///// Need to bleed cooling system ? / How to bleed the system ? /////

[Andyinchville1]

Hi All,

I have a little seepage of coolant from the upper radiator hose near the large end of the plastic coupler pipe with the small hose running from it..... The leak is on the larger hose section where the coolant glow plug type heaters are but the leak is on the end away from the glow plug section .... I hope that makes sense.

I bought 2 new upper radiator hose sections and the plastic coupler piece with the small hose attached to it ( I did not but another small hose tho).
I figure if 1 section of the 2 piece upper hose is bad the other section may not be too far behind and I got another plastic piece just in case and since everything is old to begin with (got dayco hoses and a dorman coupler piece .... is Dorman OK to use ? I know its probably not as good as a factory piece but would you use it ? I know Dayco is a pretty good name brand so not overly worried about it).

Anyways, I plan on rplacing all the upper pieces listed above .....

Is there any special air bleeding that needs to be done or just replace the parts and fill the ball up and let the engine cycle / cool and refill as needed?

Thanks

Andrew

PS - I ask that because my minivan seems to have a wooshing coolant sound when running and the thermostat opens .... I have had to do several run , squeeze upper radiator hose, fill radiator to full cycles to help fill the system enough to make the system full without "whooshing" noises which I guess is partially empty coolant hoses due to air or simply not getting alot of coolant in.

There must be a way to bleed this out ? I imagine the Jetta may do the same unless I learn the trick on how to fill and bleed air?

 

[Zak99b5]

Just fill the bubble and let it drain into the motor. Squeezing hoses can help. When you run out of patience, do it again.

Then take it for a drive, bringing along a bottle of diluted coolant.

When the temp gets to the middle, pull over and check the bubble and hoses (feeling for warm coolant in the lower hose. Top up bubble if necessary.

If the low coolant alarm turns on, it won’t turn off until you cycle the key, so don’t worry about it too much. Just make sure there’s coolant in the bubble.

next day take it for a good long drive and recheck.Top up if needed.

 

[Andyinchville1]

Just fill the bubble and let it drain into the motor. Squeezing hoses can help. When you run out of patience, do it again.

Then take it for a drive, bringing along a bottle of diluted coolant.

When the temp gets to the middle, pull over and check the bubble and hoses (feeling for warm coolant in the lower hose. Top up bubble if necessary.

If the low coolant alarm turns on, it won’t turn off until you cycle the key, so don’t worry about it too much. Just make sure there’s coolant in the bubble.

next day take it for a good long drive and recheck.Top up if needed.

HI,

Thanks for the help.

I drained some of the coolant into a clean 5 gallon bucket using the radiator drain BUT not alot came out ..... I would guess it filled about 3 inches of the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket and seemed to slow down / stop (I was using a 3/8" clear vinyl line to the bucket to keep from making a mess).

I opened the cap on the bubble but not alot more came out (the ball was on the lower add line before I opened the drain).

I'm Guessing maybe there is a blockage at the lower radiator drain? I would try a coat hanger to see if I could open it up but I figured it was enough drainage to keep from making a mess when I removed the upper hoses.

I took the hoses off and looked at the factory plastic piece .... It looks fine so ... no cracks / chips etc so probably just the old hose was the issue .... so I am returning the dorman piece to Advance auto along with the other upper radiator hose (they must have given me the wrong one because it looks nothing like the stock piece ...wrong shape.

Anyways , it started raining so I'll have to put off putting everything back together until tomorrow.

Hopefully all will go well tomorrow.

Thanks

Andrew

 

[Zak99b5]

Maybe the o ring in the plastic fitting is bad.

I also did not get a lot out of the rad petcock. Remove the lower hose and a good amount more should come out.

Are you trying to change out all the coolant, or just fix the leak at the upper fitting?

 

[Powder Hound]

3 inches in a 5 gallon bucket sounds just fine. The total system volume of just the radiator isn't more than about a gallon, maybe just a bit less, so you did fine there.

I agree with the others posted above. The system will neatly bleed itself over a few cycles if you give it a chance. Just let the expansion/contraction caused by heat cycles do the work for you. All you need do is pay attention and keep the coolant recovery tank (the 'bubble') properly filled.

Cheers,

PH

 

[jettawreck]

////////No, you don't have to/////////

 

[Andyinchville1]

Update

Everything seemed to go fine with just filling the ball and running it a bit and then making sure the ball still had adequate fluid in it .... so maybe (knock on wood) there's no real special air bleeding procedure.

I'm like my minivan I don't hear any whooshing sounds when the thermostat opens so I am assuming that the entire cooling system is filled with coolant which is good so I don't have to go through the process of squeezing hoses and hoping to get all the air out.

On the flip side it turns out maybe my upper radiator hose was not because of my leakage because when I put everything back together I could still smell antifreeze after a long drive.

Upon closer examination of everything up to and including using a mirror and a flashlight I found there was a small seepage point on the plastic connector piece that joins the two radiator hoses together and has that small third hose coming off of it.

There was a very small micro leak on the underside where the two big pipes joined together if that makes sense.

Buy micro leak I mean very small seepage to the point where you could wipe the pipe dry drive it for a while and there would be a little dot of coolant forming underneath.

Anyways after learning that I needed to replace that piece I thought about using the Dorman piece that I had but to be perfectly honest it kind of looked a little thinner and a little cheaper than the piece I had examine so thoroughly before putting it back on ( the original Factory piece that is).

Given that I figured I would go to the dealership to buy a factory plastic piece.

Much to my surprise the dealer does not only sell that piece you have to buy it as part of an upper hose assembly which includes the two upper radiator hose has the plastic coupler piece itself and then the plastic piece that Clips onto the radiator.

It was a little expensive ($136) but at that point I was thinking maybe it's best to go ahead and replace the whole upper assembly ...

When I got the assembly from the dealership I was surprised it all came put together meaning the two upper hoses were already clamped to the plastic piece I needed plus it came with the plastic couple of piece that goes on to the radiator with a clip.

My plan was today to possibly go out draining some fluid and replace the entire upper assembly From Radiator to engine but I've not had experience with replacing or messing with the clip-on part that goes to the radiator.

How hard is it to put on to the radiator without taking everything apart?

I imagine you would have to force it on with pretty good force and then clip it?

I was paranoid about using too much force because I'm not sure that I could physically hold the radiator while pressing everything together since there's so much stuff in the way.

I think I can get to the clip by simply removing the two pieces in front of the battery that helped form the cold air intake.

Anyways anybody have any idea how hard that would be to do or would you leave well enough alone with all the other pieces and just simply take out and replace the part that is leaking?

Personally I think I would feel better overall doing the whole thing but because of the difficulty of possibly removing the part that Clips onto the radiator I'm thinking about just simply replacing the part that I know has a micro leak in it.

Anyways any help and or opinions thoughts would be greatly appreciated before I try to do this.

Thanks

Andrew

 

[Zak99b5]

Just pry the closed end of the clamp (one faces up and the other down; I forget which is which). Tabs on the end of the clip will stop it after it moves an inch or so. No need to remove it.

Those fittings at the rad can be difficult to remove, and you can’t twist them because they are keyed. Just wiggle and pull and it will eventually come.

They slip on much easier—in fact, it almost seems like it might be all the way on. Lube the o ring with a little coolant.

 

[Andyinchville1]

Just pry the closed end of the clamp (one faces up and the other down; I forget which is which). Tabs on the end of the clip will stop it after it moves an inch or so. No need to remove it.

Those fittings at the rad can be difficult to remove, and you can’t twist them because they are keyed. Just wiggle and pull and it will eventually come.

They slip on much easier—in fact, it almost seems like it might be all the way on. Lube the o ring with a little coolant.

HI,

Thanks for the info....

I was playing with the new pieces and that clip part had me worried .... I see where you say it doesn't have to come all the way out and that was a biug relief because I could see that being hard if it had to come off and go back in.

Because I was in a hurry , I simply took out the plastic part that was leaking and I'm happy to report NO leaks ! ;-)

I did compare the factory piece with the Dorman piece and they were VERY similar BUT there were differences ..... I'll see ig I canpost pics later in another thread ....

Thanks for your help .... I filed it away in my brain should I have to replace those parts that clip into the radiator

Andrew