metalmorg86

I just decided to replaced coolant, thermostat and upper and lower radiator hoses. I'm now trying to refill the cooling system and its only taking about a gallon and a half. I have removed the bleed valve, cap whatever from the heater hose. No coolant is in the hoses and the radiator is full. Any suggestions?

Mcutali

iTrader: (10)

if looking at the car from front, on your back left closer to the firewall behind and to the left of the upper plenum is the heater hoses, if you look theres a plastic screw aka relief valve. tied into the hoses.

when i do this i usually fill her up, til ti wont take no more. turn the car on with heat full blast. wait for the bubbles to stop

DavesZ#3

iTrader: (26)

First off, you probably didn't drain out much more that 1½ gallons, so that's all that's going back in.

Check out the bleeding instructions at the bottom of this page...
http://crackaddict.com/~flynn/howtos...amco.howto.htm

metalmorg86

well I drained the radiator, cleaned the tank, and drained the block from the driverside. I had the heater full on before draining. In all I think I pulled over 2 gallons. I believe the capacity is somewhere around there. I did bleed the air from the heater hose but still I have under 2 gallons in. I know its not right because the heat blows cold at idle.

RedBullRR

iTrader: (7)

I'm having this problem and its driving me crazy. ICE COLD AIR, I bleed the system, I cant fit anymore antifreeze. I changed the thermostat. WTF?!

RedBullRR

iTrader: (7)

Guys is there anything else I'm missing here. I cant tell you how annoying this is.

yellowandfast

iTrader: (34)

I just did this last week, and do what Mcutali said.

Richard

yellowandfast@aol.com

RedBullRR

iTrader: (7)

I did that and still have cold air. Really annoying it's ice cold air, colder then outside. WTF?!

Going to try flushing and then bleeding... I ended up stripping the bleed valve, so I'm not sure how ill unscrew the thing now.

mw9

iTrader: (51)

I no longer have the bleeder valve or heat due to a dedicated track/toy car now

two things you can try:

1. Jack front of car up and take off radiator cap, place a decent size funnel down the neck of the radiator and then run the car, you will see air coming out of the funnel, sometimes the fluid level will drop while the car is running and you can top it off, I just let it cool down and then top it off.

2. Just bought it, haven't tried it yet, figured being my track toy, this might be the easiest route
http://www.uview.com/ProductDetail.p...tNumber=550000

RedBullRR

iTrader: (7)

^Thanks, I'll try that, thanks.

island03z

iTrader: (6)

+1 on the funnel thing...I wrap some electrical tape around the funnel tip to get it nice and tight and just run it. When the thermosat opens you'll know it by the fluid level dropping significantly and the radiator fans turning on. Let it go through a few opening cycles until the bubbles are gone. You can rev it too but just realize that most of the bubbles you are getting when you rev it are from the fluid turbulence coming from the water pump and not actually air bubbles.

cyc5181

iTrader: (12)

I have a similar issue, replaced oem with a 52mm AMS radiator. I followed the procedures as described from this:

http://crackaddict.com/~flynn/howtos...amco.howto.htm

No matter what I tried I could not get fluid out of the bleed valve b4 I overfill my radiator. Does the car HAVE to be tilted? Right now my car is level on 4 jack stands, could that be my problem?

Thanks for the help!

cyc5181

iTrader: (12)

anyone?

Voboy

iTrader: (58)

Putting the front end at a higher angle always helps.

I turn on my heater to full blast while keeping the RPM steady too then shut it off and slowly vent the cap. Having the cap at the highest point helps with getting the air out.

RN7676

I searched and I found my answer on many different posts. Thanks! I figured this thread was as good as any to post my results.

I replaced my thermostat on my 2003 Z. The original thermostat clearly failed the stovetop test. I had the old one and new one in the same pot on the stove. It was easy to see the new one opening and the old one doing nothing. It was a pretty quick replacement which resulted in a complete pain in the *** with the air bubble problem.

I did all the tricks mentioned. The only additional thing I did was get a tiny tipped funnel and very slowly poured fluid into the bleeder valve hole on the heater hose. That allowed me to get a bit more fluid into that heater hose that comes up to a higher elevation than the radiator cap when the car is sitting flat.

As someone mentioned, the system does seem to work itself out if you let it and dont destroy your motor first. I went through probably 5 heat up / cooldown cycles adding fluid to the radiator neck and overflow tank, doing the bleeder, elevating the front of the car, etc, etc, each time it would suck just a bit more from the overflow tank on cooldown. Finally it stabilized and seems to be cooling fine without me putting anymore coolant in.

Wow what a pain in the *** all that was!

RedBullRR

iTrader: (7)

What a fkn nightmare man. After finally getting my heat working correctly bleeding the system for 2 hours...

I took the car last week to get an inspection at the dealer. Well they decided to top off the antifreeze, causing more air to get into system. I lost my heat completely now and my car over heated when I did turn on heat.

Pulled over as soon as needle rised and knew immediately what it was. However when opening the bleeder valve with that much pressure the thing blew. I have no idea where the cap is now, and my car is stuck on the side of the road. Very aggravating to say the least.

Is this bleeder valve cap something i can pick up at a local auto parts store?

RedBullRR

iTrader: (7)

Anyone know were I can get a new bleeder screw? My car is stuck on the side of the road rite now because of this crap.

elmatta

When i run the car with the bleeder valve open, do i keep the radiator cap on or off?

When i run the car with rad. cap open, do i need the bleeder open?

Sounds like the same question but i just wanna make sure i dont waste 2-3hrs trying to bleed air and do it the wrong way.

Also, i was told there may be a clog in the heater core because im hearing gurgling sound. Is that air circulating the heater core or is that coolant spraying into overflow?

tcode

iTrader: (7)

Never did bleeding coolant system on 350z but this step might be crucial:
"Fill radiator and reservoir tank to specified level. Pour engine coolant through engine coolant filler neck slowly of less than 2 quarts a minute to allow air in system to escape."

Source

WhiteNoiz

I changed my radiator hoses and thermostat. I've been bleeding the system with a lesli funnel. It seems to get the majority of the air out, but the low fan keeps coming on with light driving. I keep trying to bleed it, and I seem to barely get any air out now. I've bled it several times. I've revved it to 3k rmps for ten seconds three times multiple times both with the lesli funnel attached and without and letting it cool. Each time I mess with it I seem to get air out. I'm about to say screw it and take it to the stealership for the first time since I've owned it. I've managed to do the maintenance thus far. I'm a little shocked at how hard it is to get this cooling system to cooperate. Any suggestions????

I've tried the revving, jacking it up, the lesli funnel. It's absorbed much time. I do believe its air because the fans were going on high at the beginning of this whole bleeding nightmare. Anyone have suggestions? I haven't tried the tiny tip funnel at the bleeder, but I have heat, and I can get fluid out of the bleeder if I open it and squeeze the upper rad hose. I'm at my wits end with this!