 2. how soon before one
>     starts to feel tendrils of warmed air come creeping out of the vents.
>     Again, it's much quicker in the other car. If these are significantly
>     longer time than others, like Jake, observed then something there's
>     something fishy going on. Given that the thermostat is such a pain to
>     get to on the 1.9l engine, I'll want to be fairly sure that
>     replacing it
>     is a worthwhile project.
>
>
>     --
>     Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
>     84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
>     74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
>     Bend, OR
>     KG6RCR
>
>
>
>
>     On 3/6/2009 9:47 PM Jake de Villiers wrote:
>
>         On account of this thread I paid attention this morning on the
>         way to work
>         in the grey van.  It took about a mile at ~30 degrees F. to feel a
>         difference, about 3 for it to be warmish.
>
>         I've noticed that the rear heater gets warm a lot quicker on
>         both vans.
>
>         On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 5:35 PM, alfred bagdan <abagdan@shaw.ca
>         <mailto:abagdan@shaw.ca>> wrote:
>
>
>             If you have the rear heater valve open, most of the hot
>             coolant goes
>             through
>             the rear heater.  Try closing the rear heater and see what
>             happens.  Also
>             replace your thermostat in case it is stuck open.  If the
>             temperature gauge
>             does not go up to the halfway point in cold weather, you
>             will probably have
>             to replace the thermostat to get some decent heat.  Its a
>             bitch of a job,
>             but doable.  When  I replaced the hoses last summer I also
>             put pipe
>             insulation on the hot lines and also replaced the
>             thermostat and the water
>             pump.  What a difference that made.  I live in Edmonton,
>             Canada,  and I
>             drove the van once this winter when it was -30C ( ~ -20F )
>             and it was warm
>             as toast inside, and didn't take long to warm up.
>
>             Alfred
>             85 Westy
>
>             ----- Original Message -----
>             From: "Mark Tuovinen" <mst@AK.NET <mailto:mst@AK.NET>>
>             To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>             <mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>>
>             Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 2:49 PM
>             Subject: Re: Takes a darn long time for the heater to come
>             up to speed
>
>
>              You just send her up here to drive my Syncro on a
>             cold(subzero) morning,
>
>                 she will appreciate your van much more afterward.  My
>                 kids ride to school
>                 with a blanket over them for warmth and they are
>                 wearing winter coats,
>                 hats, mittens, and boots at the same time.  Vanagons
>                 have a rather large
>                 area to warm up and the front core is a long way from
>                 the heat source.
>                 Though it won't cure your problem you could put pipe
>                 insulation on your
>                 front heater hoses under the van.  This will reduce
>                 the heat loss that
>                 occurs before the hot coolant gets to the core.
>                  Another and more
>                 difficult issue to deal with is that the front heater
>                 only draws air from
>                 outside, it does not recirculate cabin air.  Thus
>                 while your heater core
>                 is trying to warm the air, the air is trying to cool
>                 the core.  Not an
>                 issue in moderate climates but those in extreme cold
>                 areas suffer because
>                 of it.
>
>                 Mark in AK
>
>                 ----- Original Message -----
>                 From: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM
>                 <mailto:camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>>
>                 Date: Thursday, March 5, 2009 4:35 pm
>                 Subject: Takes a darn long time for the heater to come
>                 up to speed
>                 To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>                 <mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>
>                  My wife's Subaru Outback's heater is ready to put out
>                 some serious therms
>
>                     in about 3 minutes of drive time. The temp gauge
>                     comes up quickly,
>                     whereas the temp gauge in ol' Mellow Yellow needs
>                     another 5-8 minutes of
>                     driving in freezing temps to really start to creep
>                     upwards and for the
>                     heater to start doing anything interesting.
>
>                     I'd like to think that the difference is due to
>                     the awesome efficiency of
>                     the WBX engine . . . I'd like to think that, but
>                     something tells me that
>                     a 2006 Subaru engine is a tad more efficient. So,
>                     does anyone have any
>                     idea why the 1.9L engine is so sluggish compared
>                     with the Outback's
>                     engine when it comes to making hot water available
>                     to the heater core?
>                     Mrs Squirrel gripes about how long it takes to get
>                     warm air to come out
>                     the heater and I'd like to have some
>                     highly-technical answer to respond
>                     with. You know, baffle them with BS?
>
>                     --
>                     Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
>                     84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
>                     74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San
>                     Juan Capistrano
>                     Bend, OR
>                     KG6RCR
>
>
>
>
>
>         --
>         Jake
>
>         1984 Vanagon GL
>         1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
>
>         Crescent Beach, BC
>
>         www.crescentbeachguitar.com <http://www.crescentbeachguitar.com>
>         http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27
>
>
>