Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:41:19 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Blinking coolant light - fixed
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re
"A new sensor w/ o-ring is < $8 @ van-cafe."
this is van cafe's page showing a real OE sensor for $ 24,30 and they say
that's the only one they've found really works and lasts well.
http://www.van-cafe.com/home/van/smartlist_227/level_sensor.html
I bought one recently. Then I started checking prices and what's avaiable.
I have access to two different types.
one is 'the cheap type'.........that I get from a wholesale supplier.
They cost me a rediculously low price .......like how can they possibly make
any part, package it and ship it for that low a price ? .
the $ 8 one mentioned might be one of those.
and I've had trouble with those sensors too - either just not staying firmly
in the bottle, or splitting in the thread area and popping ( or blasting if
the coolant is hot and well pressurized ) right out of the threaded hole in
the coolant pressure bottle.,
< and if that happens with the engine cover removed .......Iv'e seen that
spray a fine mist of coolant all over the entire interior of the van even .
>
not trying to sell any parts here, but in other price checking I found out I
can get OE ones, for now anyway , at a decent price.
also .........
not to make a big deal of it .......
from John's write up online :
"If your expansion tank (Not the overflow tank that you check through the
license plate door) is full of coolant, check the level sensor by pulling
the sensor connector from the tank and shorting the two connectors inside
the plug. If the light stops flashing you might have a bad sensor."
If I am reading that correctly, it states that jumpering together the two
pins of the connector that plugs onto the level sensor will make the LED
stay off.
What I have found is that jumpering the two pins will make the LED flash.
At least on an 84 it will.
In other words, either disconnnecting the level sensor plug, or jumpering
it's two pins togehter, , either one, will make the LED flash.
if one wants to trick the circuit into thinking the level sesning part is
OK.........then jumpering it with a resistor will trick the circuit up
front into thinking the level sensing part is OK. Can't say for sure on
later models, but on an 84 it's like that.
84 is a 'tricky year' about that sensing thing in that if the level portion
goes off, it pegs the temp needle. This is fixed in 85 and later with a
different control unit I believe. On those if the level sensor goes off,
the needle still reads what the real coolant temp is.
. Mr M. D. and others know the details of this better than I do, but I
would try to get the later control unit if that's an easy fix.
I had an 84 that one minute after start up, the light would flash, the
needle would peg, and I knew it wasn't overheating that quickly of course.
My quick and temporary 'fix' on that one was to jumper the two pins on the
level sensor connector with a resistor. The value of the resistor doesn't
even seem to matter much. Might have been 5 ohms or something, maybe 10,
but it wasn't picky about what value resistor.
Many cars don't have a level sensing function, just temp sensing. Since
I believe in checking things in the engine compartment frequently, it's fine
with me to have only temp sensing function. An overactive warning system
isn't fun to have, and can even trick you .........it could actually be low
on coolant, but since 'oh, that light is going off all the time anyway'
......you are tricked into a false sense of ok-ness, when perhaps it's
really not ok that one time.
Currently on all my vanagons, the level sensing function is intact and
working properly.
last thought................... I have not done this myself, but I have read
about a subaruvanagon conversion-ist, who put a pressure guage on his
cooling system. ( o to 25 psi would be about right, perhaps 0 to 20 ) .
Cooling system pressure should run around 14 psi or so fully warmed up.
If it starts dropping ........you consider if there's a leak happening.
If it gets extra high, you start wondering if the pressure cap isn't
releasing pressure when it should or if t-hermostat is stuck closed etc.
Combustion gases getting into the coolant via a bad headgasket might also
show up this way - possibly. I' not sure that it would actually....but it
might.
I thought that was kinda clever - the pressure guage on the cooling system
thing.
Scott
turbovans
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Meeks" <vanagon@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 7:22 PM
Subject: Re: Blinking coolant light - fixed
Jake,
Put an ohmmeter on the sensor leads. I'd bet it reads high resistance. A new
sensor w/ o-ring is < $8 @ van-cafe.
On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 9:57 PM, Jake de Villiers <
crescentbeachguitar@gmail.com> wrote:
> Nice write-up John. My '84 needs this, as at this time of year the blinky
> light stays on until the van is warm enough (the capacitor is warm
> enough?)
> to hold electricity.
>
> I just ignore the damn thing in the wintertime since I am confident that
> the van hasn't lost all its coolant overnight! =)
>
> Seeya, Jake
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 6:25 PM, John Meeks <vanagon@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hello Van Pilots,
>>
>> The symptom: coolant light would do it's normal diagnostic blinking, then
>> a
>> few seconds later would start blinking continuously till the engine ran a
>> bit and was restarted.
>>
>> This winter my coolant light started blinking when the air temp got down
>> to
>> 30°F when last winter it had to get down to about 5° F. I shrewdly
>> discerned
>> a trend. So naturally I went about fixing the problem completely opposite
>> than what logic would suggest.
>>
>> Removed the temp guage from the tach cluster and performed a successful
>> capacitor transplant. Feeling pretty good, I reassembled the the whole
>> thing and fired up. blink...blink...blink... arrgh. Checked the level
>> sensor and yep, way out of spec.
>> MegaOhms. DOH!!
>>
>> Anyway I wrote it all up with logic and pictures and put it on the web:
>> http://www.vanagonauts.com/Warning-Light-Fix241.htm
>>
>> Comments welcome.
>>
>> John Meeks
>> '91 Multivan
>> Northern Michigan
>>
>> Vanagon Rescue Squad
>> http://www.vanagonauts.com/Vanagon_Rescue_Squad74.htm
>>
>> Radio Call:KC8ZFN
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Jake
>
> 1984 Vanagon GL
> 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
>
> Crescent Beach, BC
>
> www.thebassspa.com
> www.crescentbeachguitar.com
> http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27
>
>
