I guess I'll first start off by saying that after you refill and you run the heat and the heat DOES NOT literally burn your hand or face at 90F and at full operating temp you have air in the cooling system and you CANT drive the car and it needs to be bled several times.
I bled mine by refilling and running the car and checking for how hot the heat was. I turned off the car opened up the bleeding screw and set it aside and filled the radiator neck until it was close to overflowing then put the bleeding screw back on and radiator cap. Started the car and checked to see if I had heat or not and repeated the process. It's not hard at all like most people say. It just takes time.

Tools I used. I took off the plastic cover under the engine to have access to the lower radiator hose.



Lower radiator hose with the clamp moved back off the radiator.




I used distilled water ONLY to refill and run the car to drain again just to get rid of all the old coolant.


I also removed the overflow tank and rinsed it out. The coolant in it was dark green and it had a strong odor of sulfur.


The bleeding screw that needs to be removed when the car is off to top off the radiator.



How I ran the heat. Not sure if this is the normal operating procedure but it worked for me to get the coolant/distilled water flowing.


Left over coolant for later.


I also changed the oil. I wanted 5w30 but I only found 0w30. Since I've been running 0w30 the car starts up a lot better. I don't recommend 0w30 for FI though.


I had the car parked on a brick and a 2x4 to fit under it. I did the work at a friends house since I don't want negative attention from the people in my apt complex.


That same day I attempted to remove the idle pulley and install the DM2 spacer but I had problems getting off the bolts from the bracket of the pulley. I'll post that up when I finish it. You can see a piece of an accessory belt in one of the pics.

Here is a preview.

 

did you back into any walls this time?

 

hahahaha. No Tovarish I did not. That time I was distracted by a beautiful woman. This time there wasn't a distraction.

I also recommend this waterless coolant. http://www.evanscooling.com/catalog/C_npg1.htm
It's over the top for NA applications but if keep your car constantly in high RPM ranges it's good insurance.

 

i'm confused. why did you have to disconnect the lower radiator hose? couldn't you just undo the radiator drainplug? unless you actually drain the block not all the coolant will drain out anyway...just thinking of a making less of a mess. that's how i do all the other cars

 

Where did the old coolant go? The EPA would like to have a word with you.....

 

I thought that by removing the lower radiator hose some of the coolant from the block would drain also which it did. I also used distilled water like I said to run it through the engine to flush it out more.

That's why I had to work on the car at a friends house.
I gave it to those kids on the street and told them it was koolaid.

 

i can see it making a little difference. i would run the car with tap water, let it sit until it was cool, then drain and fill with fresh coolant and distilled water as it says on the bottle. i would top it off with the heater on high heat and full blast and "burp" the air bubbles from the radiator using the throttle. if you want to get EVERYTHING out you have to undo the drainplugs on the block. does anyone know where they're located? not worth it imho...

 

Just refill with distilled water and drain again. I would not use tap water at all. It's over the top to drain the block itself. I wouldn't do it.

 

The tap water will leave deposits in the cooling system - that's the last thing you want

 

Yo though I would add some pics here for what I did to my coupe with the GurgenPB homemade kit to remove most all air from your cooling system. I replaced my stock radiator with a Koyo radiator a friend gave me. I run track events a few times a year, and wanted some extra cooling capacity.

I believe stock cooling systems will eventually cycle the air out via the valve near the radiator cap, but it was questionable with my Koyo radiator, so I asked Gurgen to help me with his contraption.

One connection to the top of the radiator, and one to the bleeding 'T' as shown in a picture by Andrei.

The car IV, most air will escape at either point


A little customization to get this to work. Be very carefull when employing this method as the coolant can be very hot. Any shotty workmanship could cause you to get a burn. I was kind of sceptical of the old milk container, but I kept my distance most of the time, and wore protecive glasses.


You can see a little bubble escaping on the right. There was much more than just that little guy in there. Gurgen was suprised there was not more air in the system. You want to get as much air out of the system as possible.


We ran the car until it got hot enough to open the thermostat, reved the car up and down to cycle to move any bubbles around.

Suprisingly, squeezing the large hose got alot of air out of the system as well. (see the middle picture and Gurgen's meathook)

Anyway, I didn't want to post a new thread, but thought this might be valuable/of interest to some folks...

 

wow 1superg that's ingenious!

as far as draining I would suggest you remove the two block plugs also. You'd be supprised how much coolant is actually in the engine. When I did mine, more then half came out of the engine. The radiator only had maybe 1/3 of the total coolant.

 

they make coolant funnels just for this purpose. its basically a funnel with a built in radiator cap attachment at the bottom. also includes a stopper for easy and clean removal after bleeding the system. much safer.

 

How does that help getting trapped air out of the system?

 

i am having overheating issues, mostly while driving during midday when its extremely hot out. about 96ºF. I have my A/C running, and after awhile of driving, when I am sitting at a stop light, I notice my temp needle start to rise. So I turn off my A/C, turn on my fans to max, roll down my windows and let the engine cool. This is a temporary fix. A few on here have said that I might have air in my cooling system. Do you think that is the cause of my overheating issue?

I rarely drive my car, it sits in the garage most of the time and I only drive it about 6 times a year. I have jump started my car over 50 times because of my battery draining since i hardly drive it. So I ended up buying a new battery from the dealer, and I am driving the car more often now. I just started noticing this problem.

This happens randomly, and not all the time. So I am not sure what the problem could be. I have no signs of coolant leak or anything.

 

The first thing I would check is when you're sitting idling and the temps start to rise check to see if your radiator fans are running. When you're moving air is passing the radiator so it cools the engine, but if the fans don't run then it will overheat when the car is stationary.