Date:         Thu, 09 Jan 1997 21:55:13 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Todd Francis <tbf@pacifier.com>
Subject:      Coolant Manifold Revisited

Hi All:
Around Christmas you may recall me venting about the plastic coolant
manifold(with 4 connections that fits just in front of the firewall in
front of number 1 cylinder) that split and left me stranded on the
Freeway at 2am Christmas Morning. Well, I replaced the part and put new
blue coolant in and bled the system just like the Bently says and when I
drove it it would overheat in just a few miles. I rebled the system and
it would still overheat. After driving I would touch the radiator and it
was cold. I changed the thermostat, rebled. Still cold. It had to be the
radiator. I took it out and sure enough it was plugged almost solid. I
think is was full of barsleak or something from the previous owner.(I
bought it with leaky heads). It all made sense. The radiator plugged
causing more heat and pressure on the old manifold causing it to burst.
A spanking new radiator is in Suzie Two now and the temp gauge sits
right in the middle like it's supposed to be. BTW someone said that the
manifolds were not available anymore. I got one at the dealer for about
23 bucks. OK, on to the next problem.     

Todd Francis
91 Tristar
86 Syncro Westy