Date:         Thu, 20 Oct 2005 16:52:05 -0400
Reply-To:     Roger Sisler <rogersisler2000@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Roger Sisler <rogersisler2000@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: cooling fluid capacity of 84 vanagon w/ 1.9?

Hello, I think these people are correct. The vanagon holds bout 18 qts of
coolant. To get a 50/50 mix,  you need 2.5 gallons of antifreeze.My vanagon
uses Sierra brand(pep boys $6.99/gallon). The issue here is that the
coolant needs to be phosphate free, or head gasket leaks will occur.If you
currently have green antifreeze, you probably have Prestone(not good).You
might want to type "antifreeaze" or "coolant" into the archives to get an
education.$160 is alot of money, and you may want to be sure that you wont
loose this investment in the near future. Check all your hoses ,the
waterpump($600.00 to replace),clean radiater,so forth ,and so on, first. I
have never kept my antifreeze for more than 6 months for various reasons(
am I the only one?)Also to get a good flush is difficult and the cooling
system on the 1.9 is a rat maze.I have never completely drained my system ,
even when I wanted to. There always seems to be a few qts hiding
somewhere.There is no petcock to openup to drain. A hose at the radiater
needs to be disconnected.Also a couple of hoses in the engine compartment.I
put one of those prestone quick flush attachments on my heater hose (by the
spare tire), and even when I run the engine for 15 minutes, I still have
green inside.Guess you got to take the thermistat out too.Just cant see all
this being done correctly for $160.Bottom line is  you can do this yourself
for about $25, and get a pretty good job. No one will probably get all the
old out anyway. Install  a cleaner for a few days , and then a couple of
drains and refills with water, and then a final fill w/ Correct antifreeze
will do the job.In the final filling, ya gotta be sure that you remove 2.5
gallons of water so you can fit in the antifreeze. This takes the removal
of a few hoses, and the crossing of fingers.2.5 gallons is alot.Also use
only distilled water, if possable-make sure the shop knows this(whats that-
10 gallons of distilled?. They probably wont add this anyway, even for
$160. Then ,you have to bleed the system(seperate archives
search "bleeding".Like I say, check all the components and upgrades you may
want to make before this investment.It is a way to really learn the vanagon
for better or worse.