Actually your troubles are not over. You need to find out where the coolant
went. You also need to continue paying attention since you likely did some
damage to the engine operating it with the coolant low enough that the pump
could not keep the heaters working. Once the system is working, it will work
any air out on its own. Be sure to keep the recovery tank full.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Bruce Todd
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 7:55 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Not the thermostat - yay!

The synopsis is:

After much reading of old archived emails, posting a couple dumb
questions and receiving a few very helpful responses from list members, my
overheating problem was simply a lack of coolant and some much needed
bleeding of air out of the system.  I also went to my local VW mechanic to
check the cap on the expansion tank to confirm it too was working.

Radiator fan works / comes on when required, hot air from both heaters, no
leaks and a well behaving temp guage...and overall the dreaded air bleed
process wasn't as messy as first imagined.  I used a flat male electrical
connector to pin into the throttle to keep the rpms at around 2,300.  I'll
repeat the whole process again say within a 100 km try and remove some more
air.

Thanks for the help everyone - I can now claim BTDT.

BT
86 Syncro Westy