Bleeding rear heater core

[J.A.P.III]

I just put in a new rear heater core in my vanagon 2.1 and was wondering how to bleed the air out. I have the gowesty bleeder pump.

[harvgwen]

I bled mine by driving the back wheels up on ramps, then opening the bleeder on the rear heater. This also worked for bleeding my radiator. I did not need any special suction or pressure tools, just gravity. (Engine not running)
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1986 Westfalia Vanagon, 2.2 Subaru
British Columbia, Canada

[mdub]

Make sure the valve at the rear heater core is open, and your heater on the dash is set to hot. Fill as much as you can in the expansion tank, and pressurize the system using the GoWesty pump to about 15psi. There should be a bleeder valve on the heater core. Crack it open and air will come out, close it when coolant comes out. Do the same thing with the bleeder valve on the radiator up front. You may need to pump up the pressure a bit after you've partially bled the system, keep it at around 15 psi. It should be able to hold that pressure, if after 10 minutes or so, the needle has gone down, start looking for leaks. if everything looks good, go ahead and start the engine with the expansion tank cap off. Add coolant if the level goes down, run the engine for a few minutes. When the coolant level is stable and the tank is full to the top, put the cap back on and go for a drive, try to go up and down some hills. Check your level and add more coolant if necessary. Make sure you drive long enough to actually open the thermostat, Ideally you should feel warmth at the radiator, and make sure both heater cores are warm. the radiator fan should cycle on and off. Just keep an eye on the coolant level over the next few days as you're driving around, it may take a little while to work all the air out of the system.
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'86 Syncro / Reimo Poptop / EJ22

[J.A.P.III]

Which way to open the heater valve, forward or back ?

[mdub]