Thanks to everyone to replied to my smokey email.

Matilda's health is still uncertain.  Following your suggestions I sniffed
carefully all over (felt a bit like a dog sniffing around!) but couldn't
identify any clear source of the smell.  The engine smelled, the front
smelled, the middle smelled.  The new Optima battery (not yet connected)
looked fine and didn't smell.  No visible problems around the fuses.  Heat
fans work fine.  I opened up the coolant reservoir again this morning when
the van was nice and cold, and once again the coolant came gushing out.
Then I realized that the level of coolant in the reservoir behind the
license plate was around two inches above the "max" line, which certainly
wasn't my doing, as I haven't put coolant in since December and it was at
the appropriate level two days ago.

A friend who knows more about cars (though not vanagons) had a look.  He
thought I had problems with one of my cylinders not working up to snuff, and
didn't really know where the smell came from.  It didn't help that the smell
had rather dissipated when he was looking at it.  He thought the cylinder
problem was causing pressure which was forcing the coolant into the upstream
reservoir, and that this might be a head gasket problem.  I have absolutely
no idea if he knew what he was talking about.

Then I phoned Transporter Werks in Raleigh, and had a long chat with them.
They were really nice.  So I decided to make use of my high-end AAA and have
the van towed to Raleigh, since if there was a coolant problem I didn't want
to make it worse by driving it, and if there was an electrical problem I
didn't want to cause a fire.

Sean at Transporter Werks spent a bunch of time looking at things, while my
friend Cris whom I'm visiting worked on her dissertation on a bench in the
sun and her big black dog gambolled around the repair lot with the two big
black dogs who live at Transporter Werks.  He - Sean, I mean, not the dogs -
sniffed and poked and prodded and looked at the engine and the wires under
the dash and the heat and the wires around the engine.  He said it smelled
to him like brake pads, not wiring, though he thought it quite reasonable
that everyone had suggested wiring.  My mechanical buddy Steve in Maryland
and I had bled the brakes, but not changed anything else, so new brake pads
weren't the problem.

Then we went for a drive and Sean said he thought my front bearings needed
adjusting or were worn and this was causing the wheels to sit a bit wrong
and putting constant pressure on the brakes, which was causing them to
overheat causing the smell.

I left the van there for further examination - so much for going to Savannah
tomorrow.  Should hear back from Sean with a more definite diagnosis
tomorrow.

How does this sound for plausibility to any of you?

Joy

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Joy Hecht
and Matilda, 1989 Burgundy Vanagon
and Henrietta, sad-eyed orangutan who waltzes with Matilda and me
and Bicycle and Kayak, who ride on Matilda

For musings about life and the vanadventures:
http://users.rcn.com/jhecht/gypsy
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