Hi Howard,

I've had this problem a few times with my 85 Westy, what I've found is that
the average FLAPS thermostat will only last a few months. I have had one VW
thermostat in my Westy for 18 months and is still working fine. Also if you
get air in the cooling system it will run cold at speed and then hot at idle
or in traffic. It takes a few tries at bleeding the cooling system and get
all the air out. Try bleeding three of four days in a row to purge out as
much air as possible. Good luck,

Joe B.
85 Westy 238,000 miles, same engine same trans

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf Of
Howard Fleming
Sent: Monday, December 06, 1999 2:40 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Little heat output in a 85 Vanagon

Greetings all,

I have an 85 Vanagon that is putting out very little heat.  I have
replaced the thermostat, and changed the coolent earlier this year
(had the problem before doing this also).

As far as I can tell, the problem is with the engine not coming up to
tempature (except in hot weather, or very slow stop and go driving).

The needle on the temp gauge is usually toward the bottom of the
gauge.

Any suggestions?

TIA,
Howard

hfleming@moosebird.com    Alexandria, VA   hfleming@moosebird.com
99 EuroVan MV - 97 Cabrio - 85 Vanagon - 84 Westy
84 Vanagon GL (spare parts that turned into a project)