1985 Westy Named George

[MarkWard]

No help on the wires. The plastic wire loom material is not stock. 1000 miles on a new to you van? Not what I would do, but many members think the joy of traveling in a VW is the breaking down. The people you meet, the unexpected places you end up, etc.

I'm more the get there and back without incident type.

In the r/f of the engine compartment are to square valves with electrical and hoses. One is for the AC fast idle, the other is for the power steering fast idle. Try unplugging one at a time with the engine running and see if the idle slows.

Also, there is a manual idle adjustment on the throttle body and you need to verify your throttle body switch is adjusted and working. Time for the factory manual on those items.
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[16CVs]

Have you thought to ask the Previous owner what those non stock wires are for?
If they owned it for any length of time and did a 2.1 in a 1.9 van they must have come across these wires.

Stacy
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1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread.

[Jim Bear]

I will admit that I did not do my due diligence on this one. Several "red flags" popped up and I still bit the bullet.

Nearest I can tell the PO knows little about what is going on in the engine bay. He had been taking it to a "trusted mechanic" whom I will also be reaching out to. That being said, I have a list of questions that I will be emailed to the PO and I will include the mystery wires. There was a cruise control hooked up at one point and I am wondering if they might belong to that set-up. As I look through the records and discover things on my own I am getting the feeling someone was not totally on the up-and-up with me.

That being said, the engine runs strong and gets up and goes. If I can fix the idle issue I will have no current complaints about current performance.
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"You're either on the bus, or you're off the bus." ~kk
'85 Vanagon Westy - George In the Stable 2020-?/'74 Weekender - Ophelia In the Stable 2007- ?/'69 Beetle Convertible - SOLD 2017-2020/'67 Beetle - September SOLD 2013-2016 /'67 SO42 Westy - Sage SOLD 1996-2001 /'69 Transporter - Baby Blue SOLD 1995-1995/'72 Westy - Nelly - SOLD 1990-1995--STOP FRACKING

[zimflux]

[DuncanS]

Fuel lines, fuel lines, fuel lines. Do not leave home without a Bentley. If you get stuck in East Podunk and wind up in any garage but an experienced Vanagon one, he will need your Bentley to get you home.

[Abscate]

[Yellow Rabbit]

[Jim Bear]

I did my pre-trip check and hit the road for a weekend of driving and camping. I was nervous but had confidence in the Vanagon. I hit the Lowes for a few cans of propane for the lantern and as I walked behind the Vanagon I smelled coolant, burning as it hit the muffler, and then saw it dripping onto the ground. My heart sank. At least I was only 8 miles from home and not on 77N somewhere. I moved the Vanagon to the outreaches of the parking lot and went in to inspect.

I determined that the coolant was coming out from the expansion tank and looked to be coming out from the front right mounting screw(?). This is it, but not my Vanagon.

It may have been coming from another location on the tank as well, but it did seem limited to just the tank. I did not see that coolant was coming from any of the hoses. I appeared to have lost about 1/2 cup of coolant judging by what I saw in the ground and in the engine bay. I was already planning on heading home to swap into my mini-van for the trip, I just needed to get George home. I started the van and to my dismay, the temp indicator light was flashing after I started it. I was getting ready to move to another spot in the lot to wait for a tow and when I started moving the indicator light went out. I took a deep breath and headed for home, it ran great with no indicator light at all. After getting home I looked around for a bit more, saw lo leaking, tightened down the screw in question, and went for a 10-minute drive. No indicator light, ran great, temp needle in the normal location, but got home and the leak was back. Curses and then transferred my gear to the Toyota. Good trip, sans Vanagon.

Side notes,
~the temp gauge needle seemed suspiciously low prior to me noticing the leak, as in the needle did not make it out of the paint on the gauge. It then crept up to just about the indicator light on the drive home, normal location.
~Ironically, as I was doing my pre-trip inspection I checked the coolant, engine cold; I did not open it but I could see that it was full in the expansion tank. I did open the overflow tank and it was empty. I was going to stop at the drug store to get some distilled water to fill it to the line but aborted the mission before I could do that.

Any thoughts?
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"You're either on the bus, or you're off the bus." ~kk
'85 Vanagon Westy - George In the Stable 2020-?/'74 Weekender - Ophelia In the Stable 2007- ?/'69 Beetle Convertible - SOLD 2017-2020/'67 Beetle - September SOLD 2013-2016 /'67 SO42 Westy - Sage SOLD 1996-2001 /'69 Transporter - Baby Blue SOLD 1995-1995/'72 Westy - Nelly - SOLD 1990-1995--STOP FRACKING

[Yellow Rabbit]

That’s just a mounting screw. It has no affect on sealing a leak. I’d get a new tank, bleed the cooling system well, and then re evaluate.

[mikemtnbike]

Clamp the hoses coming off the tank- if you don't own hose clamps already, buy some. Empty the tank as much as you can with some kind of suction- turkey baster, siphon, shopvac, whatever you got. Detach the hoses. This will minimize mess, coolant loss.

Replace the sensor when you replace the tank, IME the threads aren't going to match and you may have another leak if you try to reuse the sensor.

Look up "Libby Bong" in the forum for my preferred bleed method. The big thread in FAQ's also describes a lot of other ways to do that, but ?waldo?'s tool has been proof against this fool.
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[MarkWard]

The water pump is just in front and below that tank as well. Pumps will leak and not leak in the beginning. The pulley and belt can wing coolant around as the leak gets worse. Pressure testing the cooling system is not a bad idea and visually looking at the weap hole in the waterpump from below.
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[Jim Bear]

[mikemtnbike]

You don't have to drain the whole system, just the tank. That's why you'd clamp the hoses coming off the tank before removing them from the tank- so most of the coolant stays in the system. I also think it's less mess to siphon out most of the coolant from the tank rather than try to catch it all by detaching a hose after clamping it, I always end up with an armpit full of coolant and a toxic puddle on the floor when I do that.

I agree with Mark that best practice would be a pressure test before replacing any parts. Can't hurt, may save work later. It's really easy to build your own "good enough" pressure tester, several threads on it, I just hacked one together using a blown out blue cap, clamps, a length of hose, and a schraeder valve.
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[Ahwahnee]

Whether checking for leaks with a pressure test or a running engine... I like to use a dark paper towel like the blue one or brown ones offered in public places like gas stations.

Those will immediately show even a small drop of liquid.

Get the area very clean and dry - then start daubing with the towel to catch the leak location at the very moment it begins.

You'll save a lot of time, effort & money if you confirm exactly what is leaking.

[Abscate]

IME, in my experience
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.ssS!

[koubiak]

i had similar leak in the area and it most likely to be you clamp on the top hose that my expand when getting warm and you drip a little. I would first do a pressure test and check your clamps.

[Jim Bear]

OK. Got a pressure tester from the FLAPS. Attached and pressurized to 10lbs, engine cold. Held full pressure for 10 minutes. Released pressure, started van, repressurized to 10lbs. Let run for 15-20 minutes, lost a little less than 1lb over this time. Shut off the van and went to reattach the cap and it would not seat correctly, it clicks as I tighten and pops off of the threads. I got it tightened to the point just before it clicks off of the threads and went for a drive. Got home and there was some leakage with a spot directly under the tank. There was also some coolant around the sensor making me believe the coolant was coming from the cap and running down the rear of the tank past the sensor. No noticeable coolant around the water pump or thermostat housing and when the tester was hooked up with the engine running there was no coolant leaking from anywhere. Either I f'ed the threads with the pressure tester attachment or this was my original issue with the cap not seating correctly (I am going with the later). When the cap was on originally the outlet was pointing to the left of the van with the hose in a "strained" position as it is having to make a big bend to connect. I saw no evidence of leakage from where the hose connects and before I removed it it was ziptied in place. I am on my way out now to inspect the threads more closely as it was dark when I was doing all of this last night.
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"You're either on the bus, or you're off the bus." ~kk
'85 Vanagon Westy - George In the Stable 2020-?/'74 Weekender - Ophelia In the Stable 2007- ?/'69 Beetle Convertible - SOLD 2017-2020/'67 Beetle - September SOLD 2013-2016 /'67 SO42 Westy - Sage SOLD 1996-2001 /'69 Transporter - Baby Blue SOLD 1995-1995/'72 Westy - Nelly - SOLD 1990-1995--STOP FRACKING

[MarkWard]

The majority of the vehicles that come into our possession have overheated beyond what the owners want to spend to fix them. Its better to avoid overheats. The replacement caps are hit or miss. The replacement tanks are also not as quality as the originals. The level sensor depends on an O ring and plastic threads to seal.

My advice would be to get something like this. It might seem pricey, but cheap insurance going forward. No affiliation, but I could not fabricate one and sell it for that price. It uses a conventional radiator cap that you can buy anywhere.

https://www.vancafe.com/025121403-AL-p/025121403-al.htm
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[Jim Bear]

OK. Still dealing with the coolant leak. Pretty sure it's the cap as the tank held 10lbs pressure for 15 minutes cold and lost a little less than 1lb running for 20+ minutes. Also, notice the direction of the cap in the pic below; it needs to be there as it will click off track if turned any further and was pointing that direction when I got the van.

I determined that it is a 2.1 engine, code MV. That being said, from what I have seen online and what others said earlier from looking at the pic below I have Digijet FI and 1.9 trimmings. Is this weird? An issue?

To the tank. Likely a 1.9 tank? Could it be for a 2.1? Can we tell from the pics? I want to order up one of the fancy aluminum ones but need to know which to get. The top tank pic looks like a 1.9 with the smaller tube below.

Below the overflow hose is disconnected for the pic and the A/C belt was cut off by the PO as the A/C did not work--future project after dealing with the non-functional heater blower. Anything else stand out in these limited views? And yes, that is plumbers tape which I tried as a temp fix.

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"You're either on the bus, or you're off the bus." ~kk
'85 Vanagon Westy - George In the Stable 2020-?/'74 Weekender - Ophelia In the Stable 2007- ?/'69 Beetle Convertible - SOLD 2017-2020/'67 Beetle - September SOLD 2013-2016 /'67 SO42 Westy - Sage SOLD 1996-2001 /'69 Transporter - Baby Blue SOLD 1995-1995/'72 Westy - Nelly - SOLD 1990-1995--STOP FRACKING

[Ahwahnee]

That looks like a Digijet reservoir to me.

Did you test the cap?

Did you verify it has a rubber gasket in it?