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V1 Purging Air from Coolant System

G
At what point do the lines get cool?

You also might try applying the vacuum again and see if you get a bunch of bubbles. I think I applied vacuum on the steam port on the head when I did mine. You can also take the top radiator hose loose and confirm that the radiator is mostly full of water. I think I originally filled my system with the top hose disconnected until it filled to that point. I then reconnected and filled through the steam port until it wouldn't take anymore. I then applied vacuum to confirm it was full.
 
F
Gtstorey said:
At what point do the lines get cool?

You also might try applying the vacuum again and see if you get a bunch of bubbles. I think I applied vacuum on the steam port on the head when I did mine. You can also take the top radiator hose loose and confirm that the radiator is mostly full of water. I think I originally filled my system with the top hose disconnected until it filled to that point. I then reconnected and filled through the steam port until it wouldn't take anymore. I then applied vacuum to confirm it was full.
Click to expand...
Apply it while it is full of coolant? I thought about doing this but was not sure if I'd break the tool pulling a bunch of coolant back through it like that.
 
escapepilot
finazzoty said:
Apply it while it is full of coolant? I thought about doing this but was not sure if I'd break the tool pulling a bunch of coolant back through it like that.
Click to expand...
You can do it with coolant in the system but you do have to be careful or you will spray it everywhere. If it's like the one I bought, it has an on/off valve and you can use it to regulate how much vacuum you pull and stop before you pull coolant in to the tool.
 
G
You really don't want to pull a lot of coolant through it, just turn it on slowly and try to let it pull air out.

I did have trouble bleeding my supercharger coolant on my Camaro and have a clear piece of pvc pipe that I can put inline and get a few feet above the SC to apply the vacuum. I can control it well enough that I pull the coolant up into the pipe and cut it off without loosing any fluid (mostly just so I don't make a mess).
 
F
Ok so this is really weird:
I tried a whole bunch of stuff to purge air (including the steam port on the top of the head). I did see some minor bubbles come out, but nothing spectacular. I then cranked the car and let it run.

43635


Prior to the thermostat opening, the entirety of the hose that runs down the passenger's side of the car (and really the entire coolant loop) is malleable, and definitely not under pressure of any sort. As the temperature approaches 200F, you can feel/squeeze the hose and tell that the entire system has come under pressure. The good thing about this is that it confirms that the thermostat is opening correctly and that the water pump is indeed not the issue (I've heard these rarely go bad anyway).

The strange thing is this - as the temperature goes past 200F (which is not good from what I've read thus far), the section of hose indicated by the red arrow on the left begins to heat up...which I would expect. What does not make sense to me is why/how the section of hose indicated by the red arrow on the right is cool. My first thought was that there must be a blockage, but if this was the case, how could that very section of the hose (and everything downstream of it) be under pressure???

EDIT:
Another thing to add to all of this is that it seems as though as the thermostat opens the level of the coolant in the surge tank begins to rise. What might that indicate?
 
Last edited:
Joebob
When cool and squishy, does squeezing the hose slosh the fluid in the overflow tank? Try both sides.

If the passenger side heats up, then check the passenger side inlet to the radiator. Does it heat up? Does the upper outlet on the radiator get hot too showing that water is flowing through the radiator? You mentioned that the return side on the driver side is cool.

This should only be checked after the temperature is hot enough to open the thermostat (175-190). Pressure from the hot fluid will extend over to the overflow tank and the drivers side even if there is no flow. Does your radiator fan turn on or not turn off? Is the heat from the fan (if on) feel hot?

Joe
 
F
Joebob said:
When cool and squishy, does squeezing the hose slosh the fluid in the overflow tank? Try both sides.

If the passenger side heats up, then check the passenger side inlet to the radiator. Does it heat up? Does the upper outlet on the radiator get hot too showing that water is flowing through the radiator? You mentioned that the return side on the driver side is cool.

This should only be checked after the temperature is hot enough to open the thermostat (175-190). Pressure from the hot fluid will extend over to the overflow tank and the drivers side even if there is no flow. Does your radiator fan turn on or not turn off? Is the heat from the fan (if on) feel hot?

Joe
Click to expand...
So heat begins at the head (passenger side) where the coolant outlet sends the hot coolant down the "Z" shaped (sort of Z shaped) hose, as shown in that picture - but right where the coupler joins the "Z" shaped hose to the main coolant hose that runs down the passenger's side of the chassis, it turns cold. There is no hot coolant at all making it to the radiator, but, there is pressure at the radiator

EDIT: And yes, when I squeeze the hoses, it does move the coolant in the tank around
 
Last edited:
Joebob
It does not sound like you are pushing any water through the system.

What I saw when I drained and filled my system last week is:
Drain the coolant at the radiator, you should get 1 gallon I think.
Disconnect the hose at the passenger head connection and pour water or some of the coolant down the hose and see if it drains out the radiator.
If it drains out the radiator, close the radiator petcock and try to fill the radiator from the disconnected passenger hose. You should see it start filling the overflow tank if the passenger hose is held high. That will mean that you have continuity through the radiator hoses and radiator. You will need to pour out some of the coolant from the hose as you will have to drain the overflow tank and some more to get the hose back on the passenger head outlet. At this point I was left with about 2 quarts of air in the system. Bleeding air out of the radiator by cracking the hose seal gave me a cup or so and filling the tank back up and revving it some got me the rest.

Has it always overheated or has something changed and now it does? My first thought is an obstruction in the hose and radiator, the second is questioning if the water pump truly is good. It is messy but you can drain the coolant out and add plain water and disconnect the passenger hose at the frame, rotate the outlet to be higher than the engine and see if it pumps water out the hose.

Joe
 
F
out of the port on the head on the passenger side, towards the front of the car, then through radiator, then from the front to rear, going down the drivers side
 
escapepilot
Based on all of the information so far, it really does sound like coolant isn't being circulated. How certain are you that the water pump is good and is working?
 
G
You haven't done something besides looping a hose for the heater core connections? There has been a mention of a modification to eliminate that hose but it was discussed that might causing problems with the coolant circulation.
 
Rauq
Long story short: I believe the heater core loop hose is necessary with a stock thermostat housing.

I remember having dived (dove?) into this when I did my F23 swap as the LSJ thermostat housing doesn't clear that trans, so I had to swap to a base model thermostat housing. It was a little clearer with the thermostat housing off, combined with flow diagrams that I can't dig up again... but combined with OptimizePrime's experience that I dug up, generally re-confirms to me that good loop hose flow is important to bleeding. I recall that when the thermostat is closed the water pump recirculates coolant through the block, and burping the system requires good flow through the heater core crossover as that's at least part of the recirculation loop.

As a matter of fact, as I'm typing this, I recall having had issues burping the cooling system on my car after the trans+thermostat housing swap because the replumb required using a different heater core loop hose than what I'd previously run. On my first reinstall, the heater core loop hose was kinked (reducing or even preventing flow) and the issue was resolved by reseating that hose with a better curve/bend with less kink.
 
F
AH this explains alot. I did indeed do the mod of removal of those two little nipples that are used for the heater loop. I thought @Fozda had success with this? Strange. Let me go whip up a little solution (un-mod) to this and I will report back
 
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