*Saved this for friday to just vent a little after years of hearing how hard
it is to bleed a vanagon cooling system....*

<soapbox>
I don't get the sound of dread everyone has in bleeding the cooling system
on a Vanagon.  I used to believe this too, after hearing so many vw
"mechanics" talk about how hard it was and "oh it takes hours and requires
jacking up the front and 2 people plus you have to do it while riding
a unicycle over Vaseline covered cement yada yada.  I mean no offense, just
seems like it's thought to be more difficult than it really is.  I don't
even jack up the front.

After a recent engine replacement I filled up with coolant/distilled water
50/50 as much as it'll take using a plastic pipe fashioned from my shop vac
attachments stuck in the top of the coolant reservoir under the decklid,
this get's the hydraulic head at the rear above the top of the radiator at
the front.

Warm up till tstat opens then crack the bleeder valve on the radiator until
fluid comes out and no bubbles, i let it run a minute or so and keep topping
up fluid at the rear.

The system is self bleeding after that with that ring around the engine
compartment lid, bubbles will rise up there into the expansion tank and be
gone, bubbles trapped in the radiator are let out when opening the bleeder
valve at the radiator.

This all took me < 30 minutes.

I've never had an overheating problem even while running my newly
refurbished A/C in 99F weather. *knocks on wood*   maybe i'm just lucky thus
far
</soapbox>

peace,
-Ry