Date:         Mon, 6 Feb 2006 22:51:48 -0600
Reply-To:     John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject:      How to - or not - bleed the cooling system
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Ok. New water pump put in by a shop, front end up, bleed the system per
Bentley. Kept having burping problems. Jacked the back end up, bleed the
system, no more air from the radiator. Drop it down. Fill the  tank with
coolant. Good to go. So down the road I go.

It's night,  I'm running down the road at 50 mph,  low coolant  warning
light comes on blinking.  I pull over,  open the hatch, look around,
shine the light on the expansion tank. Sure enough it's low. Top it off,
close it up, and off I go. 3 miles later the light comes on again. Same
problem. Fill it - go. Did this three or four times before getting home.
Next day, could find anything wrong, but did some local runs. Same
problem. No Apparent leakage anywhere. I took the vehicle back to the
shop. On the way, I stopped for fuel and while in paying for it, looked
out and saw a wet spot on my air dam. Took a close look and I could see
where a little dribbble of coolant had run down. Went on to the garage.

Turns out that the mechanic had dropped the radiator bolt, lost the
washer on it, and it would not seat right without it. So as I drove the
coolant - and any trapped air - was being vented.

So there it is folks, the hard way to bleed the system. But it works.

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver