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The van has a few issues at the moment. Coolant and transmission fluid leak out. There is a rattling noise from the hood at high speeds.The AC does not work. The rear heater sometimes blows cold air. And finally and most importantly, yesterday the main heater started blowing cold while the engine temperature got to the upper part of the normal range.
This was a day to investigate all those problems.
First was the banging at high speeds. Looks like that is due to a missing weather strip at the back of the hood. That will be easy enough to fix.
Next up is the leaking coolant and the potential overheating. I think the water pump is leaking fluid. That, combined with a low coolant level caused the nearly overheating condition. Thankfully it was still around 5 degrees outside so the engine temp stayed in range. Replacing the water pump and gaskets is in order.
Then on to the transmission. I can see fluid in various places around the transmission but I can't pinpoint where it is leaking from. This will be a job for a shop. I know from experience climbing under the van to drop the transmission pan is NO FUN.
Lastly is the cold rear heater. I found the valve that controls the flow of hot coolant to the rear heater. This valve has a vacuum hose running to it. At this point I dare not touch the hose for fear it will fall apart in a cloud of dust. I am confident that is the problem. The issue however is I have no idea where that hose runs from. I have recently replaced ALL vacuum lines with silicon and I never saw a line run back there. This is definatley an aftermarket line from when the van was converted to a "conversion" van. The line appears to run up into the cabin just behind the drivers seat. At some point I will try to pull the carpet up and see if I can find that line. Unforutnately that is a lot of work just to fix the rear heater. Since the AC does not work, I might just remove the valve and let coolant flow to the rear all the time, at least until the AC is fixed. Pictures
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