Coolant burping procedure?
Printed From: West Coast Fieros
Category: Technical Topics Forum
Forum Name: Technical Questions and Discussions
Forum Description: Got a technical question about your fiero? ask it here.
URL: http://www.westcoastfieros.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=960
Printed Date: 23 November 2024 at 10:17am
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Topic: Coolant burping procedure?
Posted By: kawana
Subject: Coolant burping procedure?
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 10:52am
|
well.. it happened.. i just got home when i
noticed the temp gage going way up, and some "mist" comeing out of the
vents, i shut it off and checked the resevour.. near empty! I then
noticed some coolant down on the 'firewall' side, near the res. Then i
looked under the dash, found 2 small drops of coolant on my floormats
and i can see bubbles coming out of the heater core casing, telling me
it has coolant in it. So now im gunna head out and pick up a new heater
core, and replace it. Can someone explain how to "burp" the coolant system once i get it reinstalled? |
Replies:
Posted By: kawana
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 12:16pm
| Just ordered my new core. FYI, 'All Parts' In abbotsford rocks! Lordco wanted $100+tax WITH the rcmp discount, and this other autoparts store (i forget the name, its on south fraser just past lordco) wanted $130+tax. 'All parts' had it for $60 with taxes, only thing is that i have to wait till monday. Ive found their prices are way lower than lordco, same thing happened when i bought my brake callipers, they were $20-30/ea cheaper then lordco. I think lordco's discounts are a joke.. |
Posted By: Dr.Fiero
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 12:26pm
|
Hmmmm... Too bad you didn't mention it earlier. We can still (I think!) get them through Performance Rad for like 30 or 40. |
Posted By: kawana
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 12:35pm
| arg :( Oh well, im just glad i didn't spend $100+ :P So can someone explain how to burp the cooling system? |
Posted By: kawana
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 12:48pm
| oh nvm, i found a good tutorial on 'The Orge's Cave'. |
Posted By: Patrick
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 2:08pm
| One tip - After you connect the bottom heater core hose and before you connect the top hose, fill the new heater core with water/coolant. This will help prevent an air pocket from forming (which sometimes is a bugger to get rid of) and which could result in no heat from your heater). |
Posted By: kawana
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 3:35pm
| is there any way i can top up the coolant w/o having to drain the rad/engine? Or would it be best to drain the whole system, and follow the Orge's tutorial? |
Posted By: Patrick
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 4:00pm
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It's up to you to decide if your coolant needs changing, but there's no reason to drain the system just to swap out the heater core. When I replaced my leaking heater core, I kept both the rad cap and thermostat housing cap ON so that as little coolant would leak as possible. (If the air can't get in, the coolant has a harder time leaking out during the heater core swap.) Obviously you still need to "burp" the system properly afterwards.
|
Posted By: kawana
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 4:24pm
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Ok, so i clamp the 2 hoses going to the heater core, dump the remaining coolant in the resevour, install the bottom hose to the heater core, and partially install the top hose, leaving a tiny gap for air to escape? All the while making sure the res doesn't go empty, is that about right? "Obviously you still need to "burp" the system properly afterwards." What do you mean by this? |
Posted By: Capt Fiero
Date Posted: 02 November 2008 at 12:31pm
|
Everyone is over complicating this procedure.
Park the car so the nose is down or jack up the rear. You can do it on level ground, but the higher the rear the better. Swap the heater core, don't worry about any special plug this, squish that, clamp first bla bla bla. Just keep both caps on the car and swap the core. Now hook the hoses back up. Now start the car and let it run for 15-20 seconds. With the thermostat in place, it will force water through the core. Now shut the car off, at this point you have now filled the core up and push any air from the core into the rad. Go to the front of car open the rad cap to the first stop. Don't remove it, just open it to the first stopper. Go to the back of the car, remove the rear cap and thermostat. Now go back to the front of the car, slowly start taking the front cap off, you will hear air pushing out. As soon as you hear it go from air to water, put the cap back on. Go to the rear of the car, top up coolant. Put thermostat back in the car replace the rear cap and fire it up. Go back to the front of the car and fill the reservoir up about 3/4 full. Make sure all the caps are on tight and go for a drive. When starting from a dry system, remove both front and rear caps, start filling from the rear, as soon as water starts coming out the front put the front cap on, fill the rear until its full and put the thermostat and cap on and drive it. As long as you have lots of antifreeze in the reservoir after initially filling the system, you will be just fine. I do a cooling system flush on my cars every winter. Now add up all the Fieros I have here and that equals 4-6 systems per year. Now lets see over the last 10 years, thats about 50 times. Not including the water pump jobs, engine swaps, rad replacements, and all the other add jobs that I have to do on Fieros. Hopefully this explains it in a much more simple way. ------------- Capt Fiero 88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd. |
Posted By: Patrick
Date Posted: 02 November 2008 at 3:11pm
|
"Everyone" ? Dave, if you're referring to my tip as well, all I can say is that it takes about one minute to do and it prevents a problem (namely, a stubborn air pocket in the heater core) which many people have complained about over the years at PFF.
|
Capt Fiero wrote:Posted By: kawana
Date Posted: 02 November 2008 at 3:42pm
| Thanks guys, ill let you know how it goes tomorrow. |
Posted By: Capt Fiero
Date Posted: 02 November 2008 at 8:26pm
|
Patrick it was not directed at you. Clutch Bleeding and Coolant burping are 2 procedures that people seem to be perplexed by spending entire weekends to try and do. As hangman8 found before the Harrison run, you can bleed a Fiero clutch in less than 5 mins with 1 person and no pumping. ------------- Capt Fiero 88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd. |
Posted By: Patrick
Date Posted: 02 November 2008 at 9:41pm
|
Thanks for the clarification, Dave. I didn't think I was guilty of "over complicating this procedure".
|
Posted By: kawana
Date Posted: 05 November 2008 at 5:08pm
| Got er dun :D Thanks for the help guys, i did the starting the engine part twice, it let out a little air each time, but i think i got it all burped. I also misread your suggestion on pre-filling the heater core patrick, i was thinking, BEFORE it was in the car.. big mistake lol.. spilled a bunch of coolant on the spare tire haha. Kinda forgot the part about installing the bottom hose, THEN filling it :D Either way, its done. Took it for a long drive, blows really hot, and doesn't stink. Next project is installing my XM radio car kit :D |
Posted By: Fiero Zen
Date Posted: 05 November 2008 at 5:53pm
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I had my heater core go on me as I drove bacck from Kelowna in Oct 2007. Because I had the blower on as I was fogging up. Wondering why the inside of the windscreen was smearing badley. Of course I wiped it with my hand and made it worse. I was driving at 160km's at the time. Man it slowed me down very quickly - foot off the gas trying to see the road ahead. Plus it gave me a very bad and dry throat. Antifreeze is nasty stuff. Capt. Fiero - A.K.A Dave showed me how to fix it. Was an easy install. Once you get the instructions clear. Thank God for the Fiero car club and this awesome forum to get help/advice from seasoned Fiero owners. I have a xm radio module connected to my panasonic - I love it. Play my Jazz and Blues all day long. Cheers - FieroZen ------------- Yesterday is History Tomorrow is a Mystery But Today is a Gift That is why it is called the Present |
Posted By: kawana
Date Posted: 05 November 2008 at 6:35pm
haha, thats exactly what happened with me :D What did you use to clean it off the inside? I gotta do that still. |
Posted By: Fiero Zen
Date Posted: 05 November 2008 at 11:14pm
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[/QUOTE] I used old newspaper and vinegar to start, wiped down with wet sponge, let dry and then cleaned with regular glass cleaner. Hope it works for you. PS: I wiped the vinegar on first, then used the newspaper to rub, then let dry. Don't want your interior smelling like fish & chips all winter - do you? ------------- Yesterday is History Tomorrow is a Mystery But Today is a Gift That is why it is called the Present |