I just replaced my radiator and plumbed some new water lines around the engine. I'm fairly sure I still have air in my system but I'm paranoid so I'd like to be reassured a little bit


When I first turned the car on, my water temp gauge was stuck on ~75F (ambient) but the radiator and upper rad line were hot (lower line was cold). I gave it some gas, and in "spurts" my water gauge went up to the normal 170F and my heat started working again. From there it would get to 200 cycle the fans go down to 190, etc.

I let her cool off over night. I opened the rad cap in the morning and was greeted with some residual air pressure and my radiator was about 1/4 gallon low. I brought her out and the same thing kinda happened again. Water temps got stuck on about 170F until I gave her some gas and it went back up to the normal 190-200 range.

As I said, sounds to be like air working it's way out of the system but I'd like a second opinion

 

It could be air bubbles in the coolant or it could also be a stuck thermostat. How long have you had the car running to watch the temperature gauge? 5 mintes? 5 miles?

 

Don't forget to bleed the block and the hose going to the heater core.

 

there is a air bleeder on the intake manifold that y ou unscrew and it will let all the air out of the system. Its near the cylinder no.1 runner, open it untill coolant flows out of it then tighten it.

 

I thought it was a stuck thermo but once I reved it a bit coolant started flowing (the first time I started her). Now it at least gets past 170 before getting "stuck." I'm about to start her again and see if everything is good to go.


Yeah both areas are bled. I'm just hoping there are a few stuck bubbles in the system. I'll chime in with an update

 

Well I checked it again, opened the cap -- tiny bit of pressure (much less then before) and it was a little low (again not nearly as much as before).

I opened up the bleeder valve at the engine and a little gush of air came out but no liquid. Opened up the rear bleed and water came pouring out of my rad cap...think I just introduced more air into the system

Cleaned up the mess, took her for a drive, seems to be acting normal. I still think there is some air in the system. Any recomendations on how to bleed the system?

heat on
Jack up the front
Open rad cap
Open 2 bleeder valves
put fluid in rad until comes out of both caps?
heat up engine
once cold, top off

 

Did you leave the rad cap off the first time you started the engine afer working on it?
Last time I workd on the cooling system - about 2 months ago, replaced the lower rad hose - it also took some revs to get the flow going, all with the rad cap off.
It burped a bit, there was some air coming out both bleeders.
After the top-off the level in the tank dropped just half an inch or so in a week while the top rad tank was full, now its fine.

All bleeding was done with the car on its wheels

 

^ No I never ran the car with the cap off...come to think of that I think the helms manual says to do that

Hopefully, continuing to fill her up once she gets cold will work the air out. When I opened the cap again -- I filled it a tiny bit. I think it's slowly working it's way out.

 

Once everything is put back you need to pour coolant til it pours out the two bleeders. Close bleeders. Turn heater on max. Start the car, with rad cap off. Pour coolant as needed .Wait til fan turns on 2wice. Shut off vehicle.Keep pouring coolant to top off. It helps a million if you buy a radiator funnel kit from Lisle (no mess). This is a gaurantee there is no air bubbles in the system. Tech here