Did you have an overheat or coolant loss event prompting the water pump
replacement? Thermostat or gauge senders can get damaged from these events.
Having slightly different (low) gauge indication is not cause for alarm. For
opening the heater cores isn't the front one simply controlled by the dash
lever? The heaters bleed easily on their own.  No need for gymnastics. Once
the cooling system is bled enough for it operate at all it will finish with
no extra effort unless you still have leaks or the engine is putting
combustion gasses in there.

For the smells carefully check the heater cores. If you don't remember when
they were done it may be time. The front core can be service by removing the
glove box and carefully cutting the side so you can slide the core out. This
how the dealer was doing them back in the day.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Roy Nicholl
Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2015 12:59 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Faint coolant smell

All,

A couple of weeks ago, I replaced the water pump in the Hyena ('88 Westy
WBX).  The past few days, I've thought I smelled a faint trace of coolant in
the van itself.  I checked the hoses, the radiator, the front and rear
heaters (best I could using a camera probe and mirrors without removing all
the plastic) and have found no leaks.    I checked the bleeder on the
radiator, no leak.   I have seen no noticeable drop in coolant level in the
reservoir.

Any ideas on where I should explore next?

I have also noted that my temperature gauge is now running a little lower
(from top half to bottom half of LED ... about a needles width).   I plan to
open both heater cores wide (they are partially shutdown at the moment),
park with the nose in the air, run it for a few moments, then open then
bleed the system again just to ensure I do not have an air bubble.

Roy