Is this normal?

[Zebedee]

I replaced the coolant and thermostat in my '88 1.9wbx caravelle yesterday and bled the system as per the wiki.
Before it used to run at just above the LED light on the gauge but today it was slightly higher up the gauge by the time I got home. I thought it could be a problem with the thermostat not opening but I'm not 100% sure now.

The pipes in the engine compartment are all warm. The one at the thermostat top housing, the connection at the bypass hose to the thermostat housing and at the engine end of the main pipe to the radiator, all warm but the radiator and the pipes at that end feel cold.
It is pretty cold outside so could the wind as its being driven cool the radiator and pipes so they would feel cold?
The fan kicks in as normal by the way if it's left idling.

Is this normal? Am I getting myself worried over nothing?

[Ian Hulley]

Get it's nose up and crack the rad drain ..... what's the heater doing ?

[Zebedee]

Heater is lovely and scorchio. Makes a change from last winter when my old passat has a busted heater and my bay camper was warmer to drive in.

It does seem like the radiator is full of air. Gotta replace the coolant flange on the r/h cylinder head tomorrow so i'll need to drain some coolant out to do that but i'll make sure its had a proper bleed after that. My drive is virtually a 1:3 hill so the nose is always in the air.

You do keep the revs high while cracking open the rad bleed valve don't you? Did it today and just air came out in a loud hiss so i assume its all air in there.
Thought i'd done a good job bleeding it too.

[Zebedee]

Ran the engine for what seemed like hours with the radiator bleed valve open, slowly adding more coolant as the level went down. Eventually (after the thermostat opened i assume) i could feel the radiator getting warm then water came out.
I must have added about 1.5litres more coolant than before as the rest of the system was full of air.