How Do I Bleed Air From Cooling System?

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KC - 15 Nov 2005 21:29 GMT

Hello All

The car is a 1990 Chevrolet Beretta with the 3.1 L V6 engine. I can
hear water gurgling through the heater core (or at least somewhere
behind the dash) when I start the car and the engine is cold.

I've tried adding coolant to the radiator several different ways and
still I get the gurgling sound, which I am assuming means there is air
in the cooling system. There is a small plug on the top of the
thermostat housing. That's the only one I can find.

Anyway, can someone give me directions on the best way to bleed the air
out of the cooling system. Or if you hae a different theory as to what
the gurgling sound indicates, please pass that along, too.

Thanks in advance for any ideas on this.

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Bob M. - 16 Nov 2005 02:05 GMT

> Hello All
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> in the cooling system. There is a small plug on the top of the
> thermostat housing. That's the only one I can find.

You probably do have air in the system. Why? A leak or just low on coolant?
That you need to find out after this is done.

Generally, the procedure is to make sure the engine is at operating temp (if
that's possible), put the heater on HOT & the fan on high. Add coolant as
required, putting it in the overflow bottle I believe.

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Kevin Bottorff - 16 Nov 2005 04:19 GMT

>> Hello All
>>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> temp (if that's possible), put the heater on HOT & the fan on high.
> Add coolant as required, putting it in the overflow bottle I believe.

why don`t you just tell him to tilt the geberwhitzten to the left and
open the dooberwhomp and chant bleed 3 times. (doofus) KB

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KC - 16 Nov 2005 17:06 GMT

Bob

1. Engine running
2. Heater controls set to "hot"

I did this with the radiator cap off so I could add coolant directly to
the radiator. Was I introducing air into the system with that method?
Should the radiator cap be in place and coolant only added to the
overflow bottle?

After coolant has been added, is the last step to remove the bleeder
plug on the thermostat housing to see if any air escapes and to wait
until only coolant flows out of the bleeder opening?

> > You probably do have air in the system. Why? A leak or just low on
> > coolant? That you need to find out after this is done.
> >
> > Generally, the procedure is to make sure the engine is at operating
> > temp (if that's possible), put the heater on HOT & the fan on high.
> > Add coolant as required, putting it in the overflow bottle I believe.

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The Real Tom - 17 Nov 2005 14:56 GMT

>Hello All
>
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
>Thanks in advance for any ideas on this.

Many times the over flow is in such a positions to allow a warming up
car to expell it's own air. Only after maintance should you have
serious bubbles problems, if your mechanic skipped filling your system
properly.

For the system to work, as the car warms up, air is expelled into the
over flow tank, and the over flow tank needs to be a proper level so
as the car cools down, coolant flows back into the system, not air.

Have you checked your level in the overflow tank?

later,

tom @ www.Consolidated-Loans.info

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