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I just sold my 1994 Thunderbird, 170K miles, father in law and I are the original owners and all the coolant hoses are original. 25 years and they appeared to be in great shape. I wonder how much longer Honda parts, of better quality than Ford, can go.
Agreed.
I reckon more people will continue to replace things that don't need to be replaced, and they'll cause harm by making a mistake somewhere (e.g. not bleeding the coolant correctly, or stripping the oil squirter banjo bolt, etc.)
I mean I'm guilty of the whole "while I'm under there, might as well ______" line of thought, but sometimes it's best to just wait and see...
1. Open the Bleeder Bolt on the cylinder head, remove the Rubber Cap from the heater tube at the Firwall.
2. Fill up until coolant bleeds from the bolt at the cylinde head, thighten the bolt. 3. Jack up the front of the car until the filler neck oft the radiator and the heater tube are on the same level.
4. Fill more coolant until it squirts out of the heater tub, place rubber cap back on it.
5. Let the car idle until hot, add coolant.
6. To be sure, check for hot air from the heater and open the bleader valve at the cylinder head carefull to let trapped air escape.
7. Done.
Last edited by Mr.Matchbox; 07-13-2018 at 12:36 AM.
Once again: thanks s2ki and especially Billman and a few others who gave precious instructions here.
Did my coolant bleed today, after installer an alloy rad few weeks ago. First I started with the car on 4 jack stands, maybe with the rear higher than the front. It was a pain, not possible to get hot air (at all!!) from the inside ventilation.
Thant I put the rear of the car on the floor, front on jack stands, and started the billman's method. I had to do it alsmo 8 times I think!! but now, it seems perfect.
After replacing my fluid and bleeding using the described method, I took the car on the road. Everything was ok regarding the temperatures, but I stopped after 5-10 minutes and I was loosing liquid under the engine: near the bottom radiator hose. Maybe it came from the radiator cap, but I did not see any fluid here...
The leak was consequent, It was not a single droplet, I actually made a puddle (size of my hand) on the floor.
I kept had to go back on the road, and kept checkin this very regularly: I drove more than an hour since that, and I doesn't leak anymore!
Is it possible that I had "too much filled" the system and it was just the "overfilled" that came out ??
(I filled the radiator full + the reservoir at the max level, with cold engine)
After 13 years, the 6mm coupler that I had to install when going with the CAI failed. Not sure when it happen but was on the freeway going to work (only 10 miles), got off the exit and notice steam coming out the front. Temp still read normal and was getting heat. Pulled over and saw coolant spray everywhere. After a quick check I saw the hose to the throttle body separated and the coupler was very brittle and breaking off.
I replaced the hose with a one piece so this doesn't happen again!! Refill the radiator which took 1.25 gallon to fill up. Yikes!! I lost a lot of fluid! Took me hours to clean up. I don't think there was any engine damage since the heat was still burning hot and the water temp gauge read normal. Hopefully!!!
After refilling, I did the bleeding method. I tried to use the Lisle spill free funnel however the fitting doesn't fit the koyo radiator at any rate, did the billman procedure. Took awhile to get hot temp blowing out. Did it a few extra time after just to be sure. Took it around the block and the temp stay normal. Came back and did it a few more times to get the extra bit of air out. Still hissing.
Does it still hiss even after you get hot heat out?
at any rate, just glad it was something simple to fix and that I caught it early enough. Initially when I start the car, I was hearing whinning from the belt but it went away. I might have to replace it if it comes back. Hoping the coolant doesn't affect any of the pulley and components.
I would like to piggy-back on Billman's procedure and emphasize his point that more air will be bled out when the front is elevated. I bled the system with the car pretty close to level (0.2 degrees slightly nose up), and then decided to bleed it again with the nose slightly higher (3 degrees nose up). More air definitely came out the second time. Not to say that the air remaining after bleeding it approximately level was detrimental and would not come out naturally - I think it's worth mentioning that a few degrees nose up does make a difference. Another suggestion is to use a non-contact thermometer when measuring the air temp coming out of the vents. I sampled the temp of the engine (head, block, hoses etc,) and then compared the temp coming out of the vents. I was actually able to get a slightly higher temp out of the vents when all the air was purged out of the system. The 'really hot air' test is a little too ambiguous for my OCD. A cheap Harbor Freight non-contact thermometer works great for this (same one I check my brake temps with). If the engine and duct temps are within a couple degrees - I would say that's a good check.
One other note: I know Billman stated not to mess with the back bleeder, and in all likelihood that is correct in all cases. However, let me outline what I had done before reading this original write-up. In my case I pretty much changed everything in the cooling system (with the exception that I did not touch anything in the heating system - heater core, heater valve, hoses etc - and most of the small misc lines and hoses around the throttle body). Needless to say, there was very little coolant left when I was done swapping out the radiator, hoses, thermostat, water pump (etc). I went to filling and bleeding the system the way I did in my first S2000 back in 2005, utilizing both bleeders. I ran the car with the cap off, opened both bleeders, and nothing came out of the back bleeder. Eventually I took a vacuum pump and put vacuum on the rear bleeder until coolant finally came out. That took a lot more vacuum than I expected to get that to happen and the radiator immediately dropped by a notable amount. I then went about running the car and working air out of the front bleeder. I let the car sit overnight, but I was sure there was still a lot more air in the system. When I checked on the car this morning, the overfill reservoir had less than a quarter left (it was overfilled last night), and the radiator needed a slight top-off. I searched the forums before bleeding the system again and ran into this page with Billman's method, which I used. After tilting the car a few degrees nose up, I am convinced my car's cooling system is fully bled. I haven't driven the car on the road and it's still on jackstands - but hopefully it will be back on the road in the next few days. It's been over 2 years on this build (for another discussion). It will be nice to have the car ready in time for fall!
Thank you again Billman! Am I still your furthest traveled customer?
Billman thanks for the write up, wondering if you can tell me why I can't get my heater to blow hot air? I've followed your instructions (for over an hour, maybe 15 cycles). It fixed my overheating issue but still only warm air comes out. Could this be a seperate issue?
OT, a bit: I used the Lisle Radiator kit on my 2014 CR-V. This car originally never had really hot heater air. It took about 40 minutes to fully bleed out all the trapped bubbles --- heater to full heat with fan at high. Car parked on a slight incline, so that the radiator was elevated. The car now has hot air blowing within 1 minute, after a cold start.
06-28-2018, 09:38 PM
at any rate, did the billman procedure. Took awhile to get hot temp blowing out. Did it a few extra time after just to be sure. Took it around the block and the temp stay normal. Came back and did it a few more times to get the extra bit of air out. Still hissing. 
