Coolant Bleeding the No Stress, No Mess Way!

[E1]

I personally don’t see any advantage filling at the radiator, but rather unnecessary thread wear avoided if filling from the tank — and letting minor leftover air self bleed (which it does, but over time).

I only tapped ours yesterday while dead-cold, in knowing we’re getting a few bubbles into the tank and trying to eliminate “head gasket leak” as a possibility.
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1984 Westfailure/2.1 Digijet/5.43 Ring & Pinion/Peloquin/D-rated BFG KO2s
AI has spoken to further illiteracy, to steal, to cheat, and to replace humans

"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere." — Colin Chapman

[jjdeluxe]

Thanks all for your input and particularly SCM for answering my question and offering sanity as well. I have something like this - I'm sure I can pull something off (pressurize and fluid fill at the same time!?)

I have massive mess already - that ship has sailed. removing the water pump just spills coolant all over the under carriage and deflects everywhere. Next time I'm getting a 4' diameter kiddie pool to capture everything.

[E1]

I modified my method the other day, since I wanted to pressure test it anyway.

And… we carry nothing we don’t routinely use, or need.

Pumped to 14, waited a half-hour to test, opened rad bleeder until coolant ran solid, closed bleeder, removed tester, topped off.

Two tasks done in one.
_________________
1984 Westfailure/2.1 Digijet/5.43 Ring & Pinion/Peloquin/D-rated BFG KO2s
AI has spoken to further illiteracy, to steal, to cheat, and to replace humans

"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere." — Colin Chapman

[Sodo]

Buying a banjo bolt & tubing for this project is not a big cost or effort.

But you gotta hook up the tubing to fill somehow, rig a filler reservoir.
Cuz it’s gonna go in slowly.
Also are you leaving the reservoir (rear) open?
Then you have to watch it fill (slowly) & cap it the moment its full.

If you just let it fill from the radiator without capping at the right time, higher level flows out of the reservoir and the “radiator air level” ends up the same as the basic method.
OK you wouldn’t do that, you would sit at the reservoir watching like a hawk, waiting for it to rise, capping at the right time.
I guess you’d have to try it and see of its efficient. .

Coolant coming in very slowly might just flow in “under the air” and still end up with a lot of air behind the banjo and in high spots in the system. And trapped in the radiator. Will the trapped radiator air come out by gravity up through the banjo tube that coolant comes into? Maybe.

Theres a simple straight rubber pipe that fits tightly into the rear reservoir that will fill much easier (the classical “Libby Bong”) where just the air comes out of the rad bleeder. This is probably faster than coolant going into the banjo by gravity. Its easy pouring into the bong, directly into the reservoir. It fills the long coolant pipes quickly too.

I hated coolant bleeding before learning two vastly better methods.
I’ve done the gravity ass-end-up (Libby Bongless) method and the level Libby Bong method
and can’t really imagine how any other method could be easier.
Just fill it, bleed front, run it, bleed front, done - super simple.

Anyway filling from the front is a feasible suggestion that would be easy to test!
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'90 Westy EJ25, NEW oil rings (!) 2Peloquins, 3knobs, SyncroShop pressure-oiled pinion-bearing & GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox.
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered original gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[SCM]

[vanis13]

[jjdeluxe]

Is there any reason to NOT just start with filling coolant at the radiator bleed screw end? granted it's a pretty small opening (slow) but seems to me that you could get a ton of coolant in without running the engine and/or repeatedly topping off the coolant tank & pressurizing. Or is that not going to be a time/effort saver?

(needing to do a coolant refill after replacing the water pump.)
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1990 Syncro

[do.dah]

[Jim Bear]

Maybe I have not read the thread deeply enough or maybe this belongs in the Stupid Questions thread, but...

Has anyone Libby Bonged a GoWesty aluminum tank?
_________________
"You're either on the bus, or you're off the bus." ~kk
'85 Vanagon Westy - George In the Stable 2020-?/'74 Weekender - Ophelia In the Stable 2007- ?/'69 Beetle Convertible - SOLD 2017-2020/'67 Beetle - September SOLD 2013-2016 /'67 SO42 Westy - Sage SOLD 1996-2001 /'69 Transporter - Baby Blue SOLD 1995-1995/'72 Westy - Nelly - SOLD 1990-1995--STOP FRACKING

[SCM]

[MI-Bug]

I had to replace my water pump recently and thought to build one of these bongs to bleed the cooling system. However since I already had a pump up garden sprayer for bleeding brakes, I thought I’d try that first. Filled the reservoir up with coolant, put the cap on and pushed the sprayer hose on to the overflow nipple. Opened the bleeder screw at the top of the radiator and gave the sprayer several pumps. The coolant level dropped a bit so added more coolant and re-pressurized. Walked around to the front of the van and checked the bleeder. A few seconds later coolant began to spring forth. Closed the bleeder screw and removed the sprayer. Topped off the coolant and fired up the engine. Done. Worked super slick. Highly recommend this method.

[VicVan]

That's a dope design. Well done, and thanks for sharing!
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[alaskadan]

Very cool nice work. Imagine a bicycle pump attached to the other end of that cylinder. How about a glue on cap assembly with a reinforced hole in the end for a plunger/ piston with an o ring. You could force the coolant through.

[shagginwagon83]

[djkeev]

MayorMcCheese,
Very clever of you to create this and overly kind to share the files for it!

Much praise to you!

Dave
_________________
Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[MayorMcCheese]

While I was at it I also made this fitting for testing the relief pressure of the coolant cap.
This classic line cap released perfectly at about 15psi

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5556787

[MayorMcCheese]

I was tired of trying to get the rubber coupler to seal on the threads of the coolant tank so I deigned and 3d printed this. It threads on uses the rubber washer out of a spare coolant cap to seal.

For future reference the threads of the coolant tank are M48x3

More info and print files here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5556688

I suggest you print it out of PETG

[Vantropy]

I know, you're thinking this post doesn't need one more reply, but in 9 pages of meandering, nobody mentioned how long the bong needs to be (you can guess from the photos, but still...) Here are my notes:


Measure up from the ground to your radiator bleeder screw. On my van it was 39 1/4" (I have slightly taller springs).

Now measure up that far in your engine bay and put a piece of blue painter's tape on the left cabinet. That's the level your coolant has to stay above. It's about 11" above the expansion tank. Later, transfer that measurement to the bong pipe. (There's two pieces of tape in my photo: my van's nose was 2" up in the front, so had to raise this level).

So: any pipe longer than that will work (assuming van is level: adjust accordingly for incline). I found at my store pre-cut pieces of ABS at 24". PVC is fine too. This worked great. If I had longer, I might have gone for 26", I would assume the taller the bong the faster the filling as there is more pressure. But, if you go for a 3' tall bong, you're making it harder to fill, and as in one picture if it leans over too much, you're putting unnecessary stress on those possibly old brittle tank caps, and might cause leaking. Thus the rope/bungee cord holding up strategies.

These pre-cut ABS pieces (and maybe your cutting) leaves little pieces of plastic static-clung to the inside of the pipe. Wash them out before they end up in your radiator.

Mr. Libby specs nylon tubing, which I think you'll have a hard time finding in your hardware store. I'm guessing he may have meant what I used: 3 feet of 1/2" OD polyethylene tubing. It's more rigid than vinyl, which keeps it from kinking, collapsing and reducing flow. It's tough to get it to make the turn inside the pipe, but doable. If I did it again, I would have warmed the tubing with a hair dryer or heat gun to make it more flexible.

I drilled the hole 2.5" from the bottom of the ABS pipe with a 31/64" drill bit. I first tried a 15/32", but couldn't get the tube in. This slightly smaller hole seals the polyethylene tube well. I had absolutely no leaking. If I didn't have that drill bit or used vinyl tubing, I'd probably put silicone around this hole. I left it sticking 2 1/2" out the bottom of the pipe before attaching the Plumb Qwik reducer.

I had no leaks from my PlumbQwik to the tank. I had teflon tape on hand just in case. Rubber bands are okay, but if you have any kind of strap, like a velcro strap, it's a bit easier.

Stop filling with coolant when the level is a couple inches below the top of the main pipe. It's easy to overfill and spill. Having the clear/translucent siphon tube to watch the level is very helpful.

Hope that helps.
If there's a list of all-time great Vanagon hacks, the Libby Bong belongs there.

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1989 2.1L Vanagon Westy, Automatic, Titian Red

[kaeferman]

I wanted to add these pics of my Libby Bong adaptation. I read above about folks spilling, dumping and/or having to drain their bongs with difficulty so here s how mine works:

I guess the key is that your bong’s neck be made of 1 1/2 pipe I used PVC scraps i had. I think my inner tube was from a mt bike, probably 1.95 or something idk. Anyway i used a 3 inch diameter top half with a reducer to 1 1/2 so that it held plenty of antifreeze and had some pressure or head. A bigger diameter at the top also gives you a bigger target for pouring. The bicycle inner tube just stretches over the bong neck and then over the pressure tank cap’s threaded opening and the wire just improves the seal to the threads, but i usually still get a little drippage. The cool part is that you just twist the tube to retain the antifreeze in the bong once you’re done and the tube can then be stuffed in the antifreeze jug and returned to the jug with out too much mess.
However you may learn to store your Libby bong with the tube OFF the bong because the tube gets cut easily when banged around and you get a messier fill next time you want to use it. If you really want to get classy, buy a 3in PVC cap and store the tube and wires inside your bong. Enjoy
B
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83 Westfalia wbx “Idaho”
84 Tintop “Vanamos”
formerly
71 Squareback sold
70 Westfalia lost to fire by new owner
71 Super Beetle rolled/scrapped

[Marshj]

DJKeev ( Dave ),

I used your bug sprayer method and it worked flawlessly. Twice when my radiator was uphill ( couldn’t move the van ). Much simpler than any other method I saw. Thank you!

1. Get your bug/weed sprayer. Wash it out.
2. Fill sprayer with coolant. Fill pressure tank till it’s “full”
3. Take nozzle off sprayer hose, hook up to blue cap nipple. Pump.
4. Open radiator bleeder. Let bleed and walk back to pump sprayer a few times to keep pressure up. Close bleeder.
5. Uphook sprayer. Done.