I recently did up the engine in our p38 4.6L petrol 2002, got head cylinder heads redone, valves ground, timing chain, new gaskets (cylinder head, Valley gasket, water pump, sump etc) , new pipes, radiator and thermostat, finished the work yesterday and bled the air out by taking off small pipe to expansion tank but there's not a great flow. But once the engine is running for 5 -7 minutes it starts bubbling the coolant out the expansion tank it is fairly hot but the heater needle on dash hasn't passed the middle. Have I missed something or plumbed it wrong or is it just because I was running it without the cap on to try and make sure it was not air locked as it only held about 9L of coolant? Thanks
Getting all the air out can be a pain in the ***. Parking it uphill and holding the revs at 2000 rpm with the cap off can help.
Couldn't say if you have plumbed it in wrong from here or blocked a passage with sealant but I doubt it as the pipes only fit one way.
Couldn't say if you have plumbed it in wrong from here or blocked a passage with sealant but I doubt it as the pipes only fit one way.
Datatek
Well-Known Member
Personally, if you think you have got all the air out, I would put the cap on, take it for a drive and see if it gets up to temperature.
Thank you very much for your advice I will do that and hopefully all is good. Much appreciated
Thank you
Khemitude
Well-Known Member
Pretty much what the other guys had have said, plenty of squeezing of the top hose while off can help a great deal, Even if you can just lift corner of the car with the expansion bottle with a jack or something helps to make sure the bottle is at the highest point which air naturally wants to travel to.
In regards to only getting 9 litres you will probably find something like the heater matrix given the fact the pipes basically go up hill from it will hold a bunch of water not to mention other places.
I replaced the thermostat on mine the other day and managed to get in 9.9L and mine has the LPG stuff on top that bound to add extra volume.
In regards to only getting 9 litres you will probably find something like the heater matrix given the fact the pipes basically go up hill from it will hold a bunch of water not to mention other places.
I replaced the thermostat on mine the other day and managed to get in 9.9L and mine has the LPG stuff on top that bound to add extra volume.
Khemitude
Well-Known Member
Excellent news, keep an eye on it for the next week or so, you might find there is still a bit of air in there that will slowly come up to the surface so require a bit of additional top up. At this point though I would say you’ve got the bulk of it out if not all though.
