Steam coming from radiator

[cypher967]

I bought a new radiator fitted it today, put coolant in it and now steam is coming from radiator this is after it was on ilde for 2 minutes, what have i done wrong??

[tt460]

Sure its steam and not paint burning off ?

Did you bleed the system correctly ?

[cypher967]

I can smell it, im sure its steam. how do you bleed the system? im not 100% sure if i did it right.

[The1]

the top rad hose that connects to the motor where the thermostat is there's a screw ontop undo it a little and get the motor warmed up there should be pretty much only water and no air bubbles coming out. Did you fill it full of water, cause once the engines started it will suck more water in i just leave the rad cap off for the first few seconds and fill it up then put it back on and bleed.

[tt460]

2 minutes of idling isnt steam,

Chances are you spilt some fluid on the block when changing the radiator and you can smell that burning off.

As for bleeding the system you can use the bleed screw on top of the thermostat, or park the car on a hill so your radiator cap is the highest point and run the car with the cap off and heater on and wait till the thermostat opens.

[cypher967]

i could only put in about 7lts of coolant but shouldnt it be able to hold 12lts? didnt spil anything apart from when i filled it from the top hose and some coolant went out the thermostat.

[rocco555]

dont stress mate, isn't unusual for this to happen... will be fine