Top radiator hose has alot of pressure. Car has extremely inconsistant engine temps. Interior car heat is inconsistant. It comes and goes.
Recently replaced:
Water pump
Thermostat
Radiator cap
I believe there may be air in the system, although we have bled it alot already. How much air is it possible to have in a system? Whats the best way to get it out? We tried putting the car on a hill (engine up). and bleeding the bleed valve.
Should we start the engine cold, and remove both the radiator cap as well as the bleed valve and let the system burp all the air out? if so how long should we let the car run & burp before we're completely safe to assume its all out?
Thanks!
Jon
Jon, Your cooling system should have a coolant recovery tank connected by a hose to the radiator cap neck. There should be no need to worry about air in the system. Cold fill your radiator with anti freeze mix, then fill your recovery bottle to the cold fill line. Put the caps back on and happy trails When the engine warms up it will vent inyto the coolant recovery bottle. Any air, of course will be first thing out, then, as the engine starts cooling, the coolant will be **** back into the radiator by vacuum created in cooking process.. No need to pull the radiator cap of. Just keep the coolant recovery tank at the full cold line. Opening caps and bleeders opens what was a closed system and breaks the cycle of expansion and contraction of heating and cooling. Note when your temp gauge fluctuates. When cruising, idling, ac on/off? I doubt it is your cooling system.fluids or air. good luck
Jon, Quick head gasket ck. Make sure coolant recovery hose end is submerged in coolant in tank and watch for bubbles as the engine is running. They may be small but sniff the air coming out. The bubbles will increase the longer the engine runs and come out faster as the pressure builds. If you getwhitish bubbles you may well have a combustion leak into the cooling system. To confirm it, Pull all the spark plugs out and in the morning, have someone stand IN FRONT of the car and watch for water being shot out of a spark plug hole.. Do not relieve the pressure from the cooling system. We need the pressure to force force fluid through the gasket breach. Do not stand to the side. Anything the piston may push out will come out fast and hard. Your other post caught my attention, I'm sorry it slipped by me. Let me know if you will please. ned
Did you find out anything? Any water come out of a cylinder? Ne
We will soon know.:) I am interested in the outcome and would appreciate you letting me know the results. If I may, just for the sake of proper knowledge. The pressure in the coolong system has nothing to do with circulation. For each pound of pressure, the boiling point is raised two degrees. High temperatures of engines subjected to emmision controls are sealt with in this concept. Antifreezeserves the purpose of preventing water from freezing at 32 degrees buy basicly disrupting the molemeculer structure of water by use of various chenical. The proper mix is important to bot the cooling aystem in the fact that too much antifreeze can actually impact the thermal displacement at the radiator.Anti freeze retains heat better than water, The recommended ratio is 60% antifreeze to 40% water. A quick backstep to pressure. The radiator cap has a release pressure that works within the tolerance of the cooling system. Diesel engines have pressure caps of only seven pounds due to the use of :O: ring seals used throughought the engine cooling siystey and so much area of radiator surface. High pressures or pressures above seven lb. could and would cause serious damage to vylinder seals. I didn't mean to waist your time and I hope I didn't, though I do want you to have an understanding so your motoring can be enjoyed . I hope it isn't a head gasket issue for the sake of cost, but i surely hope your problem is soon resolved. Good fortine to you. Thank you for the challenge.:)
Have you found the cause of your problem? Just following up. - Ned
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OK, firstly The basis that a cars cooling system runs on is very simple. The system is a pressurized cycle that moves the coolant around, along with the heat, and is slowest in the radiator to allow heat to escape. If the system is not pressurized then the cycle will not work properly and coolant will not move.
If there is air in the system this can create what would seem like a blockage. 'bleeding the system is not the answer especially if you are using the drain on the radiator. That drain is only for draining fluid not air.
If air blockage is the problem then what you do is open the system at the highest point possible. this is usually a hose at the top of the radiator or something, whatever is easiest. Then find the other hose attached to the radiator, lower, higher makes no difference. then simply squeeze the second hose. this will 'burp' the air out do this for a while until all that happens is fliud is pushed out repeatedly.
then reattach the top hose and top up the radiator, and go for a drive.
If this doesn't fix the problem then air is not the problem.
Air in the water-coolant mixture is not the problem, but a constant flow is! Looks like there is lot of sediment in the pipes including in the water jacket inside the main engine. You do get this solvent in any auto-store. Fill up the mixture(as per the manufacturer's instructions) & after draining out the radiator by removing the bottom plug in the radiator. Start the engine such that the mixture has circulated. Keep it standing for a couple of hours, then start again & gun the engine in shot bursts. After that open the drain plug and at the same time keep your garden hose ready. Start the engine and flush out everything. Then fill in the water-coolant mixture to the correct level........sodeep
What engine? How much have you driven it since you replaced all that stuff?
Need to know engine size. Normally filling the cooling system requires a cold engine and slowly adding coolant untill full. Run engine till warm and recheck coolant level when engine cools. Add coolant if needed and rewarm. Recheck level . On some engines this may require this operation a few times
The 3.1 engine has the remote fill tank. If you look at the rad hoses entering the rad you will notice that they are almost half way down. This makes for a real challenge when trying to get all the air out. In my experience I top the fill tank to full mark. Run engine untill upper rad hose gets hot and the coolant is flowing. At the same time remove the fill tank cap and fill tank to full mark.. You may have to repeat this a couple of times. You will have the air out if it takes another 2-3 litres during this procedure. Good luck Moe
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its a 3.1L sorry. I was positive i posted that. must have missed it. We have kept both the radiator and the res. full. When we run the car the top radiator hose builds up pressure, (too much pressure to my knowledge, this hose has blown off twice in the recent past, but not since)and the temp slowly rises, sometimes it falls, othertimes it peaks. We have flushed the system already.
I am starting to worry that it may be a cracked head or head gasket since the top radiator hose gets so pressurized after we have bled the system so many times.Yes I understand that the hoses are suppose to become pressurized, but it almost becomes hard as a rock at times. We will try bleeding it (using the bleed valve on the water outlet) again tomorrow morning when we start the car.
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Jon
As for how much we have driven the car since parts have been replaced, about 60 miles. And over heating and the over pressuring of the top radiator hose is still occuring (my guess is either air is still in the system, or its a cracked head and or headgasket)
and to clarify -
Car- 1997 Chevy Monte Carlo 3.1L AT
We will try pulling the plugs later today and see what happens.As for the bubbles, I have noticed them in the coolant resevuor, but they tend to die off after the car warms up. Thanks!
My friend decided to take the car to work regardless of issues last Night. Temperature stayed down. The coolant in the resev went to its specified levels for hot and cold. things seem to be working now that most of the air is bled out. I think everything will be good, unless he calls me on his way home from work. In which case I'll be in his garage all weeked haha.
Thanks for the help. We were unable to get all of the air out as the head gasket was shot, and the heads were possibly cracked. He Traded the car in. Thanks!
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