If this helps provide a point of reference, my 1988 Westy was sold as
having ~ 80K miles. For sure it has lower miles than most. The heat
exchange box flaps seal well. My rough guess is that the lower miles
plus intermittent fan squeaks I hear, suggest that the heat exchange
box likely hasn't been resealed. (heat box flap reseal and fan
replacement usually done at same time). My point:

In terms of flap seal wear, another guess is that time is much less of
a factor than use (air flow past seals) and heat from the heater core.

If the levers do what the manual says, you have controllable heat, you
don't smell engine coolant and the fan doesn't squeal or rattle,
things in that dept. should be fine.

As a then newb to Vanagons and Westies, my '81 was so bad, no amount
of lever moving or cursing, would bring relief. This was really
apparent while scouting for a campground, at 8:30 PM, on a dark cold
night. Nothing but cold air racing into the cab. That night saw the
stove used as a heating device for a few minutes.

image of warning on front of stove:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-IFP_wdc05gk/URRntkFSSdI/AAAAAAAAG1w/HKcQRyA3zjM/s640/not%2520safe.jpg

Neil.

On Thu, Feb 7, 2013 at 4:05 PM, Lisa Bloch <lab@rynth.org> wrote:

> On Feb 7, 2013, at 1:20 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>
>> The issue *might* also be that the material used to seal the air
>> control flaps in the heat exchange box, are starting to show their age
>> and allow air flow even when they're closed. If not....

> It sounds as though air is coming from outside BECAUSE I have the third lever pushed all the way to the left, even though there is no fan on.  Easy enough to test/fix.  How would I know if the problem is, instead, deteriorating control flaps?  And, should I care?

-- 
Neil n

65 kb image Myford Ready For Assembly  http://tinyurl.com/64sx4rp

'88 Slate Blue Westy to be named.

'81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"  http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

Vanagon VAG Gas I4/VR Swap Google Group:

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines