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I need to better understand how you're plumbed -- where the upper hose hits the rad; how the rad connects to the reservoir and precisely where the steam vent line ties into the system. Many reservoirs have two connections - if yours is like that, need to see how both are hooked up.
By the looks of the pic your steam line is right next to the elbow in the intake? Idk if that's high enough. Couldn't you just pull that off for a moment and see if you can either add some more fluid or start it and see if itll burp while you hold it. Some cars are just a pita to bleed all the air out.
Just my .02 but I've had the best luck bleeding the air out by warming up the engine and then loosening up the temp sensor in the left head and let it burp out any air.
Sorry for the delay, been a tad busy with a "project"
Grabbed a rig for a buddy, who proceeded to push the start button a little too long and spun over the motor with the front of the motor apart. All timing stuff was still on so not sure why, but everyone loves carnage so..... 4 valve heads less..... 1 missing valve, upside down in a piston
End result is a rebuild where I was just doing timing chains etc. Timing jumped on passenger bank exhaust cam, no idea why. So now taking a motor out that is officially only to be taken out by removing the body first. Not happening
Back to your original question, I agree with an earlier comment, that something is way off with those temperatures listed. How are you measuring that 220 F temperature?
Honestly, everything you say about this sounds like a dysfunctional or poorly calibrated temperature gauge. I can pretty well guarantee that the 150 degrees you saw on the upper radiator hose is the correct engine temperature, and you're simply not fully heated up yet.
Use an infrared gun, and measure the temp of the cylinder heads, and compare to the temp of the upper radiator hose. If both are similar and within spec, that's your temp -- not what the gauge is reading.
Back to your original question, I agree with an earlier comment, that something is way off with those temperatures listed. How are you measuring that 220 F temperature?
Honestly, everything you say about this sounds like a dysfunctional or poorly calibrated temperature gauge. I can pretty well guarantee that the 150 degrees you saw on the upper radiator hose is the correct engine temperature, and you're simply not fully heated up yet.
Use an infrared gun, and measure the temp of the cylinder heads, and compare to the temp of the upper radiator hose. If both are similar and within spec, that's your temp -- not what the gauge is reading.
That WAS with an IR gun.
Along with the Autometer temp gauge and the ecm reading via live data. All three collaborate each other
Only thing I can't check with multiple sensors is the outlet neck and radiator inlet temps. They were just the IR gun
As long as the engine had been at temp for a minute or two, the radiator hose and thermostat housing will read accurately on a IR gun. The disparity between the out-bound radiator hose and the heads is not good. They should read within a few degrees of each other. Based on my only experience with old-school tractor diesels, it sounds to me like a failed thermostat. Do the LS thermostats fail open or closed? Is it even possible to remove a thermostat from a LS engine, or is it built in to the neck?
Here, if I were trying to rule out the possibility of an air bubble, I'd lift the vehicle up to a 30 degree tilt using a tractor loader. Can't imagine an air bubble remaining at that point. If that failed, I'd hook a vacuum source to the steam tubes. Enough adapters, and the vacuum pump used for milking would do a perfect job of removing any air bubble.
It's under pressure.
It's what Land Rover use, as there is no cap on a radiator on a stock LR
As a recovering British car junkie,, one of the biggest
issues with their cooling system is the expansion tank setup,
nearly every one I've worked on had issues with it..
Best thing I ever did was put in a standard radiator system
with a cap and a recovery/overflow tank in my MGB instead
of the expansion system. Quit running hot, no more boil overs on days over 80...
Despite all the other hype and religious arguments,,
Use one of the coolant additives can help with moving air out of the system.
Wetting agents (the marketing is very mis guided too much talk about cooling)
Like Redline or Blue Ice reduce surface tension in the coolant and the air tends
to separate in the radiator/expansion tank.
Someone who understands the obsession....rofl
The aluminum radiator has a pressure cap and an overflow hose.
So you're saying dump the P38 tank, reroute the heater core plumbing, and run just a non pressurized overflow tank? IIRC the P38 tank goes into the heater core line and the overflow from the radiator is all. All I'd need is to pull the T fitting and install an inline in it's place. Then just grab a generic tank, or use the P38 one? Maybe they are fighting each other?
Originally Posted by pdxmotorhead
As a recovering British car junkie,, one of the biggest
issues with their cooling system is the expansion tank setup,
nearly every one I've worked on had issues with it..
Best thing I ever did was put in a standard radiator system
with a cap and a recovery/overflow tank in my MGB instead
of the expansion system. Quit running hot, no more boil overs on days over 80...
Despite all the other hype and religious arguments,,
Use one of the coolant additives can help with moving air out of the system.
Wetting agents (the marketing is very mis guided too much talk about cooling)
Like Redline or Blue Ice reduce surface tension in the coolant and the air tends
to separate in the radiator/expansion tank.
Again just my .02. My 98 Wrangler LS6 swap with a bit smaller radiator than listed by the OP has never overheated. Runs right at the 197 degree thermostat. 16" Spal fan. No shroud. No expansion tank just a over flow tank.
Really don't why the pressurized expansion is typical in a lot of the foreign cars or any new cars. My 99 BMW E36 LS1 swap had one. Really didn't know why other than it increases the volume of coolant in the system or no fluid on the ground?
I'd plum it like the stock LS no expansion tank and see what happens.
Sorry for the delay, work was calling and took me out of state.
I had a good look around everything, and found the rear steam ports have a blanking plug on each head. The front has the pipe that connects both sides together, then a nipple for the hose which goes to the upper hose/ outlet hose from the WP.
Could this be an issue? I pulled a different motor from a donor, and that's how it was so I left it the same when this motor went in.
I'm going to attempt to do a little plumbing to the header tank. It has a lower port that ties into the heater hoses right now. The a vent line, then the line from the radiator. Thinking of removing the heater line connection, then either modifying this one to a vented tank, or get a new overflow tank.
Make sense as a good place to start?
To make sure the hoses for the heater core are hooked correctly, I'm going to connect the two outlets at the water pump together with some hose. That will bypass the heater core and the pressurized tank, which has the line feeding into the heater hose. From my reading, they are all hooked up correctly, and I get heat inside. But to rule it out.....
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