I recently purchased my first Vanagon, an 86 Synchro.  The ignition wire popped off my starter solenoid the other day and I disconnected a coolant hose to access the connector.

Afterwards, the red light on my temperature gauge flashed after the vehicle had been running a few minutes, but the temp according to the gauge seemed to be normal.  I then tried to flush/refill my coolant according to Bently.  Now, the temp gauge maxes out after a couple minutes of driving.

Could someone be so kind as to advise me what I could be doing wrong and/or walk me through how to correctly fill/flush the system.  

Thanx in advance.

Hugh
1986 Vanagon Synchro