fwiw, I've never seen a vanagon thermostat fail to open all the way.
unhead of even, almost.
They commonly stick open , or open too soon and run too cool,
but all the ones I've seen that work, open all the way just fine.
all the t-stat issues I have ever seen, in hundreds of vanagon t-stats,  is
running too cool.
though of course it's possible a t-stat could make it run too hot.

I would expect low speed rad fan operation to start with temp needle at
about 60 % on the gauge.
some vans i understand, late syncro's,  with AC have 3 fan speeds.
make sure your lowest fan speed works ..
it's a gentle almost fan speed, nothing roaring about it.  It's common for
the resisitor behind the left tail light to fail and at least on a two speed
fan system, then only high speed works.

so make sure the first fan speed you hear is the lowest speed.

get a good proper german t-stat.
the radiator sounds like a good idea.
there are only two choices for temp with a good german t-stat,
I always get the warmer one ..87 C ..
warmer is better , always.  summer too.

Scott
www.turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Tuovinen" <aksyncronaut@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 11:08 AM
Subject: Re: `87 Westy Syncro running hot

> 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
>>
>>