Im hoping someone can help me out here. Im ready to stick a match in this thing.

Heres a brief summary. Heat suddenly stopped working. Went to get a coolant flush. was told no, intake mani gasket gone. Ok. Get that replaced. No heat still. Flush out core a few times. Lots of crap out. works off and on. Do a home coolant flush. Thermostat replacement. Still off and on. Get a professional flush and Another thermostat. Still off and on

I've been trying to bleed it. I take off the radiator cap and run it until bubbles stop coming out. then put the cap on and turn it off. I have been bleeding it nearly every day. But not sure If Im getting it all out. I now have some heat, and when i rev it up good, then the heat really starts working great, BUT then the engine overheats. It also seems like everyday I lose heat in the morning and have to do this over. I dont know if air is just moving around? The water pump seems to be working (coolant is moving) Both heater hoses are hot. I havent replaced the radiator cap. But its holding pressure..... Please help, its getting very cold in wisconsin and I have to take the kids to school.

Sorry for the LOOONG read, just wanted to brief everyone.

 

Sounds like an air pocket in the radiator hoses. On my trucks I usually get an air pocket in the large-diameter hose on the driver's side of the engine. The way I get rid of this is to top off the radiator at the radiator cap (also fill the reservoir up to the indicated level) and then take that aforementioned large-diameter hose and pull on it up and down. The idea is to get it lower than the radiator fluid level at the cap. When you do that several times, you will probably notice the coolant level has dropped. Go ahead and fill'er up again, and do the same procedure with the hose. Keep doing this until the coolant level no longer goes down.

Hope that helps!

 

Another way to 'burp' the cooling system is to (like was mentioned - make sure the rad & reservoir are full) jack up or drive up a ramp on the front PS. Remove the rad cap & start the engine. Let it get to normal operating temp, turn the heat on in the cab & rev it to 1500 for 10 seconds. Then let it idle for 30 seconds & repeat the steps for a few mins. When you put the cap back on then back down or lower it hopefully you'll notice the rad level is lower.
BTW it won't draw any coolant into the rad from the reservoir with the rad cap off.

 

beat me to it.

 

lol we should make it a "sticky" or post it in DIY so we can link to it & not have to type it out & anyone can see it anytime without asking.

 

I've been searching every few days and I found the trick to going on an incline. which I have been doing everytime.

The truck is usually slightly warm. Park on an incline. Open Cap. Start truck. Fill radiator. let it idle. Then once it starts getting close to the normal temp, it starts overflowing pretty bad before the thermostat opens. And once the thermostat does open, it still overflows unless I pick the idle up. But as soon as I let the idle go to normal, coolant comes flying out.

Is that normal? I lose so much coolant doing this. Every time I see little bubbles coming up though. I'm just sick of buying all this coolant. lol.

I'll also try that hose trick. Thanks.

 

Normal. When the stat opens and spews out coolant, there's an air bubble behind it. That's when you increase the idle to 1500 RPM or so, and keep adding coolant until the coolant level stabilizes. Keep the RPM up and install the cap, then let it come back to idle. OEM radiator caps are not the greatest quality: If the cooling system was as clogged as you say, the cap probably got plugged up as well and needs replacement. "Stant" caps work well on these. A properly working radiator cap will bleed out air as it makes its way to the cap.

 

okay cool. just so I understand it, as the engine warms up and the coolant "expands" increase rpms and keep adding coolant? eventually i should be able to let it idle normal and it wont bubble out? then put the cap on and shutoff the car?

Ill pick up a new cap tomorrow.

 

I usually prop the throttle so RPM stays around 1500. After the stat opens, snap the throttle, (rev it up) a few times then back to 1500. This will help move the air bubble. Fill the radiator while at 1500 until it's full, put the cap on, let it come back to idle.

 

What Capt. is saying is that it'll create a vacuum & draw the bubbles out that may have been left behind. That's also another reason to keep the reservoir tank full. Because it's a vacuum system & when the cap opens after the thermostat opens it'll draw the fresh/reservoir coolant in.