What happens if I screw up the coolant air bleed?

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bryanska - 06 Dec 2007 23:37 GMT

I replaced the thermostat in my 2002 Olds Alero V6.

When I went to bleed the coolant air, I missed a step and want to know
if I did any harm.

Here's what I did. In parantheses is what i skipped.

1. Fill surge tank with coolant to "cold" line

2. Start engine with pressure cap off (My bad: I left it on)

3. Run engine until thermostat opens and upper radiator hose is hot.

4. Open bleed valve and allow air to escape.

5. When bleed valve emits no air, and only a solid stream of coolant,
close valve.

6. Replace surge tank pressure cap.

I ran the engine for a soild ten minutes, and coolant & air spurted
out of the bleed valve. I never achieved the "solid stream of
coolant". Was this because I had the pressure cap on?

Did I hurt anything?

Right now the car is cooling down. When it is cold again, I will
repeat the process correctly.

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bryanska - 07 Dec 2007 02:13 GMT

> Right now the car is cooling down. When it is cold again, I will
> repeat the process correctly.

Update - the car cooled down.

I repeated the procedure and followed directions.

I let the engine idle, with the pressure cap off, until the upper hose
was hot. Then I opened the bleeder valve.

The coolant spurted with air for a few seconds, then ran nice and
steady with a solid stream of coolant. I closed the valve and replaced
the pressure cap.

Lots of heat from the blower. A 15 minute drive showed no signs of
over or under heating.

It worked!

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Edwin Pawlowski - 07 Dec 2007 02:45 GMT

"bryanska" <BARRELBACK@hotmail.com> wrote in message

> Lots of heat from the blower. A 15 minute drive showed no signs of
> over or under heating.
>
> It worked!

Yes, and you did no damage the first time.

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Pat - 07 Dec 2007 03:44 GMT

> > Right now the car is cooling down. When it is cold again, I will
> > repeat the process correctly.
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> It worked!

Now go and clean up the coolant before animals get into it. It can
kill them. Glad it worked out for you.

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DodgeDriver - 07 Dec 2007 11:34 GMT

[snipped]

> > The coolant spurted with air for a few seconds, then ran nice and
> > steady with a solid stream of coolant. I closed the valve and replaced
> > the pressure cap.

[snipped]

> Now go and clean up the coolant before animals get into it. It can
> kill them. Glad it worked out for you.

Anti-freeze has a sweet taste to it. Most anti-freeze is unfriendly to
animals and will cause kidney failure. The treatment of choice is to infuse
large amounts of alcohol (think 190 proof Everclear) in the hope the
antifreeze will bind with the alcohol and pass through the kidneys.
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

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Doug Adams - 08 Dec 2007 01:56 GMT

Oh well maybe a raccoon, mouse, or rat will get in to it, in that case no
harm done.

>> > Right now the car is cooling down. When it is cold again, I will
>> > repeat the process correctly.
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> Now go and clean up the coolant before animals get into it. It can
> kill them. Glad it worked out for you.

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