Continuing story on the hot running Diesel westy.

Confirmed drips from water pump shaft through running a few times with a white cardboard under. This must be why it doesn't keep 15psi pressure in the cooling system. From cold it builds pressure first, pressure caps opens and relieves coolant to the pverflow tank, but during extended running it then drips slowly and pressure goes slowly down. That *might be* why I haven't noticed it during short trips. It culd also bhe it started or got worse just yesterday on the long trip.

So time to replace water pump.
Removed pulleys from the back.
Removed timing belt covers. (The 1.9TD has a lower one also)
Realized the idler pulley is in the way of some of the water pump bolts.
Don;t want to mess with timing belt so
I guess the alternative way is to take off alternator, alt bracked and water pump housing.
Used to do a lot of Vanagon D water pumps, but it was 15 years ago.

Back to the driveway unless someone has any additional tips.

(Bentley only shows an exploded view of cooling components, but doesn't say steps.)

Martin