Hello, I've been running without the bleed valve for years. It broke long ago. As far as I can tell, it's purpose is to aid in getting the air out of the system when it is first filled. Over the years, I've seen lots of posts about tilting the vanagon this way or that when first filling and bleeding the cooling system. I have never done that. I just fill the system the best that I can, warm it up until the thermostat just opens and then let it cool. I refill the expansion tank and do this cycle a couple more times until it doesn't use any more coolant. A mechanic couldn't take the time to do this, but it's not much effort for someone not in a hurry. Thanks, Mike --- Phoenix, AZ --- 84'GL since new -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: coolent bleed valve on 84GL 4 speed Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2010 20:07:24 -0700 From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM> Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM References: <09238A1479844F94BD65FCFDFF7AB748@ownerc40f8cfcf> why don't you try it without a bleed valve there and tell us how it works out. I've been tempted to do that ...run without a bleed valve and hose there. but then I can see that they wanted a way to get air out of a high spot in the main hoses, at least as part of the initial fill and bleed process. ----- Original Message ----- From: "william greenamyer" <wgreenamyer@CISO.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2010 7:10 PM Subject: coolent bleed valve on 84GL 4 speed
> Haven't posted for a while. Started working on the motor mounts and > missed > something when the engine dropped a little. There is a bleed valve on the > two big coolent hoses which go across the engine compartment. There is a > little hose that goes from the bleed valve to the pipe towards the rear of > the engine. The nipple on the bleed has broken on me before and I > replaced > the whole assembly. Further looking at this old assembly seemed to show a > possible way to fix the nipple piece by inserting a small aluminum tube > into > the plastic part. This would allow attaching to the valve assembly with > the > same hose as before and it would be stronger and more resistant to > vibration. Just an idea. My question is-- Is the bleed valve and > connection hose to the other main pipe really required for proper coolent > system operation? I am guessing it is not and as long as you have another > way to drain and fill the system, you can do without the bleed valve > (which > is prone to breakage due to fibration or stress). For all of you experts, > is this correct. If so, I will just plug the hose and valve piece and let > it go (never to break when driving again which lunched my first engine). > > William |
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