JaCkaL829

I'm more interested in how to do this procedure. I just replaced my upper and lower radiator hose, as I believed coolant was leaking from the top one. I also rebuilt my alternator, and figured replace the lower one now that the coolant is drained, and it was looking old.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if I fill the radiator with coolant now, and than bleed it somehow? On my Acura I bleed it out by keeping the radiator cap off and letting the air bubbles come out, once it stops bubbling all the air is out of the system. Please let me know if this is correct?

I'm also wondering if this is a good time to replace my thermostat and radiator cap? My radiator is pretty old as my friend told me since it's made of cooper.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Flash319

yes. Run with the cap off and the heat turned all the way up in the cab.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

You also want to make the radiator cap the highest point in cooling system

Is your radiator blocked and not cooling ??

I like the cooper brass radiators over aluminum any day.

Punchy

You can also remove the hose before the heater valve, Force water into it and it burps it outright.

skjos

If you have never replaced the thermostat, now is the time to do it; probably a good idea to change it every 90,000. Don't forget to buy a gasket with the thermostat - I recommend OEM.

Also if you have a 22RE you might want to change the o-ring that is at the hard pipe joint that is located behind and below the thermostat housing. Remove the two bolts and the tube should drop just far enough to get the new o-ring on, reinstall the bolts between 9-14ft-lbs.

I am currently in the process of replacing my radiator and cap after 200,000. Based on the recommendations from this board, I'm going with a CSF 2314 which is running me just shy of $200.

I would also recommend using Toyota red diluted 50/50 with distilled water.

For burping the system: this can be a PITA, 1st make sure the heater is on this will make sure the coolant is also routed through the heater core, sometimes jacking the front end up helps, fill it up with coolant, and squeeze the upper and lower radiator hoses to help push air out of the system. Squeeze and fill, squeeze and fill, when you can fill no more start it and let it run for a short while. If your idle is super high then the water pump has an air pocket in it. If the radiator is still cool after the short run, take off the cap and perform some more squeeze and fills. Then take it for a very short drive... over speed bumps preferably. Then let it cool for a while and then squeeze and fill and squeeze and fill some more. This sounds incredibly ridiculous but it worked for me. My previous advise of running with the radiator cap off can work sometimes - at least it did for my 4runner, but on the 22RE I find that coolant just comes gushing out.

kuzbro

When I did the timing belt, water pump, thermostat, all coolant hoses, and new Toyota Red coolant, it took a while to get air out of the system. I took a 2500 mile trip to Dallas, Texas in hot July heat and had to add coolant to maintain the proper fill level a few times. It was a lot, but it was enough to make me wonder if I had a problem. A Yotatech member suggested I try the simple approach first and replace the radiator cap. No more leaks for two years. Sold the truck last month and she was still running great

FGZ

I have tried 3 times to burp my cooling system since my timing set job. I think I'm getting there but I'm a n00b so let me get into some specifics.

First, I'll mention my temp gauge is intermittent and quits working most of the time. It started this when I did my t-stat 4 months ago. I think the t-stat job is the first time I let air into the system which is probably what made my temp gauge start having issues. Fast forward to now, I just finished my timing set and I'm trying to get the air out of the coolant.

Here's my comedy of errors so far in trying to burp my system.
ATTEMPT #1: It was full of coolant just so I could get it running again for a few days. Then, when the truck was cold, start it and back it over to an incline, pop the hood, loosen radiator cap. Coolant gushes everywhere, cap back on immediately. Oops, I bet I need to drain some coolant.

ATTEMPT #2: Drain about a quart of coolant. Start truck, cap off, things are going better this time. Truck warms up, t-stat finally opens, coolant gushes everywhere, immediately kill the truck. Hmmm, maybe I should drain even more coolant and try again.

ATTEMPT #3: Drain half gallon of coolant. Start truck, cap off, wait. Truck warms up, t-stat opens, I get a gush of steam and blowing air coming from the radiator cap. Freaky, but I'm pretty sure I don't have a blown head gasket so I'll assume this is OK. Pour some coolant back in very slowly and everything calms down. Wait longer, coolant gushes out everywhere, shut truck off immediately. (I think what happened here is the t-stat opened for the first time and I saw steam, maybe the system was burping. When everything calmed down it's because the t-stat had closed again for a short time. When it reopened, I had by that time put more coolant back in, so it overflowed.)

BTW, after ATTEMPT #3, when I turned on the ignition to roll up the back window the temp gauge was working. I may be on to something here...



I'm hesitant to run the truck while low on coolant, so I think what I'm doing wrong here is adding too much coolant back in while it is supposed to be burping. It needs room to expand once it warms up, and you want it to warm up so that it will circulate thoroughly and bring out any air pockets.


So since I keep gushing coolant everywhere while trying to purge the coolant, can someone tell me how much coolant you have in there while you're running the motor with the radiator cap off? And how long do you let it run before you decide it's properly purged?

FGZ

AH HA!!

A NO-SPILL FUNNEL

Now wouldn't one of them thingys be handy...

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

Now you must remember when you have a air pocket it will push the coolant out that is in front of it. At times it looks quite impressive about like Old Faithful

Since I put the Tee valve in at the heater hose with the cap off as I fill the radiator most all the air is pushed out.

when the coolant comes out the tee I stop and put the caps back on. I have tried both with engine running or not about the same for me at least.

your temperature gauge needs to be in the coolant to work.