Jeff,
You said >>
Engine temp gage never goes above 1/4. Never got any coolant flowing 
from the front rad bleeder, nor the rear one over the engine. <<<

That sounds like a failed thermostat. If you replace it you will 
probably find that your bleeding problem goes away.

The engine has to be warm to get the thermostat to open and allow full 
circulation of all the coolant for the bleeding process to work. Normal 
operating temp for most all 2.1L engines I have seen is to have the 
needle just touch the coolant level warning light from below, or ride 
right over the warning light. in really hot weather it might ride just 
touching on the high side of the light. There may be variations of that, 
but that has been my experience. Lower is to cold for proper  operation.

Also, once my mechanic was having trouble getting the  cooling system on 
my van bled out properly. I suggested jacking the vehicle up from the 
rear and running it with the cap off the filler tank. Ran the engine at 
2000-2500 rpm. That did the trick. Got a couple of good burps at the 
tank, then all seemed well.

For a "When all else fails" approach, put a spare gallon of premixed 
coolant in the rear cargo area of the van, crack the radiator bleed 
screw open, top off the coolant expansion tank, and drive down the 
highway at 60 mph with a close eyeball on the coolant level light. The 
instant the coolant level warning light comes on, stop the vehicle, 
tighten the radiator bleed screw, top off the coolant expansion tank. 
Cooling system wise you are home free. Wash up the van to remove any 
traces of blown coolant from  the paint.

I did it that way inadvertently one time. Mechanic forgot to tighten the 
radiator bleed screw back down, so I discovered the method quite 
accidentally.

On stock vans with the 2.1L WBX, the cooling systems will self bleed for 
small quantities of air. Any residual air left after the standard 
bleeding effort will accumulate in the expansion tank after operating a 
bit at highway speeds. So be sure to check the expansion tank  
frequently after cooling system maintenance has been done and the system 
topped off.

Good luck.

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Jeff Stewart wrote:
> Ok, checked the archives on "Bleeding the cooling system" and came up with a few posts, but none that answered my problem. I have the van up on ramps, front about 12" higher than the rear. Started engine. Set front and rear heat "on". Opened bleeder over engine, and up on the radiator. When I opened the rad bleed I got about 10 seconds of air hissing out, no more. Added about 1/2 gallon of coolant to the tank, it took in a little bit, but not much. Rear heater cranking out consistantly hot air. Front heater blowing cold...until I increase engine rpm's to around 2,000 and hold it there for a minute or two, then front heater blows hot air. Whe I let the engine drop back down to idle, front goes back to blowing cold, rear stays hot. Upper hose to coolant tank spewing lots of bubbles into the tank, but not drawing in any more coolant. Engine temp gauge never goes above 1/4. Never got any coolant flowing from the front rad bleeder, nor the rear one over the engine. Coolant tank still full, right below the cap. What am I doing wrong? Did this years ago on my old '84 Westy, never had a problem.    TIA,   Jeff
>
>
> Jeff Stewart
> fonman4277@earthlink.net
> EarthLink Revolves Around You.
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