Thread: Need some serious help before i damage my car.

If the car is already hot then you can do that. Don't worry about coolant in a bottle just add water. I really doubt that it would have that much air in it unless you have been messing with it again. Most of the time you only use the bleeder when you do a major coolant involved job like a water pump or coolant elbows or knock sensors. To be perfectly honest with you I don't even bother messing with it. Parking uphill helps a lot since it gets the radiator higher than the rest of the system. That way air always rises and will end up in the neck where the radiator cap is and vents into the overflow and the bubbles float to the surface and when the engine cools and everything contracts, mostly the coolant it will draw in coolant to take the place of the air. This is how I do it.

Jeff

Originally Posted by Shawn Rollick

Is it also a good idea to pick up some coolant before i start this process of bleeding the valve?

I'll take a shot, I'm old and patient.

You won't lose much coolant bleeding air out of the system, but yeah some will run out onto your engine then to the ground, but not a huge puddle.

Start it up, let it get to about the first BIG mark on the temp gauge. Loosen just the top part of that brass bleeder. Its a hollow plug with holes in the side so once you unscrew it a little, it creates a leak. If an air bubble is present or if the engine is not warm enough yet, little or no coolant will come out. If so, close it and wait a little longer. The bleeder is the highest point on the engine so when its filled thats where the bubble goes. But the thermostat is right below that bleeder and its a valve that stays closed until the engine is near operating temperature. So, as the temp gauge climbs to normal, the bleeder can spit out the air once water is flowing past the thermostat.

The spitting of hot coolant is less violent if you just open the bleeder barely enough to vent. I like to first do this AS the engine warms up, and until just coolant comes out with no spitting. Then I like to let it cool off all the way, restart it and go full operating temperature before re-bleeding once more. You'll get it once you try it. Just check coolant level in the reservoir and resist any temptation to remove radiator cap. The cooling system is under pressure when hot, but will suck coolant from that tank IF it needs it, to correct the level, as it cools off.

Hope that helps, its long but and hopefully not totally confusing. Peace.

Also remember that we all have our own way of doing things so though they are not the same exact method, either will work.

Jeff

i loose teaspoons when i bleed coolant, once a stream of coolant comes out shut the bleeder, your done.

if you open it and nothing comes out or bubble come out, shut it and wait for the fans to come. by then the t stat has opened.

only a drilled t stat can be bled before the t stat opens.

drilled means its got a 1/8 inch hole drilled in it.

Originally Posted by J57ltr

Also remember that we all have our own way of doing things so though they are not the same exact method, either will work.

Jeff

Thats right. Those $25 manuals at the parts store have "fail-proof" instructions suitable for beginners, and explanations of fundamentals behind them for greater understanding. Shawn, it would be in your best interest to purchase one of these for a ready-anytime reference as you learn your way around this car.

be funny if its not over heating, but his temp gauge needle is high and he thinks its over heating cause they all read like its about to over heat, but dont.....

Mine only reads slightly over half at 217* it doesn't look like its overheating. Although like mentioned previously,Shawn you should buy a scanner. If you have an Andriod phone you can get an app for $5 and a BAFX adapter that will work and if it doesn't they will support it. It's like $25 buy it from them at BAFX.com that will help you learn a lot.

Jeff

Originally Posted by idrivejunk

Thats right. Those $25 manuals at the parts store have "fail-proof" instructions suitable for beginners, and explanations of fundamentals behind them for greater understanding. Shawn, it would be in your best interest to purchase one of these for a ready-anytime reference as you learn your way around this car.

buy a Chilton as the Haynes manual is worthless as tits on a boar hog.

Jeff

Originally Posted by J57ltr

buy a Chilton as the Haynes manual is worthless as tits on a boar hog.

Jeff

You'd think Chiltons was worthless once you saw the GM manual.

Lol, my opinion of the Chilton is not that high, but it is about two times that of the Haynes. But for a novice it will help for the easy stuff. FSM's can make a guy that can read and turn a wrench into a decent mechanic. It doesn't teach troubleshooting and problem solving I think only an individual can teach themselves that. I had a teacher in marine repair in highschool that actually taught basic troubleshooting as part of the course he wrote up on the board a series of letters that at this point in my life I don't remember, but it went something like this:

K Know the equipment
A Ask "what happened"
T Try it yourself
X ?
X ?
X ?
X Profit!

Jeff

back in the day i used to check out the ciltons manual at the library......boy am i dating myself lol if you had no clue wtf you were doing, its a huge ass help.

unlike most today, i grew up with out the internet. info was not a keyboard away, thats for damn sure. you really had to work for what ever you learned.

and even still, i was ripping engines out at 15 years old. doing brake jobs and tune ups on friends cars before i had a lic myself, or a car of my own.

the best was the day my dad came home from work and i had the engine ripped out of his 77 gmc truck, he was letting me use it. (it was still his on paper) hes like that had best run again and he walked into the house. nothing more said lol


yeah, it ran again too, but with long tube headers and a new clutch lol my first 2 or 3 cars were all manuals. ended up teaching 1/2 the town how to drive one.

one guy got a nice built camaro with a 4 speed. he wa at the bottom of a hill, right at the 7-11, local hangout, and we hear him reving the hell out of the engine and then the white smoke, a few guys are like hes doing one hell of a burn out lol im like hes killing the clutch!!!! and he ws. he pulls into the 7-11 and i tell him, hey i can help you with that, hes all nah im good. a week later it got a new clutch and he was looking for me for clutch lessons lol

cause no cell phones either....you went out and looked for your friends back then lol

one that covers your year car would be best. they cover a bunch of model years and different cars of the same body all in one manual. because they are all so similar.

if the bleeder was open 3 to 4 turns and nothing came out for a bit, then a steady little stream of coolant came out, that was air bleeding out. thats good.