Driving up steep grade in lower gear, higher rpm will make a healthy stock Vanagon overheat eventually. That’s my experience. I monitor oil temperature and pull over before oil temp gets to 250F. This occurs before engine overheats enough to trigger flashing coolant light. A climb of 3000 ft or so is enough to get oil temp to 250. I don’t push it, just pull over and take in the view, take my time.

I think your van is likely OK, just need to stay aware of its limitations and heed any warnings.

-Mark

> On Oct 8, 2023, at 5:22 PM, Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Useful suggestion to clean the connections at the coolant temp sender.  It’s the older round style, so I pulled the spade connectors and sanded them.  We’ll see if that makes a difference.
> I have also been looking at possible problems with the fan.  It did come on while I was running it to try bleeding and checking temperatures, so that works.  It also comes on when I turn the AC on.  I haven’t heard it come on really loud, which is apparently what it’s supposed to do when the radiator is too hot.
> GoWesty has a kit to allow you to calibrate the temperature gauge, but without knowing what the actual engine temp is I'm not sure if that's safe.
> Next thing is probably to find a nice steep grade to drive up at slow speed and see what happens.
> 
> Here's an interesting thread on TheSamba about coolant sendor variability.
> 
> https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8085137
> 
> But, if my notes are correct I had the thermostat, thermostat housing and senders all replaced three years ago so I don't know why it would have changed this year.
> 
> Mike Finkbiner
> Moscow, Idaho
> mike_l_f@hotmail.com
> 
> Any idiot can face a crisis-it's this day-to-day living that wears you out.
>                      -Anton Chekhov