OK, after Mark's post, I pulled out an old thermostat from my 2.1 WBX.  It
is indeed fully closed, but has a hole about 1//16" in diameter through it.
So I think Mark's right, and I'm back to where I started from on my
question.

The black knob on top of the thermostat housing is, as far as I can tell, a
bleeder.  When I open it, coolant runs out, just like the front radiator
bleeder screw.

So again I ask, if the engine is cold, the thermostat closed, how can
coolant flow through the front radiator to move air bubbles to the bleeder
screw?????

tx,
bmc  :)
"Faith will move mountains, but you'd better bring a shovel...."

> From: mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
> Reply-To: mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
> Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 07:41:16 -0800
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Bleeding the front radiator
>
> If this was so, I would wonder why so many thermostats have a tiny bleed
> hole. Not much point if they are never closed on any car.
>
> Mark
>
> Ben huot wrote:
>>
>> The thermostat is never completely close on any car or van, it is open or
>> partially close (about 75 % close). Even if it looks completely close, it
>> is not.
>>
>> On most cars if it was fully close the pump would have a hard time and the
>> engine would overheat, even in winter condition.
>>
>> Regards, Ben
>