The cooling fan works on both speeds but as you know the needle has to be
quite high for the fan to engage.  In all other aspects the T-stat works but
could I guess be sticking and never going to full open.  We have owned the
van since July of `03 and do not know its history prior other than it was in
the Sacramento area since new.  I am leaning toward replacing the radiator
no matter what due to the age and unknown history and will probably toss in
a T-stat at the same time.

Mark

On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 7:44 PM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>wrote:

> There are three things that can happen to a radiator in addition to leaks.
> The inside gets clogged, the outside gets coated with an insulating layer
> of
> road dirt or an inside portion cracks allowing coolant to enter and leave
> the radiator with actually traveling through it.
>
>  A bad thermostat can also cause this. Is the radiator fan turning on? If
> it
> is without cooling and cycling off you have a sure sign of a radiator
> problem. Remove the two hoses and have a good look inside. Look for any
> deposits on the tubes and look for any signs of cracking of the tube to the
> top. Use a flashlight.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Mark Tuovinen
> Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 6:36 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: `87 Westy Syncro running hot
>
> Our `87 Westy Syncro with stock 2.1L has for years always operated with the
> temperature guage needle centered on the LED.  It would climb on long
> inclines, or other similar hard use situations but in general it stayed on
> the LED the rest of the time.  The last couple of summers it has been
> reading a needles width higher and lately a bit more so that it seems to
> maintain just below 1/2 way between the LED and high mark.  Turning on one
> or both heaters will bring it back down but obviously that is not going to
> cure the problem.  Years of operation tell me this is not normal for the
> van
> especially when you consider that we are in Alaska and ambient temp is
> never
> more than 75 - 80F.  The coolant level is fine and it has a fresh fill with
> the proper ratio of antifreeze and water.  The radiator was flushed
> recently
> as well.  We do use a bra on the van during our road trips as we tend to go
> places where rocks, bugs, etc, will attack the front of the van.  Our trips
> always include mountain passes as you can't get anywhere from here without
> going through one or more of them but the elevation gain is usually not
> more
> than 1-2000ft and a gradual climb with few exceptions.
>
> I would appreciate any ideas or suggestions to cure this with out just
> throwing parts at it.  Sticking t-stat, radiator plugged????  Anyone have
> any ideas?
>
> TIA
>
> Mark in AK
>
>