

| Subject: | Botched Coolant Flush Implications? |
| From: | Wes Neuenschwander |
| Date: | Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:57:05 -0700 |
I recently had the coolant system flushed and coolant replaced in my '91 Westy at a local independent VW service place. I have about 15,000 miles on my rebuilt (GoWesty 2.3 liter) engine. When I got the vehicle back, the coolant in the reservoir (non-pressurized tank) was at the 'full' line. After driving the vehicle about 100 miles, I noticed the heater didn't seem to be heating fully. After I opened the heater valve 100% for a few miles, the heater function seemed to be restored, providing well modulated heating over the full range of the heater valve settings. Engine temperature - or rather coolant temperature - was normal the entire trip (consistently mid-point on the coolant temp gauge, just as before the coolant flush). However when I got home from the trip (about 500 miles, including some NW Washington mountain passes, I noticed that the reservoir was empty (didn't check the pressurized tank, alas). I refilled the reservoir and after running the engine a few times during short day trips around town, both the reservoir and pressurized tank levels are normal (pressurized tank is full and the reservoir is at the mid-full mark). There is no evidence of leaking coolant - anywhere. My guess is that the air was not fully purged from the coolant system following the flush/refill operation (perhaps, at least in part, due to air trapped in the heater lines and/or heater core). Two questions: 1) What do I need to do (if anything) to ensure the system is fully purged now? 2) What possible adverse effects might there have been from having an incompletely purged coolant system on a drive like this (including some full-throttle periods over the mountain passes)? In particular, of course, is it likely that I might have damaged or otherwise compromised those infamous waterboxer cylinder heads?? Also, a corollary question: I clearly specified that the replacement antifreeze must be Volkswagen brand only (in the past, I've had shops use 'house brand' coolants - i.e. whatever the local tech/guru thought was best). How can I verify that the antifreeze used was genuine VW and not some off-brand? -Wes
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