WasserCooling

Like the caption says, that is the magical and mysterious cooling system for the 86-91 VW Vanagon (except Syncro.) Today I replaced #24, which required taking off #23. I also replaced #14 and flushed the system. No major problems encountered. I was worried about taking off #23 since it is often a challenge to get bolts loose from the engine after 21+ years and many heat cycles. I was afraid of stripping things and then needing to make difficult repairs outside the scope of the repairs I was attempting today. Tomorrow I will flush the system again and then refill it with coolant. The refilling process is also magical and mysterious due to the complexity shown in the diagram above. It involves raising the front of the vehicle, and filling the system with coolant while the engine is running at 2000 rpm so that the water pump can force the coolant into all the nooks and crannies of the system.

And now, news from the irony front. I was helping my church set up a table at the peace rally. I overheard a couple conversations while I was there. One person made reference that it would be best to start completely over with a new government here in the US, and that the state of the union address would be a convenient time to do away with the current one. Another suggested that he could only kill someone in self defense, and that W was putting him in danger. Then I went back to my WasserCooling repairs.