You should try to find out if the head was retorqued after the 1000 mile run
in after the head gasket was replaced. It's important. Don't replace the
bolts now, they really should have been replaced when the gasket was
replaced. The bolts are made to stretch but they must be replaced after
being removed. They are alot better that the first VW diesel head bolts.
It's a good idea to put automatic transmission fluid in your fuel
occaisionally. It's a high detergent oil and helps keep the diesel injection
components clean. There are other fuel additives on the market that are
better than ATF but none of them are as cheap as ATF. Don't worry about the
Prestone you used, I've used whatever is on sale for the past 12 years on
many VW diesels and have never had a coolant caused failure. To bleed your
coolant, go to the radiator like you said you did, warm up the van, turn on
the heater. Start it up and rev the engine up a bit, about as fast as you
think the noise isn't too bad should be fast enough. Open the bleeder until
no more bubbles come out close the bleeder, top off the coolant resevoir and
install the pressure cap, then let it come down to idle. Keep the
non-pressurized resevoir full of coolant and you shouldn't have any problems.
At 10:51 AM 11/12/96 -0600, Robert Zezoff wrote:
>I have an '82 diesel Westy with 35K miles, always garaged.  I got it from my
>in-laws when it had about 30K miles.
>A new head gasket was put on at about 29K miles.
>I have done the normal oil, coolant, and filters type of maintenance.
>What preventative maintenance should I perform??  Someone once suggested to me
>to replace the head bolts with different/new head bolts which will not
>"stretch".  Anyone know about or recommend this?
>I would appreciate your help and experience as I plan on keeping this car a
>long time.  It only gets used about 3K miles a year.  I firmly believe that
>proper preventative maintenance saves much $$ over the long haul.
>BTW.  I put the yellow bottle Prestone in last year and my water is very soft. 
>Did I make a mistake? Should I change it immediately?  Is there a procedure for
>bleeding the air from the system, I did the bleeding last time at the radiator
>bleed screw?
>THANKS!!
>
>
Greetings from MIchigan's Upper Peninsula
Jeff & Jean-Marie Diebolt
jdiebolt@up.net