Date:         Thu, 16 Jan 1997 15:24:09 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         bayer@sybase.com (David Bayer)
Subject:      Re: Temperature fluctuations

>| Since renewing the coolant in my 84 GL the temperature on the gauge has
>| oscillated between about 25% and 50% of the gauge, during the course of one
>| hour journeys across town.
>| Could this indicate air in the system or is it normal?

	When you say 25% do you mean it is toward the bottom of the guage or
the top (I assume your gauge will still be oriented as the left driver vans
assuming your van is a UK model and therefore is a right driver)? If the guage
is running 25% cold, then it  sounds like your thermostat is opening to
early or not making a tight seal (thus you're flucating reading). This is what
I assume is happening...

	On the other hand, if by 25%, you mean you are almost at the top of
the registerable temperature range, then you might some type of problem. I
would assume an air bubble would either disable the water pump or reduce the
effectiveness of the raditor. Both of these shouldn't cause flucations unless
coolant is kind of sloshing thru the system so you get burps of very cooled
solution dumping into the engine from the raditor...

	That's just how I would work through the possiblities on my own van.
If you raise the front of the van, the air is going to get trapped in the
radiator. Find a steepish hill, run the car til its hot (and the thermostat
has opened), park it front up on that hill with the engine running, pull the
grill, and back the bleeding bolt on the raditor out, wait til it stops
bubbling and just sprays coolant, then tighten the bolt and your done...
 
dave