Radiator Cap off
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Radiator Cap off
Idiot alert. I was checking my fluids last night, and topping everything off. Closed everything up, and drove to work the next day.
Got to work, car drove great. Took the time to wash my bay while I had a minute and noticed I had left my rad cap off from last night.... then drove it to work like that. DOH.
I saw the fluid was still at the top (short commute) and figured it was fine. Put the cap on, and drove home at the end of the day. Kept the heat on just to be absolutely sure, and when I stopped at a light - air went cold. Absolutely freaked out and got home just around the corner as the air returned to hot again, and never had the temperature gauge go past normal 3 bars. (AP1)
Got in my garage, cracked the bleeder on top of the engine, and got a little air out. Went to test the heat again and it is now ice cold. So I squeezed the top radiator hose and it went flat and I could hear coolant shoshing around so I am assuming I have air in the system.
Can I just confirm this diagnosis with some smarter people than me? Go get some coolant tomorrow, and just fill/bleed the system and there should be no harm done for my silly mistake........ right?
Thanks guys!
Got to work, car drove great. Took the time to wash my bay while I had a minute and noticed I had left my rad cap off from last night.... then drove it to work like that. DOH.
I saw the fluid was still at the top (short commute) and figured it was fine. Put the cap on, and drove home at the end of the day. Kept the heat on just to be absolutely sure, and when I stopped at a light - air went cold. Absolutely freaked out and got home just around the corner as the air returned to hot again, and never had the temperature gauge go past normal 3 bars. (AP1)
Got in my garage, cracked the bleeder on top of the engine, and got a little air out. Went to test the heat again and it is now ice cold. So I squeezed the top radiator hose and it went flat and I could hear coolant shoshing around so I am assuming I have air in the system.
Can I just confirm this diagnosis with some smarter people than me? Go get some coolant tomorrow, and just fill/bleed the system and there should be no harm done for my silly mistake........ right?
Thanks guys!
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 29,869
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From: Ontario Canada
yup air in the system.
On the cool down after you arrived at work it would have sucked air into the system rather than sucking fluid from the overflow tank. You must have spilled some fluid during the drive so the air now displaces the fluid that would have been in there before. Do 1 or 2 bleed procedures and see if you can get all of the air out of the system.
On the cool down after you arrived at work it would have sucked air into the system rather than sucking fluid from the overflow tank. You must have spilled some fluid during the drive so the air now displaces the fluid that would have been in there before. Do 1 or 2 bleed procedures and see if you can get all of the air out of the system.
Last edited by zeroptzero; Oct 29, 2016 at 07:52 PM.
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Idiot alert. I was checking my fluids last night, and topping everything off. Closed everything up, and drove to work the next day.
Got to work, car drove great. Took the time to wash my bay while I had a minute and noticed I had left my rad cap off from last night.... then drove it to work like that. DOH.
I saw the fluid was still at the top (short commute) and figured it was fine. Put the cap on, and drove home at the end of the day. Kept the heat on just to be absolutely sure, and when I stopped at a light - air went cold. Absolutely freaked out and got home just around the corner as the air returned to hot again, and never had the temperature gauge go past normal 3 bars. (AP1)
Got in my garage, cracked the bleeder on top of the engine, and got a little air out. Went to test the heat again and it is now ice cold. So I squeezed the top radiator hose and it went flat and I could hear coolant shoshing around so I am assuming I have air in the system.
Can I just confirm this diagnosis with some smarter people than me? Go get some coolant tomorrow, and just fill/bleed the system and there should be no harm done for my silly mistake........ right?
Thanks guys!
Got to work, car drove great. Took the time to wash my bay while I had a minute and noticed I had left my rad cap off from last night.... then drove it to work like that. DOH.
I saw the fluid was still at the top (short commute) and figured it was fine. Put the cap on, and drove home at the end of the day. Kept the heat on just to be absolutely sure, and when I stopped at a light - air went cold. Absolutely freaked out and got home just around the corner as the air returned to hot again, and never had the temperature gauge go past normal 3 bars. (AP1)
Got in my garage, cracked the bleeder on top of the engine, and got a little air out. Went to test the heat again and it is now ice cold. So I squeezed the top radiator hose and it went flat and I could hear coolant shoshing around so I am assuming I have air in the system.
Can I just confirm this diagnosis with some smarter people than me? Go get some coolant tomorrow, and just fill/bleed the system and there should be no harm done for my silly mistake........ right?
Thanks guys!
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Joined: May 2015
Posts: 183
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Sure enough! The bleed did it. I will say it lost A LOT of coolant (or sucked a lot of air) as it took about 5 or 6 bleeds to get it done. And I'm still not convinced its all out. Either way, car is holding temp, and coolant is flowing -- so all is well by my book for now.
Thanks you two for keeping me from panicking.
Thanks you two for keeping me from panicking.
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