cooling issue

[Rhys-VR]

hey guys

the vr was getting the engine light on i poped the bonnent the return hose from the housing to the raditor has no water running from it just full of very hot air, i open the bleeder still no water so i replace the thermastat and doing the same thing so i took thermo out and its running well now :S whats going on with it?

thanks

[hako]

From the sounds of it you have no coolant!....but I guess you filled it up with coolant when you pulled the thermostat. You may have had a stuck thermostat. If you run it without a thermostat it will not run cooler....all that happens is that the coolant flows through the engine quicker which is not adviseable for a number of reasons.
I'd do a code check to see what the engine light came on for as well.: Checking error codes VR/VS (Revised)

[Jonah 101]

First check this site here Holden Holden EFI - pictures of diagnostic connector locations

find out why the check light was on (using my link) and fix the problem as such. hope you havent got a blown head gasket mate.

PS. jacking the front of the car up sometimes help to bleed the cooling system.

[BowTie]

yeh, put the new thermo back in and bleed it properly, twice.

helps to make a bottle/funnel to sit in place of the cap with a couple of litres of coolant ready to be gravity fed as soon as the thermo opens. makes cycling the thermo to purge the air much simpler.

to get the air bubble initially there must be a small leak somewhere causing it to top itself up from coolant reservior every time it cools down. if you dont notice this happening, it will empty and starts to suck air everytime it cools down.

you need to keep the resi topped up. if it starts drinking too much, find the leak.

[Rhys-VR]

ive left the thermo out, i had a mate look at it and it looks to be theres been a bolt snapped off to the water pump and the waterpump is on its way out and gasket has had the gone by the looks of it as its leaking slow drips so im leaving the thermo out till i go to get a new water pump and gasket and seeing what happens from there will it be ok without the thermo he says it will be and no dramas but may aswell ask you guys

thanks

[08sky_way]

If the snapped 'bolt' on the water pump is on the left (looking from the front) and is directly above another bolt, it is not actually a bolt but a locating pin.
If you still have the thermostat, put it in water that is continually boiling (in a can on the stove or BBQ - don't just pour boiling water over it) The thermostat should open.
Last Saturday my son's VR Lexcen was overheating. The 2 month old thermostat (inserted when doing the manifold gaskets) was jammed shut. I'd kept the old thermostat and gave both of them the boiling water treatment - the new one was jammed closed. So I put the old one back in and it's all good now. Luckily no damage to the engine that we can see.