Thread: I could use some help removing air pockets from my coolant system (waterpump change)

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Ok guys so heres what has lead to this. I have 2 radiators in my 41 willys pickup, a small one up front and a large one out back in the bed. The regular GM waterpump just wasnt doing it's job with the amount of coolant in the system, in traffic the temps would creep. So I went and ordered a high flow pump from Flowkooler. I got it on today and topped off the coolant through the waterpump heater port on top so that it would fill the block. I took it out for a test drive and it got to 200 quickly and never came down, then crept up a bit as I parked it. The truck regulary ran around 185 in cruising conditions before, so I'm guessing that I have air trapped in the system.

Ive seen guys run the engine with the cap off of the radiator but due to the large amount of coolant in this system, and the way the radiator is angled it will be hard to keep up with whats going on in there. I have a cap on top of my intake manifold right above the thermostat, can I just bleed the system that way? I will post pictures of the radiator and the said cap on the manifold below.

Thanks in advance!

Cap on manifold above Tstat:


and the radiator way in the back, its hard to tell but its mounted on a slant:

Is the cap on the rear radiator the highest point? If so, bleed the air out there. You may have to run it until full operating temp and then check the fluid level at the highest point.

Technically that Cap above the t-stat would be my highest point.

Well, that is where you need to get the air out from. But my memory says some of those bow ties needed help in purging air from the intake...
(fwiw.. my memory ain't what it used to be!)

You might try loosening a fitting ( like the temp sensor) and seeing if air or fluid leaks out. I've never played with a 2 radiator system but air will be at the top and you need to find it and release it. HTH..

OK good that should help. I can try that. Thanks

You need to bleed the air out at the rear cap also-----------


The LT1 & 4 GM engines had a bleeder valve that was IIRC 1/8 pipe thread and had a brass screw to bleed off air---don't know what the part number was but used to buy them 10 or 12 at a time from chevy dealer and used in the heads of the shifter kart engines to bleed out air from system


http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/d...lVehicle=false

Nice! That should help out alot. Thank you for that link also!