V8 D2 won't take 12.5L of coolant

[ballbag]

Hello. I assume this is a common issue.

I've read the manual, I've searched the net, the answer is always the same. Someone posts up the RAVE instructions and says all should be well. But as Marsellus Wallace said, I'm pretty ****ing far from ok.

It's just not taking the 12.5L of coolant. I've manged to get about 4L in. Is there an English national secret I need to know?

Help, before I blow my stack and a head gasket. Arrrghh.

[Disco Muppet]

Well, nice use of a Pulp Fiction line.
2nd, same as the auto a simple drain doesn't remove all the fluid, rest of it is in the lines.
Not sure on the V8 but on the Td5 I know you can connect up a hose somewhere and basically run it until the water ain't pink.
Perhaps give the search function a work out.

[disco2_dan]

Now lets start at the basics, is the car running when your trying to fill up the coolant?
How much do you guess is already in there?

Is there an air lock in the system?

What method/s have you tried so far?

[ballbag]

Removed filler cap and bleed screw on radiator top hose.
Removed all 3 hoses from thermostat.
So radiator drained through bottom hose, jacket and heater drained through water pump hose (should be close to the lowest point, right?)
Jammed hose into top radiator and water pump hoses and flushed 'til clear.
Re-fittted hoses, raised reservoir and filled until it flowed from bleed hole.
Re-fitted bleed screw.
Topped off reservoir.
Total = 4L!

Started her up, cap still off. No more coolant pulled through jacket or radiator.
Purged through bleed screw, good flow.

Shut her down.
Re-bled through screw.

Began having horrendous visions of engine rebuild.

[sheerluck]

When you talk about the "jacket", are you talking about the two block drain plugs, one either side of the engine block? If those weren't undone, that'd probably account for a couple of litres, but not 8!

Have a hunt on here for Blknight.aus's how to on doing a coolant refill using a soft drink bottle.

[ballbag]

Sorry, jacket = water jacket = block. No, didn't drain through the plugs but like you I'd guess that'd account for a litre or 2 at best.

I have LPG so there is a coolant line tapped into the heater hoses which runs around the back of the manifold, around to the LPG condenser. That's the highest point in the system so I slackened off a clamp over there and got pink rather than red coolant.

So I assume the block and heater weren't drained properly.

Thinking I should raise the rear of the vehicle and try draining again through the water pump hose at the thermostat. I'll try to collect that and see how much and what colour I get.

Non-stop fun these trucks!

[walker]

I have drained my V8 a couple of times and the best I have ever got back in was 6litres. Your 4 liters is not uncommon. The engine holds a fair bit, as does the heater circuit.

If its bleeding through to bleed the you will be fine

[ballbag]

Yeah, that seems to be about the size of it. Thanks for the moral support.

[Tombie]

No-one's accounted for heater core either!

[Eevo]

this might be a dumb question but might help the OP.

is there a way to flush the system, ie, flush it out with water, then flush it with coolant. would waste a lot of coolant but is it possible?

[walker]

No-one's accounted for heater core either!

Hey! I did! :p

[ballbag]

So did I. That's why I checked the colour of the coolant at the LPG condenser and why I'll raise the rear end of the beast tomorrow in a vainglorious attempt to drain the bastard. Will report back with findings and sanity levels.

[feral]

Lets look at it from an alternative way to do it.

You can flush it as many times as you like just to make sure you have nice clean water.

Drain out as much clean water as you can. According to previous experiences should be 4-6L.

Start filling with concentrate coolant, not premixed, and you should get most of it in. 5l of coolant is all I buy.

If you get the 4-6 l's in, your coolant mix will be approximately at the required %. I believe you would struggle to get 5l's in.

Start engine, get the coolant to circulate/mix, make sure you have removed all air blockages, let it cool down, overnight preferably, top up in the morning.

[ballbag]

Yeah, problem is that you end up with tap water in there.

Just stuck my head under the bonnet and it's dawned on me how much coolant might sit below thermostat-height, so trying to drain it from the water pump-to-thermostat hose is probably not going to work too well.

Not keen on mangling the drain plugs so might try hitting it with air through the return hose (top hose from block to thermostat/radiator).

[ballbag]

Righto, pulled thermostat again and allowed gravity to do its thing. Then used lung power to blow through return hose and top radiator hose. That produced another couple of litres. Then did some hillbilly engineering - stuffed a compressor fitting into a garden hose, zip tied it off, used a regular garden hose fitting on the other end which happens to fit nicely into the return and top radiator hose. Blew another litre or two out. Could still hear a little fluid sloshing around but satisfied the bulk of it was out. Managed to get about 10L into it now. I'll let her sit, top her up then take her for a run.

Never a dull moment with a Disco. :D

[Trippy]

Is it ok to use compressed air like that? I mean, is there a risk that you could damage the radiator or hoses with too much pressure?

[sheerluck]

Is it ok to use compressed air like that? I mean, is there a risk that you could damage the radiator or hoses with too much pressure?

So long as there's an outlet, you're not going to be building up pressure. Besides, the system is designed to be pressurised, to a point.

[bob10]

Had a look at RAVE, hope this helps. Bob DRAIN & REFILL:
Observe all normal safety precautions, only drain coolant when cold

DRAIN;
Remove expansion tank filler cap

Remove drain plugs from LH & RH sides of cylinder block & allow cooling system to drain.

Disconnect bottom hose from radiator & allow cooling system to drain


Disconnect top hose from thermostat & position open end of hose below level of coolant pump inlet, to allow coolant to drain from the system.

REFILL

Flush system with water under LOW pressure, do not use water under HIGH pressure as it could damage the radiator.

There is more, if you don't have a RAVE DVD, you should consider buying one.

[ballbag]

Yeah, I have the manual and followed it apart from removing the drain plugs, and funnily enough this is the only engine that's ever given me trouble out the 642,950 car and bikes I've done. Removing those plugs is more risk than it's worth, IMHO.

The answer is probably to drain and refill more frequently similar to the auto box theory.... have more new stuff in it than old stuff and things should work out ok, rather than trying to get every last bit of old stuff out.


So long as there's an outlet, you're not going to be building up pressure. Besides, the system is designed to be pressurised, to a point.

Yeah, if there was a blockage the garden hose fitting would have allowed air back past its outside edge before a cooling system designed to handle hot pressurised liquid blew apart. Well, that was my theory anyway.....