Katy,

> To my dismay when I opened the expansion valve the color of my
> supposedly 2 new @ $10.59 a gallon orange Dexcool was olive greenish .

Two things hit me here...

1) $10.59 seems high.  I get Dexcool for $7.99 (not on sale) at NAPA here in
PA.

2) 2 gallons coolant = 4 gallons 50/50 mix with water = 16 quarts.  The Vanagon
system holds over 18.  Either he didn't put enough in or it's diluted.  Also,
it's good to have extra premix under the back seat.

If he flush and filled from the back and didn't disconnect radiator hoses, the
thermostat probably never opened because he put new cold coolant in the system.
 Thus the new coolant never got up to the radiator.  This can also happen if
the thermostat didn't open correctly despite running up to temperature.

One other thing...the sender for the dash gauge is on the forward end of the
thermostat housing.  Pull the connector off and make sure it's not corroded,
thus causing a bad connection=bad signal.

> We got air out but no coolant ever came out of the rear bleeder and we
> followed the Bentley and list advise ver batim.  (is coolant supposed to come
> out of the rear too?)

If you're talking about the little plastic thumbwheel, no, you won't get
liquid.

BTW, don't forget to open both heater valves (i.e. turn the heat on).

> Took it for a drive and I'm still funning 3/4.  So tomorrow we're going to
> put in the new 180 degree thermostat and BLEED it again.

The thermostat is drop-in, but beware of snapping bolts and cracking stuff on
the plastic housing.  Spritz some penetrant on the bolts as soon as you can so
they can soak for a while.

> Ended up putting on a new clamp and think that's finally fixed.  Looked like
> its been leaking a while too.  That was something I was told was taken care
> of yesterday.  Hubby says it was the clamp. Acts like it tightens but really
> didn't.

Haha, you sound like VW person already.  The old "while I was crawling under
the bus fixing this or that, I noticed..."

-Karl

Karl & Kristina Bloss, Trexlertown, PA - '87 Weekender "Bev" - 199K Miles
http://www.enter.net/~bloss/vw - vanagon@makarov.com
VW Shop List: http://www.enter.net/~bloss/vw/vwshops
PA/NJ/DE/MD area VW bus "group" http://www.enter.net/~bloss/vw/pavanagon
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