Club 80-90 Forums

You could try jacking the rear of the van up. Also open the bleed screw on the radiator and turn the dash heater valve to hot. There should be another 13 or 14 litres of coolant in there to come out.

clift_d wrote: ↑26 Jul 2026, 20:12 You could try jacking the rear of the van up. Also open the bleed screw on the radiator and turn the dash heater valve to hot. There should be another 13 or 14 litres of coolant in there to come out.

Ok, jacked the rear up, opened bleeder screw on radiator, heat on, lid off on reservoir and expansion tank both hoses off from radiator, still only around 3 litres coming out. What the heck am I doing wrong??

Stick your mouth on the rank and blow

Sometimes you need to tilt the long coolant pipes downwards.

You will figure it out.

Thanks for the advice!

I never managed to drain more than 9-10 litres but with a couple of drain and fills I’m sure it will do. This was definitely the least enjoyable operation so far on my T3… impossible not to make a mess . Feels good to have done it though as the coolant probably hasn’t been changed for at least 20 years. Again, thanks for all the input!

Most importand it to keep drain - fill with fresh water till its clear.
Then add 1/2 vol with neat coolant. Then the rest with water.

Yes 10L as you say is about right. but following the above you will get it right.

As mentioned its a long drawn out job to do it properly. Once done yoir good for 20 years

Changing the coolant  - I know this is quite a tedious job, but I made the mistake of using G11 coolant which needs removing flushing and replenishment every 2 years, whilst the G12++ coolant is every 5 years, so I should have perhaps gone for that in the first place , so in essence mine needs doing this time next year.... was thinking of using Amazon to order when the time comes, (10 litres and 25 distilled water for final flushing and use in replenishment) unless any one knows a better supplier with more reasonable costs?