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bleeding coolant (motor/rad ej22)

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:24 pm
by Subafury
hey guys
in the past and particularly today ive had mega dramas trying to add coolant to the motor and radiator properly. most of the time it takes a few goes of bleeding and letting air pockets out to get right.
i couldnt seem to do it today and had to get towed home a long way.

soooo
whats your method/correct method for bleeding the cooling system?
in regards to the ej22 but others motors are probs the same.

Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:35 am
by GOD
My method, dunno about correct method:
-jack up the front of the car, or at least point it uphill, engine off
-slowly pour as much coolant into the rad as possible.
-squeeze the top hose to "pump" coolant through the engine, add more coolant, repeat
-start engine, add more coolant until it's full and staying full.

what exactly are you having trouble with?

Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:12 am
by AlpineRaven
in the past what i've done with mine (Liberty EJ22) There is a bleed valve on the drivers side of the rad, i put the car sideways on a hill (drivers side facing up wards of the hill) and let the engine run for several mins to hot temp, and open the valve up to let the air out, but i don't take the valve off bec you'll put air in you'll start off splattery of water and air, from there shld be ok? But i don't know what Radiator you have.
Cheers
AP

Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:07 am
by Subafury
ive got a liberty radiator.

what has worked for me in the past is fill engine up through top hose, then fill rad, start her up for a bit n top up, cap on, then open the bleeder screw for a bit till water is pumping out. didnt seem to work for me yesterday. still seem to be getting air pockets and she overheats.

Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 7:40 pm
by Xtreme_RX
Cut the jigglier out of the thermostat.
Take the radiator cap off start the car.
Let it warm up with the cap off - add water as required.

Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:02 pm
by Matatak
I did tell you matt when we had this problem ages ago to drill a new hole into the side of the thermostat.

Cutting the jiggler out will do the exact same thing to. (after all thats where all the air was sitting last time)

Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:36 pm
by Subafury
i did cut the jiggler, couldnt drill a hole, metal was too slippery/drill bit crap. anyways seemed to work first time with my method. now onto the other problems :s

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:20 pm
by El_Freddo
My method: Can be done on the flat or with the nose of the car on an incline - I use car ramps usually.

Fill radiator as much as possible then start the engine and let it idle. As it idles continue filling untill all you get is overflow.

I use an old radiator cap without the pressure plate thing on it, basically a cap and the rubber seal. I place this on the radiator, top up my coolant bottle to the "Max" line and run the motor letting it get up to operating temp. If time allows to cool do so followed by topping up the coolant bottle, checking radiator coolant level and replacing the good cap to the radiator.

If time is short, once air bubbles slow/stop being blown into coolant tank (revving the engine gently helps ;)) top up tank, check coolant in radiator and replace good radiator cap with the "no guts" one.

That's usually worked for me. After a good run down the road/into town etc its always good to check the coolant level and the coolant overflow tank.

Cheers

Bennie