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All,
While struggling to get air pockets out of my 2004 G35 cooling system, I came up with this idea: Use gravity to help purge air out of the system by way of a second reservoir.
Parts used:
Z1 Aluminum Coolant Bleeder (MUST HAVE PART!!!)
Vibrant #11410 M10x1.0 to 5/16" barb adapter (+ o-ring to fit on it since it comes with a crush washer)
Dorman# 603-001 Universal coolant reservoir
5/16" oil cooler or heater hose (all I had was transmission oil cooler hose)
I replaced the passenger side heater hose a while ago, and have been having issues with the heater working consistently and the cooling system wasn't building pressure very well; my rad hoses were still easily pushed on at operating temperature, aka air was trapped in the system.
My car was already (mostly, lol) filled\ with coolant BEFORE hooking up this reservoir. Using a coolant filling funnel mounted on the radiator (Lisle # 24680) makes filling the system so much easier, but needless, I still couldn't get all the air out.
I used some tape and block of wood to hold the reservoir steady on top of the firewall/next to the battery cover. As soon as I installed this setup & filled the reservoir with coolant, a fair amount of air bubbled up immediately, and squeezing the rad hoses got even more out. After idling the car for 10 minutes or so, I was able to get just a little more out (few small bubbles). I did all this with the radiator cap installed, if you remove it, coolant will just rush out of it everywhere!
You need to remove the o-ring from the Z1 brass plug (or source another one) and install it on the Vibrant adapter when you mount it on the car. Only fill the reservoir half-way, so that when you remove it there is less coolant to spill. I was able to tilt the bottle over (so coolant was away from the bottles fitting) and remove the hose from the reservoir with minimal spillage, THEN unthread the hose + fitting from the Z1 bleed port separately. Reinstall the bleeder (+ o-ring) and I was good to go!
Been 2 weeks since I did this, and suffice it to say I think it worked quite well! I run a scangauge to monitor coolant temps, and my car runs a few degrees cooler now, plus the heater works much better. Cooling system builds and holds pressure too, hoses are nice and firm at operating temp.
I made a short YouTube vid with it installed on the car (I couldn't get it to embed)
This is one job I let the dealer do. I have a friend with a 350Z and he does it himself every 2-3 years and he's at it for days and days and days trying to get the air out..
Sure it's $149 but 2-3 jugs of coolant run $50 here and they always get it right.
Come to think of it, the dealer does all my fluid changes lol. Prices are not too steep and they stretch the intervals (except oil) when they see I put less than 1500 miles on the car/year lol..
$149?? A pretty good quality pneumatic filler only costs $60 $85(was on sale when i bought it).
I bought nissan brand full strength coolant for $40(also from amazon)
Requires 'shop air'? This seems like it's made for use by professional shops or DIY with air compressors.
i am not a professional shop or a rich contractor.Im 20 with some basic automotive tools. It doesn't require a 25 gallon huge compressor. It used a very small amount of air so- i would think a smaller 3 gallon compressor would do just fine.
is this basically like using a lisle funnel just connected at the bleeder port instead of the radiator? i just replaced my radiator this weekend and the lisle funnel makes bleeding the air pretty easy.
is this basically like using a lisle funnel just connected at the bleeder port instead of the radiator? i just replaced my radiator this weekend and the lisle funnel makes bleeding the air pretty easy.
Pretty much. Even after using a lisle funnel I STILL had air trapped in the system, thus I came up with this idea.
also, thanks for showing that bleeder on the bypass hose too
I installed that second bleeder in the bypass to try to make filling easier. It didn't seem to help much that I could tell. That Z1 bypass hose was just a little short, and it would have rubbed on the VTC cover if I hadn't added that in.
