Coolant Change/Bleeding Procedures...Please

spine911

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2004
Location
orange county,ca
TDI
beetle, 1998,black
Any specific info. regarding Coolant DRAINING and BLEEDING procedures(1.9 NB) would be greatly appreciated...Thanks.
 

runonbeer

Maintenance EnthusiastVendor
Joined
Apr 15, 2002
Location
Austin, TX/Chapel Hill, NC
TDI
'00 Golf 02M, '10 Golf 02E, '02 UTE 02M
well now. The drain cock is located on the drivers side and you must remove the belly pan and DS side skirt to get at it.
it helps to put a little hose on the drain cock and run it into an old milk carton or somthing. the drain cock does not simply spin open, rather, it cams out when turned CCW such that only about a 1/4-1/2 turn is required to reach the fully open point.
While draining, you may want to apply a bit of pressure to the coolant res. to push all the coolant out of the head.

once you've drained it all, make an assesment of how much was removed and then mix 1/2 that amount of new coolant with the same amount of water (distilled if you live in a region with high mineral, carbonate, sulfates like I do.)

Remove the clamp on the upper radiator hose that leads from the radiator to the drivers side of the head. there is a union at that point that is convenient for adding coolant.

first fill the radiator:


then fill the engine:



then, reconnect the two ends of the hose leaving a small wedge through which air can escape, and hold it thusly while filling the resivoir like so:



Slowly, the coolant will fill the block and push air up through the hose. Once coolant rises up to the hose (you'll see it) reconnect the hoses fill the res to the proper level, and start the engine. this will ensure that the water pump is never run dry and is effectively faster than waiting for the engine to bleed itself while adding coolant to the res.

Why are you changing your coolant? did you get some green stuff?
 

spine911

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2004
Location
orange county,ca
TDI
beetle, 1998,black
Thanks for such a great writeup!...a couple more questions: you mentioned something about the Radiator Drain Cock being located on the Driver's side which needs removal of the side skirts??? as in the WHOLE Left Side Skirt??....Can i just use any Aluminum Safe Coolant?
 

NuM3R1K

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Location
Raleigh, NC
TDI
GLS, 1999.5 A4, Black
Good post man, but I was wondering something. Is it alright to use a regular cooling system flush like Prestone's Super Flush or do I have to use something VW spec?
 

runonbeer

Maintenance EnthusiastVendor
Joined
Apr 15, 2002
Location
Austin, TX/Chapel Hill, NC
TDI
'00 Golf 02M, '10 Golf 02E, '02 UTE 02M
I'm not a coolant expert. I would just use water for flushing. and then fill with 50/50 G12 VW coolant.

The side skirt is not difficult to remove. there are some flat spin on retainers that hold the skirts onto studs sticking out of the frame. just spin those off and it should come right out.
And if you get enough hose for draining you can probably leave it in place.
 

oldpoopie

Vendor
Joined
May 14, 2001
Location
Portland Oregon
TDI
2001 golf gl, 2006 jetta, 1981 ALH swapped rabbit pickup, 1998 beetle
When I do it, I take my oil extractor pump and attach it to the drainback overflow hose that goes to the coolant resivoir. I apply suction to it and slowly add the measured amount of coolant. sometimes I'll also "burp" the hoses by massaging them to get any air bubbles out.
 

spine911

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2004
Location
orange county,ca
TDI
beetle, 1998,black
When I do it, I take my oil extractor pump and attach it to the drainback overflow hose that goes to the coolant resivoir. I apply suction to it and slowly add the measured amount of coolant. sometimes I'll also "burp" the hoses by massaging them to get any air bubbles out.
Good Idea!....Do you think the "MITY VAC" would do the trick?- although a bit tedious bec. the Mity Vac fluid reservoir is small, just wondering if it would work with the right suction tips.
 

runonbeer

Maintenance EnthusiastVendor
Joined
Apr 15, 2002
Location
Austin, TX/Chapel Hill, NC
TDI
'00 Golf 02M, '10 Golf 02E, '02 UTE 02M
If you use the mity vac you don't ever actually need to collect any fluid in the "catch can" In fact, before I found the above method, I would just suck on the hose with my mouth untill I "felt" the fluid coming
 

runonbeer

Maintenance EnthusiastVendor
Joined
Apr 15, 2002
Location
Austin, TX/Chapel Hill, NC
TDI
'00 Golf 02M, '10 Golf 02E, '02 UTE 02M
to the drainback overflow hose that goes to the coolant resivoir. I apply suction to it and slowly add the measured amount of coolant.
the red arrow points to the hose oldpoopie is talking about. Yes a mity vac will werk.

 

oldpoopie

Vendor
Joined
May 14, 2001
Location
Portland Oregon
TDI
2001 golf gl, 2006 jetta, 1981 ALH swapped rabbit pickup, 1998 beetle
Yep. You apply suction on that tube only untill coolant begins to come out. You just want to purge air, so the size of your container is of no consequence.
 

oldpoopie

Vendor
Joined
May 14, 2001
Location
Portland Oregon
TDI
2001 golf gl, 2006 jetta, 1981 ALH swapped rabbit pickup, 1998 beetle
If you use the mity vac you don't ever actually need to collect any fluid in the "catch can" In fact, before I found the above method, I would just suck on the hose with my mouth untill I "felt" the fluid coming
Bleh cough cough.......
 

shr0Om

Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
TDI
98 Beetle RED
last year emptied my system by opening the drain and letting it out, i replaced with the 100,000 mile "new gm" compatible coolant, it is orange... ive just found out this wasnt the best thing to do, but its been like this a year, my question is should i change it back to the orig stuff from dealer? and if so what is the harm in draining and just pouring it in the bulb, starting car, turning car off, putting more in bulb, until it is full... thats what i did last time... thanks for the replies.
 

shr0Om

Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
TDI
98 Beetle RED
what i mean by pouring it in the bulb is not pouring it in radiator, which is how i did it last time, i am about to go on a long trip and if changing the coolant back is best i will do it.
 

asau

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Location
Utah, USA
TDI
Golf 2002 gray
your tdi requires g12 for the water pump and head. drain your radiator and fill with distilled water then take a drive to warm the system with the heater on, repeat until the coolant you drain is clear. do not mix green with g12.
 

PKtdi

Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2003
Location
St. Paul, MN
TDI
2000 Jetta, green
So, will the system purge itself of air over time or does it need to be done manually?

I just cleaned my EGR and Intake, but the How-To is was following failed to mention that when you take the hose off the EGR intercooler? (Heat Exchanger tube behind the intake manifold) all the coolant upstream, including the resivour, will drain on your garage floor.

After I got the cleaning done and the engine back together, I followed the advice pictured above and topped off the radiator, and then filled the resivour. I guess I'm just wondering if there was any air still in there if its a problem? I plan to keep a sharp eye on the temp gauge and the resivour level for a while.
 

runonbeer

Maintenance EnthusiastVendor
Joined
Apr 15, 2002
Location
Austin, TX/Chapel Hill, NC
TDI
'00 Golf 02M, '10 Golf 02E, '02 UTE 02M
You don't need to disconnect the hoses to the cooler when performing an intake cleaning.

yes, your system will eventually purge itself.

Its worth mentioning that I no longer use the above method to prime the system. I've discovered, and this may only apply to changing the water pump, that if you kink the coolant overflow line by wraping it up behind the strut tower before you remove the water pump, all you have to do to refill is fill up the resivoir and un kink it. this will actually syphon the entire volume of coolant up into the engine as long as you keep topping it up as the level in the res. drops. No mity-vac, no hose splitting required. Takes less time and you also get to grin with satisfaction as the engine fills itself. Grinning with satisfaction is fun.:D
 

Spokane Walt

Veteran Member
Joined
May 10, 2006
Location
Washington State, USA
TDI
2000 Jetta Sedan GLS TDI 5sp, 2000 Jetta 2.0 AEG Gas, 2003 Jetta TDI Wagon 5sp (wrecked - have some parts!)
shr0Om said:
... i replaced with the 100,000 mile "new gm" compatible coolant, it is orange... ive just found out this wasnt the best thing to do, but its been like this a year, my question is should i change it back to the orig stuff from dealer? ...
The GM Orange stuff is calld DEX-COOL and is referred to as "DEATH-COOL" even by many die-hard GM Fanatics.

Don't use this stuff in your VW, just a bad idea all the way around. Use the VW Required Stuff. G11 on older VWs, G12 for most. If you don't like dealer pricing, most NAPA Auto Parts stores now carry Pentosin(sp) Brand G11 and G12 - Pentosin is the same thing the dealer sells - it is acceptable for VW Use.

If you put the wrong stuff in, drain it, flush with water really good, maybe even make up a batch of 70% distilled water to 30% G12 and run it for a month if it is Spring through Fall, and then change out to 50/50. In other words get that other "orange" or "green" stuff out of there!

Walt
 

spleecho

I don't kill trees Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jul 13, 2006
Location
Las Vegas, NV
TDI
1999.5 Golf TDI
runonbeer said:
well now. The drain cock is located on the drivers side and you must remove the belly pan and DS side skirt to get at it.
it helps to put a little hose on the drain cock and run it into an old milk carton or somthing. the drain cock does not simply spin open, rather, it cams out when turned CCW such that only about a 1/4-1/2 turn is required to reach the fully open point.
While draining, you may want to apply a bit of pressure to the coolant res. to push all the coolant out of the head.

once you've drained it all, make an assesment of how much was removed and then mix 1/2 that amount of new coolant with the same amount of water (distilled if you live in a region with high mineral, carbonate, sulfates like I do.)

Remove the clamp on the upper radiator hose that leads from the radiator to the drivers side of the head. there is a union at that point that is convenient for adding coolant.

first fill the radiator:


then fill the engine:



then, reconnect the two ends of the hose leaving a small wedge through which air can escape, and hold it thusly while filling the resivoir like so:



Slowly, the coolant will fill the block and push air up through the hose. Once coolant rises up to the hose (you'll see it) reconnect the hoses fill the res to the proper level, and start the engine. this will ensure that the water pump is never run dry and is effectively faster than waiting for the engine to bleed itself while adding coolant to the res.

Why are you changing your coolant? did you get some green stuff?
I recognized it was you from your juice-jug-technique you did on my car LOL!
 

rackaracka

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2001
Location
Monroe, NJ
I recently purchased a 98 Beetle with a rebuilt motor. I have been carefully looking things over and decided to look in the coolant expansion tank with a flashlight to see how the fluid looked and to my surprise its green ethylene glycol. It was sure it looked pink without a flashlight...(on the beetle that tank is tucked in under the plenum)

I know that I'll have to drain, flush with water, fill with water, run - allow to fully cool, drain, flush with water, fill with water, run... until I get clear water out - then fill with 50/50 G12.

Any idea on how many fill, run, drain cycles this is going to take?
Any idea / recommendations on the process that might save me some time?
 

jetta 97

Vendor
Joined
Dec 25, 2008
Location
Dallas (McKinney) ,TX ,USA
TDI
2 X Jatta MK5 2006
Just did on my mk3 flush.
What I did ,is I unplug return hoes from ex.tank and put it in one container. Ex. tank plug with peace of hose and the other end was plug (to have not leaking fluid from ex.tank).I put water in other container (one gallon ) start engine at idle and start putting water in ex.tank.In the other container old coolant will start coming out from return hose. I spend about 2.5 gallons of water till it everything flash out.It took about 5-10 min. Than I cool engine down(about 1-2HR).Then same thing with G12.I put about 2 gallong of G12 mix in it. So you will need 1 gallon of 100% G12. Run it for 2-3 days and check is your coolant holding freezing point.

Note : Someone has to look temp. of engine all time, to make sure car is not overheating.
 

travis45

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2009
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
14 Sportwagen, 96 Passat TDI Sedan
Forgive me for asking, but my local VW specialist says that in the early TDI's I can use the green glycol in my 96 Passat TDI. I trust you all more than him, G12 right?
 

scurvy

Good Ol' Boy
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Location
Chicago IL USA
TDI
2006 Golf
G12+ or G12++ (pink? magenta? lavender?) is backwards-compatable with the blue G11. Not G12. Punch your local VW specialist in the junk.
 

nbhab

Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Location
New Brunswick
TDI
2002 Jetta
I changed the thermostat in my 02 Jetta 2.0 litre gas model tonight. I did so because the car was overheating. It is no longer doing so. I used an aftermarket thermostat, which was probably mistake one. I have a leak at the housing where it connects to the block. I put in a new seal. Now my heater doesn't work, which worked this morning. Also, I bought an aftermarket coolant, probably mistake two. Would anyone like to offer advice on what they would do if this were their car? My thinking is to go get a VW thermostat and another new seal as well as a supply of VW coolant and start over and flush the system. Having said that, I have no desire to spend money I need not spend. In other words, do I really need an original thermostat? They are six times the price of an aftermarket one. Do I need VW coolant? It is twice the cost of aftermarket coolant. Is there any other reason my heater would suddenly stop working? Could the aftermarket thermostat be causing the leak due to improper fit? Sorry for the stupidity but I would appreciate your help.
 

PDJetta

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Location
Northern Virginia
TDI
'04 Jetta GLS TDI Pumpe Duce Platinum Grey w/ Leather
"Also, I bought an aftermarket coolant, probably mistake two."

That was the mistake. Get the G-12 coolant and flush the entire system. Follow the correct procedure to get all the old coolant out and flush with clean water, followed by distilled water. I do not know if the 2.0 gasser has the oil cooler to disconnect the hose from, like on the TDI.

You might as well put a new OEM thermostat back in. Whaler was the OEM manufacturer for the '85 Jetta I had, possibly this brand still is.

Do not run the engine without coolant in the block (can damage the waterpump seal). I would fill the system with 1/2 the volume of pure coolant, and draw a slight vacuum through the little hose that connects to the reservoir. This should pull coolant into the block. Top off with distilled water. You will then have a 50/50 mix.

--Nate
 
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