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Subject:Re: Takes a darn long time for the heater to come up to speed
From:Rocket J Squirrel
Date:Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:00:34 -0700

Too simple.

--
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 3/11/2009 2:24 PM Jake de Villiers wrote:
> Umm, call me old-fashioned, but you can get very good results using
> your HAND to see if the relevant hose is flowing warm water.
>
> Its pretty easy to see which hoses from the thermostat housing go to
> the heater loops and which goes up front to the rad.
>
> Apply fingers as necessary.  :-)
>
> On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 1:35 PM, Rocket J Squirrel
> <camping.elliott@gmail.com <mailto:camping.elliott@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     What's the easy way to tell whether the thermostat stays properly shut
>     until the engine reaches temperature? I was thinking of starting the
>     engine, take the temp of the radiator with an infrared thermometer,
>     watching the temp gauge, and, according to my theory, when the gauge
>     starts to indicate operating temperature the radiator should suddenly
>     start warming up. That should work, right?
>
>
>     --
>     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 4:37 PM Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:
>
>         yes you should.
>         I highly recommend the correct 'real' right German thermostat.
>         ......the hotter of the two temps available normally.
>
>
>            ----- Original Message -----
>            *From:* Rocket J Squirrel <mailto:camping.elliott@gmail.com
>         <mailto:camping.elliott@gmail.com>>
>            *To:* Scott Daniel - Turbovans
>         <mailto:scottdaniel@turbovans.com
>         <mailto:scottdaniel@turbovans.com>>
>            *Sent:* Saturday, March 07, 2009 4:24 PM
>            *Subject:* Re: Takes a darn long time for the heater to
>         come up to
>            speed
>
>            Thanks, Scott. I replaced the thermostat a couple years ago
>         while
>            doing an R&R on the water pump. That was the hard way. The
>            replacement thermostat was a "cooler" one which the vendor
>            (busdepot? I forget) helpfully sent instead of the correct temp
>            one. Once I found out that the engine wasn't being allowed
>         to come
>            up to the design temperature I didn't feel like taking things
>            apart again. I really should get that done, though, put in a
>            proper temp range one.
>
>
>            --
>            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 4:12 PM Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:
>
>                There are two ways to do the t-stat on a 1.9 waterboxer.
>                one is to take the whole housing off............which
>             is good since you want
>                to know that those long studs, which easily get very,
>             very corroded,........
>                to be sure they are not badly rusted, so that's an
>             advantage to doing it
>                this 'proper' way.
>
>                the other way is to directly unbolt the t-stat cover
>             from underneatht he
>                van.
>                On some engines the t-stat cover will clear the exhaust
>             pipe, and it's easy
>                to replace the t-stat.
>                On some engines it won't quite clear the exhaust pipe.
>             On one t-stat cover I
>                had to grind away a tiny bit of metal on the t-stat
>             cover to get it to
>                clear.
>                It wastes fuel and is much rougher on the engine if it
>             doesn't run up to
>                temp properly., so quite important to have right.
>
>
>
>                ----- Original Message -----
>                From: "Rocket J Squirrel" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM
>             <mailto:camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>>
>                To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>             <mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>>
>                Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 7:16 AM
>                Subject: Re: Takes a darn long time for the heater to
>             come up to speed
>
>
>
>                    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
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Jake
>
> 1984 Vanagon GL
> 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
>
> Crescent Beach, BC
>
> www.crescentbeachguitar.com <http://www.crescentbeachguitar.com>
> http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27