Club 80-90 Forums

Long story but here goes, 6 weeks ago I bought a VW T25 Camper, it has, as far as I know had a Golf/Passat 1900 (no Turbo) engine fitted in 2001, anyway the story goes...we picked the camper up from Bournmouth where it had been standing for a month, we drove it to Bury St Edmunds a nice little ride of 205+ miles...could not ask for better, she went like a dream all the way home. I noticed on the way home that the temp guage stayed level with the red light on the guage, right in the middle.
We used the van a couple of times the next week and all seemed ok, we decided to go to Felixstowe the following weekend and once again all was well including the weather lol.....the following Saturday we went into town to do some shopping, and I noticed on the way that the temp guage was taking a long time to come to the normal running position, in fact it just got off the white after 12 miles running.
On the journey back home the trouble started, after about 6 miles I noticed that the temp guage had not moved at all, then the RED OIL LIGHT and the RED LIGHT in the middle of the temp guage started to flash. I stopped the van and checked things including the coolent level, and everything seemed to be ok, so I let it cool down and restarted the journey as we only had 6 miles to go, well they both came on after a couple of minutes again, but I did manage to get her home. I have just started to check her over and I have fitted today, new oil filter, a new thermostat in the water pump, a new temp sender that fits into the bottom of the radiator, I have re filled and purged the air from the water system....I have also tested the fan at the rad by shorting the conections and it works, I have also tested the small water pump that cools the oil filter in the engine compartment in the same way and that runs.
I ran the van today whilst she was standing for 30 minutes and all the pipes were hot, except when I put my hand under the front and checked the hoses that are on the radiator, they were still cold....the heating in the cab is still working ok.
During the 30 minutes running, the van did seem to take quite a while for the engine to heat up, as I said all the pipes were hot including the narrow water pipe from the top rear of the engine block with the sender in it that seems to go towards the front of the van.
During the 30 minutes running, none of the lights on the dash board came on, until I stopped the engine after 30 minutes and then re started it, then both the Red Light in the center of the Temp Guage and the Red Oil light came on, the oil light went off but the one in the centre of the temp guage stayed on....that is the position that I am at this moment in time.
I have tried to test the senders that I can get too but I do not seem to be making much progress,( it would be nice if someone could tell me what the senders do???? there is one in the back of the cylinder block on a water outlet that goes to the front of the van, a small sender that it screwed into the rear of the block, above the one with the sender in it, one on the oil filter, one on the inlet or outlet that joins the the side of the engine block just below the centre of the cylinder head next to the fuel pump and I think that is it apart from the one in the rad, I can forward pictures of all of these in situ if it helps) , is there a special way to test them rather than buying all new????? I would be very greatful for any help that anyone can offer, I can send pictures if required of the engine and the compartment if it would help, and also it might be useful to help someone tell me what kind of Engine and Camper that I have bought lol.
I am in Bury St Edmunds if anyone is local to me, or you can contact me at my email stringfellowz@aol.com to save time.
Many thanks for your time.
Dave...The Tattoo Master.

Check to make sure the system has been bled properly. Reverse it onto some ramps run it, fill it, run it, fill it.
Some of the more modern engines deal with heat much more efficiently than the old engines.

If the light in the centre of the temp guage comes on it's a low-level sensor for the header tank, the fact that the oil light came on too and then went off on it's own with no other dramas or interventions would make me think it's an electrical fault ... possibly a faulty common earth.

Wait for the electrical maestro's to arrive though

Welcome to the club BTW

Ian.

Have you fitted a genuine VW thermostat? Some of the aftermarket ones are a bit iffy.

Is the temp gauge needle going above halfway or is it just the red light flashing.
Might also be worth giving the connectors on the header tank sensor a bit of a clean up

Make sure the header tank is full.

Thanks for the quick reply guys and all the helpful information, I need to find out a couple of other things....the temp gauge sender that controls the temp gauge on the dash, can anuone tell me where the sender is????? I have only found two places that I think it might be, 1. There is a housing at the rear of the engine block and from it runs a rubber water pipe(about one and a half inches wide) that has a sender at right angles to it about three inches from the block, it has a two pin conection. No.2 is from the centre on the side of the cylinder head, just below the injectors and it goes from the cylinder head down and then turns ninety degrees and goes towards the front of the van, this pipe is about two and a half inches across and the sender is about 3 inches from the head and is also a two pin conector at right angles to the pipe there are two branches off this pipe, one goes to the pressure header tank and the other goes to the oil filter. No 3. Is mounted on the top of the oil mfilter and is a single spade fitting. And the last one is at the rear of the cylinder head and is a single spade screw in sender.
If someone can tell me what these senders are responsable for doing I would be very greatful as I am getting no movement at all from my temp gauge on the dash, even after 20 minutes running whilst testing the water temp and the engine was at enough temp to have registered somtething I would have thought.
Once again this site is a god send and thanks once again to all those guys for being so helpfull in such a short time.
I can forward pics if any one needs them, as these things I find hard to explain.
Also if any of you guys are around nthis area and fancy a free tattoo, call in and see me....just a way of saying thanks for the help.......Cheers Tattoo Dave

Hi Tattoomaster,

sorry I can't help with your sender problem, as they are in different positions to the sounds of it to my standard t25 ones. However, one check that I could do when my temp guage refused to budge was, when the engine was running, pull the connectors off the temp sensor (which on mine are located on the thermostat housing) and short the pins in the wiring. At this point, the guage should go to maximum. If it doesn't do anything at all, I was told to check the wiring. When I did it, the guage shot up, so I replaced the sensor. And once again, a temp reading was obtained!

Then it died again (some time later). Went to do the same trick, and where the engine has been replaced, the wiring has failed slightly, and it was pretty clear that there was a bad connection - hubby remade it and the temp guage once again is alive!

Have a look in the wike (see th hammer icon up top right) and follow instructions on uploading photos to the site - then everyone can have a look! You need a free on-line photo account such as photobox/photobucket or flickr.

Good luck - there are plenty of people who have vast knowledge on here! But some pictures of what is T"5 and what is sommat else will help enormously!

Em
x

Hi Emma,
Many thanks for your help I will try that today.....if the rain stops, if not then another job for the weekend.
I am now going to try and put the pic's onto the site, as it would apear that whatever engine is in the van is not the origional, but I believe that the water system is the same.

All the best
Dave
The Tattoo Master

Tattoomaster,
You may get some clues from the wiring colour codes. The sender that controls the temperature gauge is normally connected to a Yellow/Red wire and a brown earth wire.

The sender that signals the fuel injection normally has a white wire (and a brown/blue earth wire)

The oil pressure switch(es) normally have just the one wire (probably brown) but are connected to a Blue/Black and (if two switches) a Yellow further along the wiring if you can trace them.
This is from the Watercooled flat four wiring diagram.

With a non standard engine the wires may have been altered, but worth a look.

Mike

Hi Mike,
I am trying to upload some pics, so that someone might be able to tell me what model and type the van is.
http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k237/paragliderman
I hope this works lol.
All the best
Dave
The Tattoo Master

Scroll down the picture you want to post and a drop down appears go to the bottom one IMG code. Left click then right click on copy.



Jobs a goodun.

Cheers Pepp
Now at least I know what to test and what to buy, I have noticed that if the plug from this sender is shorted across, it starts up the small water pump in the rear that circulates the water around the Oil Filter, is this normal??
Cheers Mate
Dave

That should work....Dave. Click your link so that your album opens in a new window. Then open a reply posting and click the Img button. Now go to your phot album, and right mouse click your chosen image. Now click properties. A box opens, and halfway down it says location: http.... Highlight all the addrss from http to the .jpg, and use ctrl C to copy the address. Now go back to your 80-90 post. The cursor shoulb be in the middle of img and /img. Use Ctrl V to paste the address in. Then press preview to try it out.


Want a bigger image - open your photo in the album first, then do the address thing

Em
x

Here are some images of my Camper. anyone know the model????????







Many thanks to every one for there help, I will be testing the van today after fitting the new temp sensor...fingers crossed, if I have no joy in getting the temp gauge working then all mthat is lefty is a bad earth or a knackered gauge lol.

Cheers
Dave

Well I fitted the new Temp Gauge Sensor and ran the van for 30 minutes this morning, all the water pipes are getting hot around the engine but half way down the pipe that I fitted the new sensor still testing.