I made it thorough my weekend in Raliegh/Durham with the odd cooling
problems that I posted on Friday (thanks SynchroHead for your response, and
thanks to Richard Palmer in Raliegh who helped me get in touch with a
potential mechanic).  I did know about the level sensor on the refill tank
but what I neglected to mention was that the refill tank (the one behind the
license plate) was overfilling for some reason.  It started out at just
below the "max" mark and ended up all the way at the top seeping out the
vent holes.

It also turns out that the van was, in fact, overheating at traffic lights
while remaining perfectly cool at freeway speeds.  The needle goes up to hot
very quickly in traffic.  Incidently, no leaks detected anywhere except from
the overfilling fill tank at the top vent holes--nothing from the water
pump, heads or at the front of the van.

With all this in mind, I decided to drive the van back to Atlanta on Monday
morning--getting back up to Raliegh the following weekend would have been a
real problem so I managed to convince myself that the van would make it.  I
tried to keep the trips off of I-85 at a minimum, and just to fill up with
gas.  The van would start to get warm as soon as I got off the freeway but
ran great at speeds of between 65 and 70 MPH--no odd noises and fuel mileage
of around 19 MPG.

I made to my usual repair shop and am waiting for his diagnosis.  My
suspicion is that the water pump has either stopped pumping, or the
thermostat is stuck.  If the water pump was running at reduced capacity,
that would explain the overfilling fill tank--the pump could have been
unable to pump coolant to the radiator (even with the temp gauge up high,
the radiator fan never came on).  Perhaps all that hot coolant just expanded
past the expansion tank and into the fill.  Whatever it is, it was cold
enough down here to keep it cool on the freeway for 400 miles between
Raliegh and Atlanta.

Any ideas from the list?

Donald Baxter