Date: Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:43:36 -0500
Reply-To: Woody Halsey <WHalsey@SYA.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Woody Halsey <WHalsey@SYA.ORG>
Subject: Re: Woody's woes/ botched bleeding
In-Reply-To: A<231861.77990.qm@web33504.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Merry Christmas, Robert. Well, at least misery likes company, I guess!
I have already put in a new radiator, so I am thinking there is an air
bubble blocking the flow to the radiator ... and it must be a bubble
that moved into place while I was trying to bleed the system. Otherwise,
why would air and coolant have escaped from the radiator for a little
while, then stopped?
I don't think the coolant was "boiling over" in the expansion tank,
thought there were lots of belches and blurps and bubbles and over flow.
The temp of the coolant was only about 175-185F, as checked with the
infrared thermometer.
Maybe I will try again this afternoon, after the twins open their
presents and if it warms up a bit here.
Woody
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Robert Keezer
Sent: Thursday, December 24, 2009 8:07 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Woody's woes/ botched bleeding
Woody, All the symptoms you decribe are the ones I have on my 84
Westfalia.
What I think we are going to have to do is replace radiators.
Either replace or clean. I just bought a new Wahler thermostat and it
still boils over.
I also have a loose connection somewhjere in the fuse block which
prevents the radiator fan from activating.
I discovered this after I shut it down due to a boil-over. I shook the
fuse block and the fan came on high, then dropped to low speed.
My radiator had been getting warm, the bleeder was spouting hot water,
but then it stopped and the tank boiled over.
Mine might just be the fan wiring. Has your radiator fan come on at all?
I now have to repair a section of coolant pipe under the van that
cracked from our freeze a week ago.
Once that is done, I'm going to unplug the fan switch plug and run the
fan with a jumper on the plug. With the fan running full time, if it
boils over it's either the radiator or my new thermostat doesn't work.
Or??
Robert
1982 Westfalia
--- On Thu, 12/24/09, Woody Halsey <WHalsey@SYA.ORG> wrote:
> From: Woody Halsey <WHalsey@SYA.ORG>
> Subject: Woody's woes/ botched bleeding
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Date: Thursday, December 24, 2009, 1:56 PM
>
> Well, I finally found a moment when the sun was still
> somewhat in the
> sky, the temperature was up and my bro-in-law was willing
> to keep his
> foot on the accelerator. Here's what happened. Explanations
> and
> suggestions will be more than welcome!
>
> 1) Started the engine and drove up
> onto ramps, raising the nose
> about 8".
> 2) Opened front and back heaters.
> 3) Opened bleeder valve on new
> radiator; took cap off expansion
> tank.
> 4) Filled expansion tank with water
> (it was pretty low).
> 5) Noted serious gurgling, burping
> and splashing from expansion
> tank, but only
> 6) Minor hissing from the
> radiator.
> 7) Then some coolant escaped from
> the bleeder valve on the radiator
> ... then....
> 8) NOTHING more from the radiator
> -- no air, no liquid -- while the
> expansion tank continued to bubble like a witch's
> cauldron.
>
> The heater under the back seat was blowing hot air; the
> front fan blew
> only cold air. I added a total of about two quarts of
> water.
>
> After about 15-20 minutes I gave up and invited my
> brother-in-law in for
> a drink by the fire, saying I would not try again until I
> had received
> the combined Wisdom from The List, hoping that maybe the
> air bubbles
> will work their way towards the radiator overnight.
>
> Some additional facts:
>
> 1) Mechanic added fresh coolant
> with the engine raised, not the
> nose; so clearly the system is in need of bleeding.
> 2) Thermostat, sensors and radiator
> are all new.
> 3) Gauge pegs as soon as the engine
> is turned on ... but then,
> sometimes, goes back to normal readings. This afternoon it
> ended up
> looking pretty normal after intitially pegging and
> flashing.
> 4) Couldn't find the bleeder valve
> in the engine compartment. I
> think it was eliminated years ago for some reason; maybe it
> broke and
> the hoses were just spliced together.
>
> Merry Christmas to all, and thanks in advance.
>
> Woody
> 83.5 V'gon
> Haverhill, MA
>
>
> P.S. Now I am going to mix a cocktail, print out the tree
> ornament and
> try to pry my kids away from the ginger bread house
> project to help me.
>
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