umair

I am fitting a new radiator in my 2000 australian caprice (rebadged commodore). It has ls1 v8 and big radiator. It takes in 12 liters of coolant. In the service manual it says that I do not have to bleed the system because it has vapor traps in it, see here:

"As the GEN III V8 engine has a vapour pipe attached
to to both cylinder heads, that releases any air in the
cooling system, no special bleeding procedure is
required, apart from the following simple points:
1. Set the heater control to maximum.
2. Reinstall hose to radiator lower outlet on the left
hand side tank and tighten hose clamp.
3. Mix 6 litres of DEX-COOL ethylene glycol
antifreeze/inhibitor (to GM Specification 6277M)
with 6 litres of clean, good quality water."

Anyway how do you bleed the radiator. This radiator has no cap. There is a cap only in the reservior. Thanks.

chrisfrost

iTrader: (8)

You've got coolant cross-over lines going from 1 cylinder head to the other with the connections located at the front just in front of the intake manifold on the same surface as the intake ports and at the rear behind the intake manifold . They run under the intake manifold above the valley pan . You loosen the front 2 bolts at the connection to the cylinder heads and You should be able to see, hear, feel air coming out . keep them lose until coolant comes out ,,,,,tighten and refill radiator .
I would suggest You use distilled water to mix with Dex-cool . I've read in Motor-age magazine that everything affects Dex-cool turning it into different kinds of acid like undistilled water ,,,,,,,air ,,,,,etc .And make sure You mix 50/50 only .

umair

What a difference it made. Runs like new again. Yea it bled itself. Just a tip dont put china radiator it will make it bad. I had a crack in the side plastic tank so I bought a china radiator. It was shiny and clean looked same as the original. So I installed it, it ran fine for four months. After that it went rusty like crazy. The whole water went black. Then the car started to overheat with ac on. So then I decided to fix the original radiator. I put a new side plastic tank and installed it. Now it runs very good. So dont buy china radiator, it sucks.

Also one more question, can I run two bottles of dexcool (8ltr total) and 4 liters of distilled water because I live in middle east and its 50 degrees here, or should I put three bottle of dexcool. I just want anti rust and not anti freeze.