Proper way of bleeding the cooling system w/o overheating

[tadaima]

Hey everyone. My 2000 Toyota Camry 5sfe seems to not like to have its coolant drained and refilled. At 15K and today 30K I did this and ran across overheating.

My steps were to drain out the coolant, fill as much as possible parked in a semi inclined slope with the front up.

I let the car idle with the heating on and the fan at max for like 10-15min. The car eventually gets to about 8/10 up on the temp gauge which really worries me. No heat coming from the heater. On the 15K drain/refill I happen to drive the car slowly and while pushing the recirculation air button it seemed to have done it. So this time i just kept the air at recirc.

Well eventually I just turned the car off, figuring the car wouldnt do any good being that hot at idle. Finally I hear coolant sucking in after about 1min or so. Then did the car finally bleed.

Is there a better way? Do I need to be in a higher incline, my friend once told me who worked at toyota that they normally jack up the front of the car.

ALSO my ENGINE LIGHT came on, hopefully not from the heat, but me removing the temp sensor near the engine. I noticed that the car's FAN did not turn on eventhough it was so hot, so I decided to pull some of the sensor plugs to see if they were dirty or loose.

I took the neg terminal off the battery and hope that will reset the Engine light.

Any help or opinions would be thankful.

 

[tadaima]

Oh yea no bleeding valve on this baby. I've done corollas and civics without problems. The only other car I've heard much problems bleeding are the newer corollas/celicas

 

[Drew]

I never use my bleeding valve on any of my cars. I just leave the radiator cap off of the vehicle and idle the vehicle and add fluid as needed. I'll also rev the engine a little to increase pump flow and displace some of the air in the system. I also make sure the heat is turned on to displace air from the heater core.
The temp goes up a little but it drops once the car is burped.

 

[tadaima]

Drew: Yea I've done cars that don't need much burping but my Camry and a friend's celica..sure take a long time, and they dont seem to burp well at all. How long does it take? Also, the temp is at 8/10 of the way, I do expect the temp to go up a little, but when is it too much to the point I should shut the car down?

Thanks

 

[cousincletus]

Raising the front end is a good idea. On my Cavalier, I raise the front passenger side because you fill it through the tank on that side, not the radiator itself. I have a bleed valve but I didn't have to use it.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by tadaima:
Drew: Yea I've done cars that don't need much burping but my Camry and a friend's celica..sure take a long time, and they dont seem to burp well at all. How long does it take? Also, the temp is at 8/10 of the way, I do expect the temp to go up a little, but when is it too much to the point I should shut the car down?

Thanks

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If you are low on coolant and running the engine hot, you are risking engine damage.

Heater should be full on and it usually helps to rase the front of the car if you don't have proper bleed valves.

Try a little light air pressure at the radiator fill cap with either a bleed valve or a hose loose in the high part of the cooling system.

 

[tadaima]

I guess next time I will try jacking the car up really high, but there is no bleed valve and I do leave the cap open to let in air pressure to push it through. I also do have the Air on HOT and full speed when trying to bleed the system.

 

[00 scrub]

Couldn't you just unbolt the coolant resivoir and hang it from the open hood? I guess the lines to the resivoir aren't long enough. BTW did you happen to drain the block as well?

 

[Silk]

Something we do every day,and the best thing I've ever bought was a cooling system funnel from Matco,this raises the level of coolant to help purge air,and you can see whats happening without coolant spilling on the floor.Even with our money being worth nothing in US$ it was cheap for something that gets used several times a day.Be careful with running without a cap,some cars need the cap on before the fan comes on,they will boil before then.

Best way to purge air is to pull a heater hose,this is usually a high point and air gets trapped in the heater.

 

[tadaima]

Hmm sounds like that's a winner, I guess I do have to keep the cap on, cause it did start boiling over. Also I will try to raise the reserve tank next time. No I didn't drain the block, so I guess it's good there stuff in there and not dry coolant lines. Well maybe I wont be as lazy next time and try jacking the car up really high. Now I just got to buy one, I guess i can use the scissor jack.

 

[Ken4]

Changing the coolant on my 5sfe is very easy. I also do not drain the block. I just drain the radiator (twice), and the reservoir. I dont even raise the front end. I just drive normally and the whatever trapped air (not much) eventually works its way out the reservoir by the time I drive home. Never noticed any overheating either.

 

[tadaima]

Ken: No way... yea I know you have a 5sfe too. Well the first time i did this, I tried to drive the car an it started to overheat. I can only put in about 1/2 gallon, and it wont fit any more...I guess this is where getting that neat radiator funnel will work.

 

[Drew99GT]

After you've filled the radiator back up, leave the radiator cap off, then start the car with the heater on full and idle it until the thermostat opens (either lower or upper hose stays cold, then immediately becomes scolding hot). You'll probably have to start adding collent at that point. It may boil over a bit, but oh well. Idle for a few more minuts, then shut it down, still with the cap off, and walk away untill it's totally cooled off, then top off and install the cap.