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Bleeding the coolant system woes.

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Old Jun 23, 2017 | 10:35 AM
  #1  
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Default Bleeding the coolant system woes.

When I looked around the boards I just see a lot of frustration posts about bleeding the coolant. I've not found an answer that works for me.

I've replaced the thermostat, cooling fans, radiator, bleeder valve (Z1), and I have the same results as I've had for months.

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong :

A/C on a set to full heat.
Filled filled reservoir to max
Fill radiator until coolant comes out of bleeder.
Close bleeder.
Let car idle to temp.
Use large funnel in radiator neck
Watch air bubbles come out of funnel.
Funnel then fills with coolant and the level never goes back down,it just ends up boiling in the funnel.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please and thank you.



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Old Jun 23, 2017 | 01:58 PM
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I've been using one of
THESE THESE
and my compressor for the past 7 or 8 years and haven't had any issues changing out coolant on any of the cars I've done. The added bonus is there's no mess; you suck the old coolant out of the engine into one bucket and suck the new 50/50 solution out of a different bucket right back into the engine. Takes 10 minutes tops.
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Old Jun 23, 2017 | 04:33 PM
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So your ac isnt blowing hot?

Put car on incline when bleeding. Drive car harder. Repeat.
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Old Jun 23, 2017 | 05:27 PM
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AC blows cold even thought it's set to hottest setting. Front end is on ramps so rad is highest point in the system. Car overheats so I'm not driving it.
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Old Jun 24, 2017 | 07:32 AM
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Hopefully you used an OEM Nissan t-stat, as I've read here more than a few times the aftermarket parts sometimes don't work. Also, look for the thread "coolant purge nightmare" and read it thoroughly. Bottom line - the Lisle funnel is a necessity, not sure if you're just using a big generic funnel, but you need one that seals into the radiator cap neck.
Amazon Amazon
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Old Jun 24, 2017 | 10:33 AM
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Originally Posted by AbbeyZ
AC blows cold even thought it's set to hottest setting. Front end is on ramps so rad is highest point in the system. Car overheats so I'm not driving it.
There's no need to run your A/C compressor. Just turn your heater on high.. I did mine on a semi-level surface with just a slight front incline. I topped off the radiator and left the cap off. Then I opened the bleeder screw on the heater hose and inserted a small funnel and poured coolant in that way until it was topped off(leaving the small funnel in). I then started the car turned the heater on high and let it get to operating temperature while watching the coolant in the radiator and the heater hose and topping off as needed. While keeping an eye on temperature, I also increased the rpm's to 2,000 periodically to better circulate the coolant while placing my hand over the vents to see if I'm getting any hot air. If you are, that's a good sign and you'll probably be good at this point. I then made sure the radiator and heater hose were filled with coolant. Put radiator cap on. Remove small funnel from heater hose and screw in the stopper. Fill reservoir an inch past max. Go for test drive around the neighborhood while watching temperature and leaving heater on.
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Old Jun 26, 2017 | 08:14 AM
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Are you pouring the coolant very slowly when filling the car? 2L per minute is excruciatingly slowly. Also you do need to give the car some gas 2000-3000 rpm to get the coolant to actually circulate while warming up.


Last edited by rancor; Jun 26, 2017 at 08:20 AM.
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Old Jun 26, 2017 | 09:35 AM
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I ended up going the Lisle spill free funnel route. I was reluctant to spend the money because it's a funnel. It's so much more. I ended up installing the funnel pouring coolant in slowly until the funnel began to fill up. Then I started to squeeze the upper radiator hose and watched the coolant drop from the funnel. Again I slowly filled the funnel back up and repeated to squeeze the upper hose until the coolant level stopped dropping in the funnel. Topped off the funnel a little. Turned the car on and set to full heat. Watched the bubbles go crazy. Gave it only two rounds of revs when car was at running temp when the heater started working. At this point there were no more bubbles. Shut the car down, uninstalled the funnel. I'm good to go. If anyone is reading this later and is on the fence about the Lisle funnel. It took me 15minutes. Thanks for all replies.
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Old Jun 26, 2017 | 09:40 AM
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^ Good stuff. Glad you're back in business.
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Old Jul 17, 2017 | 09:29 PM
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Will be going through bleeding my radiator when i do my flush this weekend. Not looking fwd to it.

Question, i saw that people recommend putting car on incline or possibly using jack stands. How much of an angle is good and how much is too much?
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Old Jul 18, 2017 | 05:01 AM
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Originally Posted by myGspot
Will be going through bleeding my radiator when i do my flush this weekend. Not looking fwd to it.

Question, i saw that people recommend putting car on incline or possibly using jack stands. How much of an angle is good and how much is too much?


Yeah it's great fun.. I did mine in my driveway on semi-level ground with just a sllllight front incline. Didn't have any issues other than that vertical section of heater hose on the passenger side, and that horizontal section that runs across the front middle of the timing chain cover. There's a lot of good advice up^there, but what helped me was the small funnel in the heater hose method accompanied by 2000 - 3000rpm revs with the heater on high, rad cap off and reservoir filled to the max while incrementally topping off radiator and heater hose via the small funnel. Once you start feeling hot air from your heater, top everything off(with reservoir at max line) and close her up. Done.
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Old Jul 18, 2017 | 07:07 AM
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Exactly what I did, prime the heater core till there's no air in it.
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Old Jul 18, 2017 | 07:23 AM
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Originally Posted by AbbeyZ
I ended up going the Lisle spill free funnel
So worth it. When you use it once and it's there.

I literally changed t-stat on my daily driver yeserday and kept filling up radiator from a gal bottle. Remembered I had this funnel and grabbed it. So much easier/no spilling and you can transfer the extra coolant from the funnel back into your container without any spillage.

Last edited by iideadeyeii; Jul 18, 2017 at 07:24 AM.
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