Now, how about a proven method for flushing all of the old coolant out before
switching to another brand, such as Zerex G05?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Drillock" <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: coolant leak after long idle

> Nice old post with good info. The behavior of the thermostat as regards
> coolant pressure in the radiator is well known and not a matter of
> belief or faith. The thermostat is on the radiator return line, where
> that line rejoins the engine. The water pump can thus push coolant to
> the radiator even if the thermostat is closed, as long as the radiator
> bleed screw is open. Reving the engine slightly helps overcome the fact
> that the radiator top is higher than the pump. The coolant will "spill
> over the top" inside the radiator and fill the return pipe as well since
> coolant is heavier than air. The air will rise to the higher point,
> namely the bleed hole, and after coolant mostly fills the pipes and
> radiator it will start to spill out of the radiator bleed hole even with
> a closed thermostat.
>
> I agree that the system can be bled just fine without raising the front.
> It can even be done with the rear raised and that is how I mostly do it.
> I don't raise the rear just for the bleeding but many times I already
> have the rear raised for some repair or replacement that requires
> bleeding to complete.
>
> Mark
>
> Malcolm Stebbins wrote:
>
> > --- David Etter <detter@MAIL.AURACOM.COM> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>I'm sure others will jump in with a more detailed check list,
> >
> >
> > As Dave suggests, here is my post on the topic.  I differ from what Dave said in
that I do believe
> > that the engine/coolant must be hot/warm for the thermostat to open to pressurize
the radiator to
> > force the air out.
> >
> > The actual bleeding part is near the bottom of this post:
> >
> > http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0203C&L=vanagon&P=R28247   m2cw
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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