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bleeding coolant system

Old Mar 25, 2009 | 09:18 PM
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Default bleeding coolant system

Is there a preferred method to bleed any air bubbles out of the coolant system without any special tools? Or anyway to tell if the system needs bleeding?
I've always just let the car warm up with the radiator cap off adding coolant/water until it's full. The car is running hot after a radiator change and I want to make sure I don't have air trapped in the the system somewhere.
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Old Mar 25, 2009 | 10:22 PM
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Originally Posted by calongo_SS
Is there a preferred method to bleed any air bubbles out of the coolant system without any special tools? Or anyway to tell if the system needs bleeding?
I've always just let the car warm up with the radiator cap off adding coolant/water until it's full. The car is running hot after a radiator change and I want to make sure I don't have air trapped in the the system somewhere.
A couple cycles of the t-stat opening and closing and topping it off should do it.

But you can try also squeezing the upper and lower radiator hoses while its heating up with the radiator cap off. Squeeze them fast and rapid like 20-30 times each. It may splash out the radiator cap while doing so be careful.

This worked for me a few weeks ago when I flushed my radiator and had my t-stat out. The t-stat wouldn't open until I did this, then it opened up and the coolant started to flow, I topped it off and that was it.
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