[DeTomaso] Bleeding the cooling system

[Jack Donahue]

Something to think about: Warm air rises, so I would think air in the system would have a tendency to RISE. With the rear in the air, and bleeding the radiator, aren't we "pushing" the water ahead of the air? Why not raise the front? Years ago I had an "explosion" in the engine bay as I was putting down a city street. A giant white plume of "white". I thought the engine blew. When I pulled over, lifted the deck lid and looked, it was devoid of any oil. Must have been steam. I called a mechanic that had worked on the car after Don Nicholson built and installed the motor, and he said "it burped". My question was, "how often can I expect this baby to burp?" never got an answer, and it has not happened since. Obviously, the pressure exceeded the cap's capacity, and it worked perfectly. Another thing: why not use a STANT (or a similar one) cooling system pump, pump up the system, and then raise the front of the car, putting the radiator at the high point, and maybe waiting a few minutes for the bubbles to rise. I guess this will be batted around forever. I do, however, like John Taphorn's article on cooling, and I think an oil temp gauge is imperative, even though I don't have one yet. I have Gary Hall's radiator and overflow caps, Fluidyne, SS tubes, 1250 sucker-fans, etc.  and my blood pressure is synchronous with the water temp gauge. Kirby Schrader told me in an email that the only way his car will overheat in 100 degree weather (at an intersection) is to shut of one of the cooling fans.Sounds like a dream (goal). 
On Apr 1, 2013, at 11:43 PM, Tomas Gunnarsson wrote:

> Mike,
> 
> Air will not collect like that in the engine as long as there's enough
> water in the system to allow the water pump to push water into the
> block. As long as the pump has water supply to fill the block and the
> thermostat neck high enough to run over into the tube going away from
> the engine no air pocket should be present in the engine. There will be
> two air pockets. One in the radiator, the other in the swirl tank if you
> have one. If no swirl tank is present, the rear air pocket will be in
> the thermostat outlet tube if the system is plumbed in a reasonably
> conventional way.
> 
> Filling an empty system with the rear of the car jacked up is however a
> way to ensure that the engine contains a certain amount of air. Hence my
> surprise when I over and over hear that it's the best way to fill the
> system.
> 
> Tomas
> 
> <-----Ursprungligt Meddelande----->
> From: MikeLDrew at aol.com [MikeLDrew at aol.com]
> Sent: 2/4/2013 1:34:54 AM
> To: guson at home.se
> Cc: detomaso at poca.com
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Bleeding the cooling system
> 
> 
> In a message dated 4/1/13 13 39 2, guson at home.se writes:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 	I beg to differ. As soon as you start driving the car it will
> see G-forces much greater than those induced by jacking or parking on a
> slope. There is no possibility that air would be trapped in the straight
> under car tubes after that.
> 	
> 
> 
>>>> No.  Instead, the air that WAS trapped in the pipes before you
> started driving, will now be trapped in your engine!  And you're
> driving!
> 
> And overheating.
> 
> The point of the exercise is to purge the system of air (as much as
> possible) *before* you start driving it.
> 
> There was a significant incident that happened many years ago to a new
> Pantera owner here in PCNC land, named Walter Villere.  He bought his
> Pantera from a police auction, a rather scruffy but solid Euro GTS, and
> only paid $13K or something like that.  One side was beat up because it
> had been parked in a fenced lot right against the fence, and the wind
> had whipped the fence and battered the side of the car.  But the damage
> was all rather trivial.
> 
> Walter knew a lot about cars and nothing about Panteras.  First thing he
> did when he got it home was to change all the fluids--water and oil.  He
> drained all the coolant, then just filled it up and topped it off until
> the tank was full, on level ground.  He then closed the cap, and took
> off across the Richmond bridge, which started right outside his office.
> 
> Walter was/is a maniac.  Great guy, but a maniac.  He wanted to see how
> fast it would go, and the bridge is a great place because there's no
> place for cops to hide.  Traffic was light so he just ran it up to
> redline in 5th gear.  Having a great time, eyes on the road of course,
> so he failed to notice that because he hadn't properly filled the
> cooling system, the temp gauge was pegged.
> 
> BOOM!!!!!!  The engine let go like Krakatoa!
> 
> Only AFTER that, and a new engine from Hall Pantera, did he learn the
> importance of the proper filling/bleeding procedure....
> 
> 
> 
> 	> I agree that you want to bleed the radiator and top up at the
> rear filler but the jacking is a waste of time.
> 	
> 
> 
>>>> It doesn't cost anything, doesn't hurt anything, and not doing it has
> led to at least minor overheating problems in the past.  And the manual
> directs you to do it.
> 
> So why WOULDN'T you do it?
> 
> Mike
> 
> 
> 
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