Date:         Tue, 19 Dec 1995 23:59:35 -0600
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         dbax@mindspring.com (Donald Baxter)
Subject:      Stripped Bleeder Bolt (Postmortem)

The bolt wasn't stripped at all on the '85 Vanagon radiator!  The bolt and
the fitting it is bolted into were both turning!  Not much of a fix for this
one.  I now have a new radiator and am $350 poorer (plus labor--I just
haven't had time to allow to do this one myself).  The old radiator lasted
almost 11 years (date stamped 11/84) and provided my mechanic's first
experience ever putting a radiator in a Vanagon.  He said it was a lot
easier than he thought it would be.

I suspect that a lot of the air I have been taking on may have been due to a
leak at the bleeder bolt.  The mechanic confessed to having an unorthodox
method of filling and bleeding the coolant--he raises the back of the van
about four feet off the floor--so that the overflow tank  is higher than the
radiator.  Any comments about this unorthodox method?  I'm planning on
bleeding the usual way this weekend to see if there is air in the system to
follow up.

Donald Baxter