Date:         Thu, 10 May 2012 20:15:44 -0700
Reply-To:     Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Let's Talk Coolant Drainage (long)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

(I hesitate to post this. Anyone who is more than a casual reader of my
posts knows that I am, at best, a poor mechanic. I have had to accept
this fact. And here I reveal more of my lack of skill.)

With the invaluable help of my son, I replaced the radiator this week.
In the evenings, after he got off work. What a guy.

Jim, this goes out to you: thank you.

So anyway, I wanted to really flush out the system before putting in new
coolant. We let all the old coolant flow out from the rad hoses after
pulling the old one. Zoltan suggested blowing compressed air into the
expansion tank and we got about 4 gallons out.

Stuart suggested putting a drain tee into one of the heater lines, so we
did that.

Before connecting the new rad, we connected the garden hose to the
opening atop the expansion tank with a swell adapter I made from parts
found around the hardware store. The water in Bend, Oregon, is from
snowmelt and is very, very soft. Ran some water through the sytem then
shut 'er down.

Then we connected the rad and before putting in coolant I wanted to
flush the cooling system and learn how to bleed the system. So we set up
a "Libby bong" and I started dumping in water. The bleeder on the rad
was open. When the bubbling stopped, we closed that. Then I opened the
engine compartment bleeder until it stopped bubbling.

According to my calculations, the cooling system should have had quite a
bit of water in it, considering how much water I put into the bong.

So we opened the tee in the water line. No more than a gallon came out.
I opened the rad bleeder, and maybe a cup (250ml) more came out.

We did this again, to the same result.

Decided to proceed and started putting in coolant. Knowing that the
cooling system packs something under 5 gallons of coolant, I planned to
put in about 2-1/3 gallons of coolant, followed by water.

The system didn't take even two gallons of coolant before it was full.

Clearly, I never drained anywhere near most of the old coolant.

I am puzzled. Oh -- the heater valve was open.

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
Bend, Ore.
1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in
San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.