I have the SOS vmount radiator/ intercooler setup. System have been bled like crazy and there always still seems to be air in it. Heater takes a long time to blow warm air out and it will stay warm for a bit then start blowing cold air again. Car overheats. My water temp gauge read 240* just cruising it would spike. It jumped frm 200˚F to 230˚F in 2 secs. This was after I did do some pulls. We touched the radiator, it was cold as can be. Upper hose was super hot. Lower hose was cold. The heater core/hose was hot as well. No leaks upper hose is still pressurized. Stumped.....

We are going to replace the thermostat, maybe drill holes in it. I've read and some say it could be overcooling the system? I don't know though.


This all happen while about 40˚F driving around at night. Seems weird, and seems like people have had this problem before.

I just hope it's something simple to get the cooling system to operate correctly.

Any help is appreciated!

-Jodan

 

Sounds like a nasty airlock to me man! I had a similar problem once, changed the thermostat, after bleeding the system a few times it finally sorted itself out!

 

maybe its a bleed issue if the top of the rad sits lower than stock in the vmount setup?
you might try to bleed it with the front of the car jacked up to get the rad higher or something

can you post pictures of the vmount I'd like to see it!

 

 

Sounds like an air pocket circulating through the system. Like Dan said, try bleeding with the front end jacked up.

 

This happened to me once. It turned out to be a bad thermostats. As soon as I changed that everything was fixed.

 

Sounds like you got some nasty air pockets in the system and/or a thermostat that isn't opening.. Having a radiator mounted that low does pose the problem of getting air out of the system. I imagine bleeding would be much more of a pita compared to a stock positioned radiator. I'd say just keep bleeding.. maybe SOS has some tips for getting all the air out?

If your heater core isn't blowing hot air consistently, that's a dead giveaway though you have air in the system. I'd also be very cautious driving it at all like that. Last thing you want is to overheat and pop a headgasket.

 

Another question.. does the V mount setup utilize a radiator cap on the radiator core or externally on a tank? I see in pictures the setup comes w/ a different tank, but not sure if that's just an overflow can or actually a metal can w/ the radiator cap on it.. Reason being w/o a bleeder somewhere by the radiator or external can w/ the cap, it'd be very difficult to bleed it. Stock system is easy because you just crack the cap. No amount of jacking the front end is gonna get it high enough..

 

There is no radiator cap on the radiator itself, but the little black external container on the right side of the picture by the intercooler is the where the radiator cap is now. It's a pressurized container. That's where we fill the coolant through. Yeah, I've emailed SOS. No reply yet, but we'll probably call them.

Andy will bleed the car again using Billmans method and replace the thermostat to see if everything works correctly.

 

Gotcha I figured it had an external canister w/ a cap.. All I'd say is keep trying to bleed it like you would on a stock s2k by using billmans procedure. I'd make sure the heat blew nice and hot consistently before taking it for any long drive. It might take a few heating/cooling cycles before you can get all the air out.

To add, cold bottom/lower hose means the thermostat didn't open. Could be due to some air in the system or a bad thermostat.