A few days ago I replaced the radiator as I had preliminary cracks where it hooked into the core support but rolled into someone (2mph) and it finished the crack.

Replaced the core support which was mangled from before and changed out the radiator, it was time anyway.

Upon getting the new one installed and such, filled it up SLOWLY and waited for the bubbles to subside. Let it heat up and cool down a few times then got the level spot on.

Let the car idle in the driveway to make sure I didn't have any issues with it. Idled for probably 20 minutes just fine. Temp was about 40% or a little below the imaginary mid line. Drove it 2 miles and the temp went up to the top of the bar just a little below the "H"

Took it home and checked to see if I had heat. Nope. Now I'm going through the process of finding where the hot hoses lie and cold ones.

Found that the return from the heater was cold. Bled it through the bleed valve and had coolant coming out.

I've squeezed hoses, clamped some and tried to get pressure to pull the air through. Figured out that the block is getting coolant flow fine, as is the to-heater line.


I've tried everything. Read all I can find even relevant on this site about it, checked out other sites and nothing they have said works. Anyone have any experience with this? It's gotta be right on the thermometer. Any tips or advice would be great.

I attached in an image to try and show what I think is going on... I think that's an accurate image... Makes sense to me.

 

You need one of these:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...FWRk7AodAVUAiA

 

something I saved from another thread:

Here are cliff notes of how to bleed coolant in the Z:

1. Install spill free funnel.
2. Fill funnel with coolant.
3. Start car
4. Rev car to ~3k rpms, hold for 10 second, return to idle. Repeat about 3 times.
5. Open bleed valve, let air escape, close bleed valve when coolant starts to run out.
6. Repeat step 4
7. Repeat step 5
8. Repeat step 4
9. Repeat step 5

....On and on we go until all air is purged.

Some advanced tricks:

1. Park car so that the front end is elevated higher, or jack up front end. This helps air escape easier.
2. Squeeze the upper coolant hose repeatedly, you will see air bubbles coming up thru the spill free funnel. Rev engine as described above, and repeat upper radiator hose squeezing. Continue until no air comes up into the funnel.
3. Drive the car around for a while. Allow car to cool all the way down. Now repeat this whole process - if you get no more air you are done. If you get air, you need to keep bleeding.

Bleeding all the air out of the coolant in this car is a bigger b!tch then michelle obama. But you just have to stick with it. I dont even mess with the coolant bleeder valve personally, I find the upper radiator hose squeezing method to be much faster.

 

So pretty much where I went wrong was not having the spilless funnel? Too bad its $40 and a week to get shipped. Thanks a ton for the info. Too bad they don't make em' easier.

I install funnel while the rad is already full then just put the funnel on and fill the funnel? Follow the steps and see see the air bubbles? How long did it take you?

Also appreciate the analogy, that's a good one

 

I'm gonna have to get one of those funnels for when I flush my coolant. I've had the car for 5 years and 50k miles and I have yet to flush it. (I know, I'm an *******.)

But my heater hasn't worked at idle for 2 years now so I know it's air trapped in the heater core. I can hear it bubbling in there shortly after startup if I slowly rev the engine.

 

If your a "Prime" member...Amazon has them with free two day shipping

Good luck

 

You may find that funnel for sale locally, especially at a larger chain auto parts store. I got mine on amazon (where it's now more $), because I knew I was going to do a coolant change, and I'll tell you, it made the job on my '08 very simple. There's also this thread, which is what made me buy the funnel:

https://my350z.com/forum/forced-indu...nightmare.html

 

Something that gave me a hard time was parking on a hill, or jacking the front end up a bit is supposed to help. I was careful not to have too much coolant in the spill-less funnel but STILL when the T-stat opened the dang thing would overflow and the vibration of the motor would spill coolant everywhere.

Happened every time.

I'm sure my solid motor mounts did help but still was crap everywhere.

 

Was it from pushing air out or was it just puking out all the coolant? That doesn't sound right.

 

best I could tell......it was coolant.

 

Sounds like it would be easier with two sets of hands. I'm going to try and see if I can find one from Oreilly tonight and get this beast back up and running.
Was it something that I fill up then run it and have someone hold the funnel so that it doesn't get everywhere?

Also will the air come out of the funnel that attached to the radiator inlet or will it come out of the purge valve in the heater pipe?

According to this guy, you leave the car running while doing it, leave the rad cap open. Do I need to reflush the whole system and start over when putting the coolant back into it?

 

If you're in Seattle, and all else fails, you're welcome to use my garage. I've got the funnel mentioned above and also have an that hooks to my compressor and does a much better job. Right now I'm working on getting my new toolbox organized, but can probably get you set up on the driveway. PM me if you can't figure this out and need some help.

 

Did mine today. It's fairly easy just time consuming.

 

I tried the spill free funnel now about 5 times on Z and other cars. The first 3 times it worked awesome! Then the last 2 it made me feel like I would be better off without it. I don't know if I got lucky or just forgot exactly what would give the best results. I ended up with such a big air pocket it splashed over everywhere then after tying one more time I ended up adding over a quart during the next two drives around the neighborhood letting it bleed more naturally. Don't want to risk overheating if it's going to continue to fight me from now on.

Can you tell us more about the Airlift if you think it would help the OP or PM me about a very quick rundown of the instructions? My only real question is if I can usually drain about 6 of the 9 quarts our car holds, when you first pull vacuum will it matter if the other fluid is still in there AND will it try to remove more for you? All of the instructions and reviews only say it's best to start empty and conveniently ignore the whole drain process. Just need to know how it worked for you with regards how you drained then used it before I would drop the money on it.

 

I used one of those funnels on mine (napa brand) and I got a little splatter but nothing bad. It didn't overflow. I let it warm up to right at the point for the t-stat to open, then shut it off and let the heat build to open the t-stat just a little and kept squeezing the upper hose to push air out. Then I started it back up and let it get up top temp and kept squeezing the hose to push as much air out as I could.

That was after leaving the bleeder cap off until coolant started to come out. I then put my finger over the hole and squeezed the upper hose a couple times. Then topped it off again and repeated a couple times till it quit sucking the level down and installed the bleeder cap.

Then after about 5 tries revving the engine, shutting it off, opening the bleeder till coolant comes out and topping off the funnel it got all the air out.

 

am having a problem with the coolant air relief plug.. i cannot open the plug.. i think i will have to change it. what is the official name of the air relief plug? i couldnt find it in nissan parts website. i understand its have something to do with the heater hose.

my car 2008 HR..

 

ok found this in the g35 forum:

Apologies on reviving an old thread, but I wanted to add my .02 cents since I recently stripped the plastic screw head on the heater relief valve myself.
You can either order the entire replacement assembly (which comes with the plastic relief valve and body assembly that attaches between the 2 heater hoses at about $17 or you can purchase the radiator flush valve located on the underside of the radiator, called the **** - water drain part #21440-5V000 for around $7) The part in the previous picture where the bag is upside down is the same thing.

so i want to get this: "which comes with the plastic relief valve and body assembly that attaches between the 2 heater hoses at about $17"