Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 23:27:53 -0500
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: My Vanagon's blinking coolant light problem vs other
peoples'---it all blends together
In-Reply-To: <CAFnDXk0ACX-5=u8RtbgfkJHftO0XB6aP9KaJg49BWiFcTjJVJg@mail.gmail.com>
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That may not be that effective at night. But then again your defeating the coolant loss so when enough coolant is lost that the temperature goes out of control you get to do that head gasket job along with the damaged studs and possibly replacing those cracked heads.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Jim Felder
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2014 2:58 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: My Vanagon's blinking coolant light problem vs other peoples'---it all blends together
I have another solution to the problem that I should have posted Friday.
But here goes. Remove the instrument cut out a black disk a little bit larger than the LED and glue it on the back of the needle. Then as long as your temperature is in the correct range, you won't see the blinking light.
If it gets out of range, you'll see it blinking.
Jim
On Saturday, December 13, 2014, Neil N <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:
> On my '88 Westy, the coolant LED will blink continuously until I
> restart the bus, engine warm. It that case, it can blink all day long
> and not cause me any stress. However. I know what's been done to the
> cooling system and know that the light is currently (pun intended)
> malfunctioning. And yes, I should address that issue.
>
> True the blinking light was a bit of a mystery but once I read up on
> it, I realized that in each case, with each bus, the issue was with
> the capacitor in the gauge. The only time the light caused me any
> amount of real stress was during a trip was when it did its' job
> correctly.
>
> As attested by my posts to this list, there have been many other
> Vanagon related issues that have caused me some amount of stress. That
> LED is the least of my concerns. ;)
>
> Neil.
>
>
>
> On 12/13/14, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com <javascript:;>> wrote:
>
> > OK, I agree that the low coolant lights on Vanagons are good things,
> > like many have pointed out...they can save your engine... And we
> > have these cited episodes where indeed these things seem to have
> > done that. But nobody has bothered to post those episodes where
> > the light comes on and cuts a trip short when only the warning
> > system is having issues. Nobody mentions jumping out of the van at
> > 2pm during a snow storm to toss everything on the deck lid out to
> > check the cause of the blinky-light and find exactly nothing wrong, other than the low coolant warning system.
> How
> > many hours of stress do you suppose vanagon drivers have endured
> > trying
> to
> > decide if the warning is valid or false? and what do you suppose the
> ratio
> > of false indications to actual low coolant problems is, in the
> > overall world of Vanagon land? Do you NOT go drive the van, in the
> > hope that the warning is real? or do you go with prior experience
> > and ignore the
> blinker?
> > A warning system with little assurance of it being real, no good.
> > I can cite plenty of episodes where my low coolant light simply
> > fooled me and caused me problems that were just plain not there.
>
>
>
> --
> Neil n
>
> Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general <http://tubaneil.blogspot.ca>
>
> 1988 Westy Images <https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy>
>
> 1981 Westfalia "Jaco" Images, technical
> <http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>
>
> Vanagon-Bus VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>
>
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