Steve

        I'm thinking that Your Thermostat may be Stuck Somewhat to AllTheWay Open ~

It has been my experience that if the Components of the CoolingSyst' & Its Sensors &

Gauge are functioning Properly that the GaugeNeedle will spend most of the time from

Covering the Upper1/2 of the LED to "Resting" on the LEDs UpperEdge ~ The Heaters

are indeed just additional Radiators & so will have an influence on the CoolentTemp but

if the Thermostat is working properly it Should "Correct" for that ~

                                                        ORR ~ DeanB

On 7 Sep , 2015, at 10:06 AM, Steve Williams wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Driving my 1991 Westfalia, I see a phenomem that I do not understand.
> 
> When my van is up to temperature, the needle sits approximately where
> everyone describes, just below the LED.
> 
> On a cool day (around freezing yesterday), if I turn on the front
> heater, the temperature guage goes down.
> 
> This, I do not understand.  I would have thought the front heater would
> not affect the temperature of the water exiting the engine coolant
> jacket that significantly.
> 
> As I type this email, I originally thought that the thermostat would
> start restricting coolant flow to the to the front radiator as the
> temperature lowered... but I imagine that it's not cooling off
> sufficiently for that to happen, since I think these vehicles have
> around a 185 degree thermostat & the coolant must be much hotter than
> that.  On that note, what temperature range would the coolant be running
> at when the engine is "up to temperature".  I'm considering getting an
> Infrared Temperature gun as a new shop tool.
> 
> Does the behavior I describe above make sense, the front heater causing
> the needle on the temperature guage to be a bit lower (about 1/2 a
> needle width)?
> 
> Also, what would make a van run a bit cooler?  On some cooler days, it
> seems the needle can't quite make it up to the "normal" summer time
> location even without running the heater.
> 
> I don't drive that much in the fall, mostly summer time & don't use the
> heater, so don't really have a baseline comparsion to work with.
> 
> Thanks,
> Steve Williams