don't know why , but I'm not seeing David's text or response here.
but here's mine.....
using an IR gun .....on a waterboxer engine, fully warmed up and idling
.....
expect to see 175 to 185 degrees F at the hose where coolant is coming out
of the engine .....
even 190 F there ...is not bad, not bad at all.
At the same time, expect to see the temp of the return hose from the
radiator be about 160ish .....
roughly that relationsihp ......
around 30 degees cooler on the return hose.
and a 'nice warm'  175 to up to 190 on the hotter hose.  You want that up
there, around 180, not 150 or anything too cool like that.

'running warm' by itself is good. Better fuel milage at higher temps. Fuel
is wasted and it's not as good for the oil and engine, if you're running at
say 150. The t-stats often run too cool after a while.  I find the radiators
to usually be quite up to the task, all the 83 and later plastic tank
ones.......
and they have mainly one failure mode that I've seen ........they eventually
just don't remove heat very well, or as well as they once did. Like if you
have a 15 year old one ........and the rest of the system is fully up to
spec and well-checked out .........you'd consider the radiator then if it
just ran hotter under heavy load than seems reasonable.  Test the t-stat in
a pan of hot water on the stove to be sure about it though, always.
scott
www.turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Beierl" <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 11:44 AM
Subject: Fwd: Re: Burps up coolant when parked warm.

> >Subject: Re: Burps up coolant when parked warm.
>>From: Alan Felder <dieseldoofus@gmail.com>
>>To: David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net>
>>Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=00163646d4fa101313046dfe449c
>>
>>related question ( for those with IR temp readers):  what is the
>>normal operating coolant temperature, and what is the normal temp
>>rating of the radiator hoses? If buying bulk hose, what temp spec
>>should I look for?
>>
>>Alan