[Vwdiesel] Coolant and head gasket

[Justin Bennett]

Will 
I have been told that if you refill the coolant system by the burp tank you can end up with air pockets in the head that will cause hot spots.  The method I use, (think it came from someone on the list here) is to fill the entire system thru the upper radiator hose nipple on the engine.  Take a short piece of hose, an old upper hose works great, and position it so that it points straight up.  Then start adding coolant until it runs out of the upper radiator hose nipple on the radiator.  Another hint I just heard, think it was on Fred's TDI forum is to use an aspirn tablet to hold the therostat open.  so that it doesn't cause any issues with trapped air.  
Justin
 
 
> 

  More likely to damage the head gasket I'd think.
  I found with my Rabbit running a 92C(?) stat, that if I had just 
water in it (flushing it out one day) it would boil and the thermostat 
never open.  It not only needed the cap on but the coolant mix as 
well, to keep the "hot spots" from boiling before the overall temp 
was high enough to open the stat.  Then that boiled vapor would 
either keep the stat from opening or air lock the system.
    Loren