Just re-posting with a subject...

At 10:21 PM 11/28/2011, Evan Mac Donald wrote:
Ok list, I need some help. I need somebody to 
tell me the symptoms my poor '85 1.9 WBXer is 
suffering from are not from a cracked head. Lie 
to me if you must. So, to explain. My van 
(Butternut) has always self-bled her cooling 
system very quickly, and easily. No fights, no 
real fussing, just a couple of top-offs after a 
couple of careful hot-and-cold cycles, and Viola! 
Done. This is from several waterpumps, hose 
replacements, damage repairs, etc. Always bleeds 
fast, after the damage is gone. The last run we 
made in beasty was at the end of September, to 
Busses by the Beach Bus Boo, in western Michigan. 
Lots o' fun. I live in eastern Michigan, so the 
trip is only about 180 miles. No big deal. Done 
the trip LOTS of times, and in much worse 
weather. This time, about 5 miles from being 
home, the heater stops working, and the temp gage 
maxes out. Quickly. And the coolant level light 
blinks. The weather at the time was about mid 
50's, in �F. UH-oh. not good. I stop, and the 
light stops blinking, and the gage returns to 
normal. Huh? Check the tanks, and both are full 
of air. Now, my reservoir tank never has bubbles, 
after bleeding. So , I fill the tanks, and start 
home again. Cycle repeats. First I have heat, 
then none, and the gage does its dance. It is the 
old style gage, that maxes out the temp needle, 
if the low-level alert light comes on. I have 
tried several times, over the intervening time, 
to get the bubbles to go away, and my heat to 
return. I completely emptied and refilled the 
entire system, with a pressure flush in between. 
I even unhooked the belt from the water pump, and 
spun it with an angle grinder, to get things 
moving around, without actually running the 
engine, and risking further damage. This will 
really only clear the heater cicuit, but that is 
a big section of the problem, all on its own. No 
joy. My thought is that I have cracked a head, 
into a coolant passage. I do not want to do a 
head if that's not whats wrong, but I do not see 
any other solutions for this problem. My question 
is: are there any other likely causes of this? Or 
am I going to have to replace a head? TIA, and I 
hope everybody is over their tryptophan 
overdose...  Evan Mac Donald "...in the absence 
of facts, myth rushes in, the kudzu of history." -Stacy Schiff