No bleed valve on Radiator?

[Ginjaninja92]

Hi all,

I've just flushed my coolant system and was about to swap out the thermostat, when I checked the bleed valve on the radiator I realised it doesn't appear to have a bleed valve at all, there's a plug the exact same as the drain plug but I can't see any way of bleeding with that.

It's a Rev3 turbo, any bright ideas?

thaaaaanks

[DB Mr2]

Have a good look at the rad as I believe aftermarket ones had the bleed valve located on the back?
Anyhoooo the last two times I have refilled my coolant system I have jacked the rear of the car up quite high and slowly filled at the filler cap in engine bay.
I have not needed to bleed the rad doing it this way. But be patient when filling.

[thomp1983]

If the plug is at the top of the rad then it's the bleed point you just loosen it until a stream of coolant comes out

[Ginjaninja92]

Thanks for the quick replies.

I just spoke to my parts guy at Toyota who reckons you only need to bleed it with the valve at the heater point as its a circulating system?

I'll get the front as high as possible and use the heater bleed valve, then open the rad plug a touch at the end until it streams coolant.

Is this because its an aftermarket rad?

Thanks again

[thomp1983]

Stock rad has a bleed valve just it had a tube built in to allow the pipes that hang off the bonnet to be fitted

And you want to be raising the rear not front or use a 2 litre coke bottle as a header tank taped around the filler neck to seal

[mr2magic]

For years i've done the procedure according to BGB- no raising or lowering of anything - without any mishaps.

[acf8181]

Aftermarket rad i got doesn't have a spot to attach a pipe like the standard rad did.....i just undid the valve and let it drip out.

[jimGTS]

You need to come up with a way of making your own bleed valve

[raptor95GTS]

very nice Jim, a lot tidier than stock too

[Kupton83]

You need to come up with a way of making your own bleed valve

Image Replaced With URL For Quote [url]http://url.photobucket.com/albums/v326/jimbob_uk20/rev4%20tubby/C130B015-20FB-4E8E-A2C9-ADE40AE3601A.jpg[/URL]

Image Replaced With URL For Quote [url]http://url.photobucket.com/albums/v326/jimbob_uk20/rev4%20tubby/0EB89938-884A-40D0-B626-597383D4798D.jpg[/URL]

Very Nice indeed Jim!

Care to share where u got the fittings from, or even if you know what thread size was in your aftermarket rad??

[jimGTS]

the ebay rad i have is 1/4 BSP fittings.


plenty of fittings on ebay, just depends how you want to route/mount/bleed etc.

[Kupton83]

Cheers pal pulled my finger out and measured the thread mine is 1/4 bsp, on eBay now!

[JD]

Good thinking. I can't imagine it was easy to measure with your finger stuck in it.

[Kupton83]

It was not ?! But after 3 attempts at bleeding it it's still spitting coolant out from the overflow after a run!

I've had it so both front pipes have the same level of coolant in with no air present. Shut off both valves, coolant level in the filler neck is brimmed as it should be, go for a run, temp gauge sits at half way heaters blasting lovely hot air, but get home and later find its had another little accident with a puddle of water underneath it!!

Any suggestions, I have jacked up the back whilst filling, tried bleeding it with heater on hot and cold.

Is there bleed valves in the pipes running under the car? I've herd there is but I could only see to drain bolts.

[abovetherim]

It was not ?! But after 3 attempts at bleeding it it's still spitting coolant out from the overflow after a run!

I've had it so both front pipes have the same level of coolant in with no air present. Shut off both valves, coolant level in the filler neck is brimmed as it should be, go for a run, temp gauge sits at half way heaters blasting lovely hot air, but get home and later find its had another little accident with a puddle of water underneath it!!

Any suggestions, I have jacked up the back whilst filling, tried bleeding it with heater on hot and cold.

Is there bleed valves in the pipes running under the car? I've herd there is but I could only see to drain bolts.

Has the overflow got a pipe running to the expansion tank? And how full is the tank when cold?
The system will expel a small amount into the tank when hot but will suck it back when cool.

[Kupton83]

Yes,

The pipe from the filler neck is clear and runs to the expansion tank like it should. As I'm sure you know it's hard to see the level in the expansion tank but when I pull the lid the pipe connected to the lid is wet approx 3/4 of the way up.

If that makes any sense!

If it still had air in the system why would the needle stay at half way?

[jimGTS]

You need to check how much coolant is in the expansion tank when cold.

If there's too much it will always expel coolant.

It needs to be 1/2 way between min and max, which is pretty low on the tube/hose.

[Kupton83]

I've drained the expansion tank. And will have another go at bleeding it some more!

It must still have air in there as when I remove the rad cal the levels dropped down after it's been ran. Am I right in thinking of the expansion tank is full to it line then once cooled and rad cap removed the coolant level should be pretty much at the top?

I read somewhere about attaching a 2L Coke bottle to the filler neck and filling that up with both front valves open might help force the air out so will try that too.

[jimGTS]

Yep much easier to bleed if you run the car with the cap off and a filler wedged and topping up the same time as air bubbles escape.

Long as expansion has coolant between mid and high should be fine.

[MartinF]

Have you changed your rad cap?

What you're describing are the classic symptoms of a failed cap.