Another coolant horror story.....

[ss1642]

Doing my annual west coast trip from San Diego up the coast, usually stop at Big Sur, this year the goal was Oregon and I convinced the wife to come along (uh oh).
Made it to Ventura, stopped for gas, 5 mins into pumping I hear a loud "Wooosh" and see coolant spreading across the concrete. Blown hose. I am not a mechanic and I dont carry extra hoses (should !?) (is duct tape an otion?) Took it to a non-VW place, after day one they replace the hose but cant get the fan to go on (it was working before), on day two they replace the reservoir sensor seal and the radiator fan switch. blinky light is flashing but they say it is not out of the ordinary.
On the road, made it to San Jose, blew another hose. Tow it to a VW guy in Watsonville, he says I need the bleeder junction, and he replaces the hose. He charges me 235 for fancy metal junction, I see van cafe has it for 175. My wife and I rent a car to Eugene.
On the way back, I pick up the van, it runs like a charm, no blinky light Make it to Santa Barbara heading south and woooosh, blew hose #3.

Tow it to a Firestone, they replace hose, do a pressure check and it runs like a charm (no blinky light). They even run it for 30 in their garage and fan runs like a charm. 15 mins into the freeway run, blinky light comes on and I pull over and I realize fan is not coming on. The Firestone is closed, so returning is not an option. Freeway driving ok, but heats up during city driving. Limp back home.

Qustion: Is the radiator fan switch the most likely cause of the fan not coming on? Work at Ventura shop was warrantied for one year, do I drive it back up and have them redo it?

[theDrew]

check the reservoir cap? -- it should let pressure out at something like 12psi. too much pressure in the system will do all kinds of bad things, like blow hoses.
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Turbo 2276 MS3X build http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=673125
1985 Vanagon Campmobile w/ 2005 EJ25

[PDXWesty]

Sounds like it could be a bad radiator. The fan should only need to come on when you're sitting in traffic. If it comes on while driving (unless you have the AC on), there's something wrong.
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89 Westy 2.1 Auto

[theDrew]

is the radiator warm/hot/cold?
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Turbo 2276 MS3X build http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=673125
1985 Vanagon Campmobile w/ 2005 EJ25

[eeebee]

Blowing hoses could be the pressure cap. It's cheap and easy to replace so do it.

The blinky light is usually just low on coolant. After bleeding it can take a while to get all the air out. On new models, the air will generally find its way to the reservoir if it was bleed correctly. I have heard that the older models are more difficult and may need to be bled again at the radiator.

The fan didn't work, then did work, then didn't again? The fan is controlled by a different sensor half way up the radiator. If the radiator is not full and the sensor is not wet then the fan won't come on. Could be other things though.

Get it bled correctly. I have done my '87 many times and it is not that hard. I don't know about the earlier ones except what I've read on The Samba. What are you driving? Use the search if necessary.

Good luck.
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Eric

1987 Vanagon Wolfsburg Special Edition
GoWesty 2.3

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

[duderanchero]

just wanted to say, i've been running the morymob unpressurized system (drill 1/16" hole through disc in pressure cap), and things have been working much better. i live in el paso, tx. it's way hot.

there is a root problem to address here (clogged radiator, low-speed fan resistor busted, pinched hose, etc.), but drilling a hole in the pressure cap (not all the way) could take some stress off the hoses, gaskets, etc.
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'91 carat stick

[Petervw]

[MSmyth]

[ss1642]

I dont fully understand the 1/16" hole, is that in the reservoir cap, or the cap in the main coolant container.

After running hot in city traffic, the fan finally comes on but after the needle is over 3/4.

After another hot day driving, after about 10 mins I opened the cap of the main coolant container and "glug, glug, glug" coolant flowed into the container filling it up, I dont know if it came from the reservoir or the main system, but now the system runs fine, no blinky light, needle stays at about 2/5 even in heavy traffic.... What happened?

[atomatom]

[Homercules]

Not sure but isn't all the excess pressure in the system vented through the expansion tank? ie Pressure builds in the system as it heats up until the cap senses too much and vents by pushing liquid into the expansion/overflow tank. When the system pressure drops (vacuum) that fluid is pulled back into the pressure tank. As long as the pressure cap is working and the expansion/overflow tank can breathe all should work fine. If the expansion tank is plugged then the system could easily overpressure right?

So check the blue cap and the expansion/overflow cap.[/i]
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89 Syncro

[Wildthings]

[Homercules]

Right! I should have said overflow not expansion. Fixed.
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89 Syncro

[Navy_Flyer]

The 'overflow' tank (the one behind the license plate) is not pressurized. There is a vented tab at the top of that tank to let air in/out as coolant comes in/out from the expansion/pressure tank (w/blue cap). Make sure that the vented tab opening is clear on the overflow tank.

Another thing to check is that the hose from the blue cap that connects to the bottom of the overflow tank is not kinked closed by being too short (happens if you trim the end to the cap once too often - I know from experience), or blocked by debris so there is a free path to/from the overflow tank.
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1987 Westfalia, Automatic. EJ25 VANARU Conversion

[duderanchero]