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Date:         Tue, 8 Aug 2000 22:46:21 EDT
Reply-To:     Oxroad@aol.com
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeffrey R <Oxroad@aol.com>
Subject:      can coolant bleeder from 84 retrofit into 83.5?
Comments: To: vanagon@egroups.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

In the following the for those who care the bleeder valves referred to for a Vanagon with a manual transmission are as follows:

early 83.5 bleeder Part # 025 121 421A 84/85 sideways "H" large diameter bleeder Part # 025 121 082

Can the coolant bleeder from the 84 and 85 1.9 liter be retrofitted to an 83.5 1.9 liter? Has anyone done this?

Here's the deal to the best of my knowledge. The 83.5 water cooled Vanagons up to chassis number 25DO87511 have a different coolant hose set up than those with later chassis numbers. This includes the hoses to the expansion tank from the water pump and from the crossover pipe and the large diameter feed and return hoses to the radiator that sweep across the front of the engine compartment from left to right then head up front under the bus to the radiator (front is front). In the early 83.5 the feed and return hoses are NOT split to allow the sideways "H" shaped coolant bleeder as on 84 and 85. Instead the large diameter coolant hoses have smaller, say 3/8 or so, hoses that are molded into the larger diameter hoses. Those 3/8 hoses then feed into a small bleeder valve which is small enough to fit in a cigarette pack and has a total of three small nipples found only on the early 83.5. That early 83.5 Bleeder is no longer available from the VW dealer--it is "obsolete."

Now what to do when your early 83.5 bleeder breaks and no replacement is available. And bear in mind merely replacing it with a used one, if by the grace of God you could find one, is asking for trouble should it fail while on the road and again the part is still not available as one listee reported to me. (I called 25 wrecking yards and was on the road for 6 hours visiting several with no luck finding a used early 83.5 Bleeder. That should drive up the price if you have one--but I'll pay!!! I'm on vacation!)

Does the 84/85 bleeder have a 3/8 nipple for a hose to connect the lower large diameter Feed hose to the crossover pipe as with the 83.5 bleeder?

SO...can the large diameter hose be cut, the sideways "H" bleeder (as seen in 84/85 1.9 liters) inserted, and VIOLA, problem solved? The larger bleeder, this so called 84/85 sideways "H" bleeder is readily available for $36 from Bus Depot and about $49 from the VW dealer.

The questions:

Does the later model "H" bleeder serve the same function as the earlier bleeder? The early model bleeder is open during refilling of coolant to let coolant flow from both the upper return and the lower feed hose into the crossover pipe that then leads to the expansion tank. I assume this helps purge air from the system. When closed it allows only coolant from the lower feed hose to enter the crossover pipe through a 3/8 hose. Why? I don't know. You have to be German to understand.

But naturally I don't want to go cutting into my large expensive feed and return coolant hoses to find I've screwed everything up forever. Because I'm running out of money, patience, and vacation days. I'm already a week and a half into my vacation which I have spent in lying in my parent's driveway.

Any information, ideas, and especially comment from someone who has dealt with this problem will be greatly, sincerely, truely, and happily appreciated.

Thanks Jeff 83.5 Westy formerly of NYC, heading to LA, stuck in NJ.


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