@Tester-- "What the hell does the flow direction have to do with anything?"
It seems to me that my 1955 Pontiac had a reverse flow cooling system. I didn’t treat it any differently than any other car I owned.
I remember a puzzler on Cartalk that involved an old time mechanic named Crusty. Crusty kept a large bottle of aspirin on his workbench. The puzzler asked what he used the aspirin for in servicing cars. The answer was that Crusty would block open the thermostat with an aspirin, fill the system and then start the car. As the engine warmed up, the aspirin would dissolve.
“In my 3800s, I believe I always added 2 1/2 gallons of un-mixed. What it amounted to was filling the radiator as much as possible with un-mixed and never could seem to get any more in.”
Sorry if I misunderstood. I did think at the time that surely you knew better, you aren’t prone to giving bad advice. My apologies.
The air bleeder is cool, but, one can easily fill it without using the air-bleeder by jacking the front of the vehicle up , thereby raising the radiator opening or overflow tank opening above the rest of the car, fill w/coolant mix, leave the radiator or overflow tank lid off, run the car a couple hours and as the coolant boils up and air escapes from the block, keep adding coolant until all the air bubbles have escaped, shut the car off and let the engine cool down and then replace the cap. If you use this method, and it’s your choice, BE VERY CAREFUL, as this method occasionally sends scalding hot coolant out the tank or radiator until all the air is removed from the block - face or hands could get burned badly. I have a bleeder on my engine, but, this method was taught to me by a mechanic when I wasn’t getting the results I needed (engine was running hot after coolant change) using the bleeder valve. And, if you were going to follow your car’s manual, anyway, why did you ask the question?
Problem is a lot of cars have no radiator cap and the pressurized recovery tank is by the firewall. Raising the front end up will put the radiator above the recovery tank. I’ve filled through the disconnected upper radiator hose which seemed to work ok at forcing most of the air out. I wish I could find the air bleed on my G6. Supposed to be there but danged if I can find it.
Bing, I think you will find that where the bleed screw is supposed to be, there is a small diameter steel line that goes to the bottom of the pressurized reservoir. This is a self bleeding system.
When no bleed screw is provided the Prestone flush adapter can be installed in the upper heater hose. Removing the cap will allow air to escape.
When shop air pressure and a low pressure regulator are available the cooling system can be quickly purged of air and filled with coolant. Fill the cooling system and install the cap, then, while applying 5+/- psi at the cooling system vent line loosen the upper hose clamps one at a time and slip a small screwdriver under the hose to allow air to escape. When all the clamps are tightened remove the cap and top off the radiator. There will be no air in the system.
ive been working on cars for over 14 years and ive always filled them with the top off. keith is rite about it making a mess sometimes. it doesn’t make it the wrong way but i could definitely see how it would seem less professional. but i have always wondered if this way was good enough way to do it considering coolant cant flow around the thermostat leading to the block. Ive always just figured gravity would feed it through the bottom hose and even the two out. until recently Ive found a solution that would make both sides happy, is cheap, and i think would work alot better. lisle makes a spill free funnel that couples to the cooling system allowing you to run the system open and add at the same time. this combined with parking on an uphill grade i think would make a flawless way to fill the cooling system. when your done stick the plug in it and empty it back in the bottle. ive seen these at parts plus and carquest and they run around 30$
Keith,
I had thermostat replaced on my nissan by a shop mechanic friend who used “the new way” and my car still overheated. Went through 2 more thermostats before my dad jacked up the front end a bit, took off radiator cap, started her up n let her idol till no more air bubbled out. Never over heated again. Guess those living in the 60’s had it right.
Nevada_545
I’m not sure what your getting at or asking. Are you saying you just change out your thermostat, replace lost coolant and go for a drive? Are you saying you never have over heating, thermostat, temperature issues, etc… from doing it that way? 1. if so that’s great, I’m happy for you. However my car kept overheating after replacement of the thermostat, 3 replacements to be exact. 2. You said you normally just refill your cooling system, does that mean you go through a lot of thermostats? If so could be your normal way isn’t correct. 3. My comprehension of the topic and conversation following was that of removing air from your cooling system (or an air lock). Which is why I commented about removing air from my cooling system. And even if I was off topic, Keith’s comment I replied to was towards Testers comment of filling the radiator while running to prevent air and airlock, saying testers way was out dated (basically). Therefore my comment supported testers (as it was meant to), was on topic and fitting to the conversation. So maybe I’m adle brained, but don’t see how your response fits into the dialog.
If you hadn’t added that comment, or you hadn’t been doing all this other cooling system work anyway, I’d have agreed that you shouldn’t touch them, but since they’re well rusted and you’re doing so much cooling system work anyway I’d recommend replacing them. It’d be a shame to go through all this and have them start rusting through and leaking.
I watched the video, I had no problem with the trigger nozzle in the rad but I was amused by replacing the expansion bottle because of the iron crud. If his iron out wouldn’t remove the rust from a plastic bottle, what does he think the inside of the engine looks like. Most of these problems come from not changing the coolant before the additives wear out.