At 03:04 PM 7/20/96 -0500, you wrote:
>I imagine that most of you have experienced this wild flashing of the 
>temp. gauge for no apparent reason...the van is NOT overheating, nothing 
>is wrong, it just goes nuts.
>
>My '83 van does it, my friend's '88 does it...the mechanic doesn't know 
>what causes it, Volkswagon charged my friend $1,100 to NOT fix it...
>
>It's not the thermostat, the radiator, the hoses, or the instrument 
>panel.  
>
>The only 'sure fix' I can think of is black tape across the front of the 
>instrument panel so we don't see it!  :)
>
>Any help would be most appreciated.
>
>Nancy <who spent her infancy in a bassinet bolted to the rear floor of a 
>'58 bus...>
>
I've seen a few other messages on this board that allude to this solution,
but here it is anyway: the coolant light is hooked to a sensor that not only
detects low coolant, but measures the conductivity of the coolant to assure
that there is an appropriate antifreeze-water mixture.  If the specific
gravity is wrong, the light will stay on.  You might be using too much or
too little antifreeze or perhaps an off brand which reacts different with
the sensor than the coolant recommended by VW.