John Meeks -- are you suggesting that one of the Top Five items a
Vanagon drivers should carry are modified cap AND a bicycle pump?

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
Bend, Ore.
1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in
San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.

On 05/05/2012 06:09 PM, John Meeks wrote:
> Rocket man, take an old cap and destroy the pressure/vacuum seals
> inside the cap.You can then pump it up  and read the gauge on the
> pump.
>
> BTW this is one of the top 5 spares to carry.
>
> John Meeks
> '91 Vanagon MV
> Northern Michigan
>
> Vanagon Rescue Squad
> www.vanagonauts.com
>
>
>
> On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 7:59 PM, Rocket J Squirrel
> <camping.elliott@gmail.com>  wrote:
>>
>> Oh, THANK YOU DAVID for increasing the number of things that I will
>> worry about.
>>
>> The H-shaped "plastic bomb" thing -- I sure hope someone comes up with a
>> replacement part so I can just swap it in before mine blows. With my
>> luck the thing would decide to blow when I'm in the backcountry and out
>> of cell phone range.
>>
>> For the expansion tank, uh I'll look for the warning signs. Are new
>> tanks available?
>>
>> For the bleeder valve assembly at the front end of the engine
>> compartment, mine blew last year and I have this outrageously expensive
>> machined block of aluminum replacement. That, at least, should not fail.
>>
>> Say, BTW, I followed your suggestion to pressurize the cooling system
>> with a bicycle pump. I didn't know that the nipple on the expansion
>> tank's cap was a one-way device. The connection between the pump and the
>> nipple is less than air-tight and so the gauge on the pump sagged back
>> to zero after every stroke. I thought it was showing pressure in the
>> cooling system.
>>
>> And so I'm looking at a couple small leaks from where hoses are clamped
>> and wondering how or why I sprung so many leaks.
>>
>> It wasn't until I loosened the cap on the expansion tank and heard that
>> hissing sound that I tumbled to the fact that I had probably been
>> putting a lot more than 10 psi into the cooling system. Happy I didn't
>> blow a gasket!
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
>> Bend, Ore.
>> 1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
>> 1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in
>> San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.
>>
>> On 05/05/2012 01:01 PM, David Beierl wrote:
>>>
>>> At 01:12 PM 5/5/2012, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
>>>>
>>>> This can't be good news.
>>>
>>>
>>> Think of it this way...it's time. Just like it's time -- *really* time
>>> -- for that H-shaped plastic bomb back by the pressure tank, and the
>>> pressure tank itself if it hasn't been replaced already. Since the
>>> H-thing is NLA, someone needs to start making up an equivalent from
>>> copper tubing or such. There's a metering hole in the middle of the
>>> thing, it's not complicated but not totally simple either. For the tank,
>>> look for internal stress cracks in the neck area and around the
>>> midsection flange. If you can't see through the tank to find the cracks,
>>> consider it toast.
>>>
>>> And when you're bleeding Mr. Quite Rightly after his new radiator,
>>> handle the bleeder valve in the engine compartment very very gingerly.
>>> That's another plastic fitting that's past its sell-by date and probably
>>> NLA.
>>>
>>> Yrs,
>>> d