VE Cooling System

[VZSS]

I was firm as well as the bottom

Interesting! Yes you need to bleed it with the little hose as part of the process. You can start bleeding it that way before you start it until coolant comes out, then again when it's warm and you have pressure in the hoses.
Did you notice if the top hose was firm or soft when it overheated?

 

[greenacc]

And next time you drive it, only take it around the block for 5 minutes. Then check and bleed it again.

 

[greenacc]

I was firm as well as the bottom

That would have been a good time to bleed it. It will piss out when there's pressure like that so don't stand in front of it.
If you have the plastic panel on top of the radiator it needs to come off before you try.

 

[BottFodder]

On a similar subject, if you replace the water inlet o-rings DON'T use a half inch socket to tighten up the 2 10mm bolts that hold it on. I did the job last weekend and snapped one of them off flush with the block. I didn't lean on them either. It was a 1:30pm Saturday effort followed by "**** - I've got about an hour to get the wreckers to get a new one" exclamation.

Thanks to the guy I met at Pick-n-Pay Blacktown who told me I could probably get the broken bold out with an o-ring pick. He was right! I bought the best set of easyouts (Suttons with right-hand twist drills) as well but the pick got it out with little effort. Replacement bolts went back in with 1/4" ratchet and coolant is no longer bleeding down the front of the block. Car (S2 Omega) now has 294K and this is the only significant thing I've had to do on it.

 

[Mon-aro]

Hi guys sorry to revive a dead thread but im in a pickle here.

I have cracked 3 radiators and i really dont want to crack the 4th one.

There is too much pressure in the coolant system what is the best way to bleed the system out?? Is the thermostat gone? How do i diagnose it if its?

Some legend i met in this forum suggested me to buy this kit ( 15x Car Radiator Coolant Funnel Kit Spill Proof Refilling Universal Adaptor Tool ) so i did and hopefully will be arriving tomorrow.

Also some mechanic suggested to touch the top and bottom hoses if the top is hot and the bottom cold he said it might be the thermostat? Also suggested the best way to bleed the system correctly is through the 2 heater core hoses near the brake booster?

Any tricks or ideas please? TIA

 

[losh1971]

Mon-aro, I'd be getting your system pressure tested. You might have a leaking head gasket if you're building up that much pressure. Also could be a faulty cap.

 

[Mon-aro]

Mon-aro, I'd be getting your system pressure tested. You might have a leaking head gasket if you're building up that much pressure. Also could be a faulty cap.

Hey mate i thought one of the main symptoms of blowing head is the milky oil?

 

[losh1971]

Hey mate i thought one of the main symptoms of blowing head is the milky oil?

Depends on where the leak is. If going into the combustion chamber then not not necessarily.

 

[J_D 2.0]

Hey mate i thought one of the main symptoms of blowing head is the milky oil?

Im putting my money on blown head gasket as well, provided the radiator cap is in serviceable condition. If the head gasket is blown you will know because it will building pressure very quickly in the cooling system, due to the combustion gasses going into the water jacket.

If you start the car from cold and the top radiator hose is rock hard after a minute or two then its probably odds on that the head gasket is blown through to the water jacket.

 

[Skylarking]

Hey mate i thought one of the main symptoms of blowing head is the milky oil?

The head gasket does a few things. It seals the combustion chamber, it seals the coolant passages and it seals the oil passages.

Usually they blow out at the highest pressure location which is the combustion chamber.

The blowout can be between two combustion chambers in which case compression ration will be impacted (lower than spec) when checked.

It can also blow out between the combustion chamber and a coolant passage in which case combustion gasses will get into your cooling system. It's easily checked with a combustion gas analyser that screws onto the radiator in place of the radiator cap. With the engine running, the fluid within the analyser changes colour if combustion gasses are present; the test is QED.

The head gasket can also blow out between the combustion chamber and an oil passage which can results in the engine crank case being pressurised at every combustion event from the problem cylinder and oil gaskets being pushed out (=oil leaks).

It can also blow out between the combustion chamber and both the oil and coolant passages where dogs and cats end up sleeping together...

But head gaskets have also been known to leak between oil and coolant passages due to some less frequent issues probably due to faulty head gasket or installation (compression ok but oil & coolant mix).

Really, you need to assess what the symptoms are and do a few tests to rule out some things before jumping into repairs. It's called diagnosing the problem

Having said all that, cracked radiators will almost certainly be due to a head gasket failure as the radiators are able to cope with notmal coolant pressures quite well (obviously) and vibration (obviously). So you'd need much higher pressures than normal to see them presurised to the point of failure. Best do a coolant gas analyser test and you'll know 100% whether its combustion pressures making their way into your radiator thus causing it to go pop