Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 13:31:32 -0600
Reply-To: Andrew Fox <afox@CNR.COLOSTATE.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Andrew Fox <afox@CNR.COLOSTATE.EDU>
Subject: Re: Summer's coming and my van is getting hotter than ever!!
In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20040427132617.03b1e2b0@pop1.attglobal.net>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
The electrical problems ive seen in the vanagon have been with troublesome
grounds, brittle plastic connectors breaking, etc. I have seen several
vanagons with faulty temp gauges, the big wide connector that connects the
"electrical ribbon" to the insturment cluster has been know to provide
poor contact and cause problems, also there is a voltage regulator
attached to the temp gauge which has been known to fail.
Considering that a t-stat for a vanagon runs $16-$19 and the special
coolant costs $11 a gallon, and if you do anything to the cooling system
you have to spend an hour bleeding it I think John would be best off using
an IR thermometer to find out if the t-stat is really working or not
before replacing anything, and its much easier to do it with the t-stat in
the vehicle with the IR sensor than taking it out and putting it in
boiling water.
Also, i was'nt comparing the vanagons electrical system to exotics like
british cars, i was comparing it to other more popular cars ive owned:
toyotas, hondas, chevy's, and ford's.
Andrew
On Tue, 27 Apr 2004, David Beierl wrote:
> At 09:19 AM 4/25/2004 -0600, Andrew Fox wrote:
> >The temp gauge in the vanagon is crap,
>
> Oh come now, it's about equal to any other automotive temp gauge, with the
> same virtues and failings. Like all of them it won't respond properly
> unless it's immersed in coolant which of course is a big disadvantage if
> you have a LOCA. And it won't tell you much about air pockets, but neither
> will the others. Beyond that the electronics for the low-coolant blinker
> are a bit sensitive and probably could have been done better. But the
> other ten or so vehicles I've owned didn't have one at all...
>
> > get, borrrow, or pay someont to
> >take your vanagons temperature with a thermal IR sensor
>
> That's a good idea in general -- however I'm fairly sure the gauge in this
> case is telling the truth. The cut-in point for the fan is about right,
> and the behavior with the heater is highly suggestive.
>
> > to find out if its
> >really running hot and help diagnose the problem before replacing
> >anything!
> >
> >Vanagons have the worst electrical systems i have ever seen in a vehicle,
> >very very prone to failure, very poor engineering, germans can be idiots
> >too!
>
> Ah, a Toyota man? You've surely never owned...oh, say a Sunbeam (or MG,
> same difference) or Saab. My Sunbeam was highly advanced -- the electrics
> were fused* -- two fuses actually but one was put in by a former owner I think.
>
> *British-speakers feel free to enjoy the pun...
>
> david
>
>
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