Cooling system question

[Alli-max]

Well, my water pump went out. Took it to a sorry Stealer in North Texas and the kinda fixed it.

$600 and 3 days later I left. Now the problem....

What do you guys think? I still get the LOW COOLANT light on about ever 2 days. If I let the pressure off the cap, then the level goes BACK to normal, and all is well. What can be causing this? Everrytime I let the pressure off, I loose a bit of fluid. I end up having to add a quart or so every 10-14 days. What a hassle! What causes this, and how canI fix this myself?

[DmaxMaverick]

Sounds like the system was not bled properly and you have some trapped air in it. It will eventually bleed itself, but in the winter, it could take a loooong time. It will not hurt anything to leave it alone. But it can get anoying with that light coming on all the time, and adding coolant. This is a very large capacity system and we are not talking about very much air, but enough to indicate a possible problem under OTHER circumstances. The computer doesn't know that a service job has caused the low coolant.

This is what I do.
Start with a cold engine, or at least well below operating temp. Once the thermostats open, the process can take twice as long. Place a hose (clear is best, to watch bubbles) onto the bleeder (on thermostat housing) and run it into the coolant tank (cap off). Make sure the hose end in the tank stays submerged in coolant. Keep the rpm's about 1800 (high idle helps here). It should blow air/coolant out and into the tank. Make sure the tank doesn't dry up, as any air you let in will have to come back out after it cycles through the engine. If you've ever bled a brake master cylinder, this should sound familiar. The effects are the same. Keep this up until you are satisfied that the majority of the air is out. Once the thermo's open, much of the air will bypass the bleeder, and go into the radiator, but it should be bled enough by then.

Once most of the air is out, the rest will eventually bleed itself out through the tank.

Dexcool ain't cheap. Go to your local service dept, with your receipt for the service and ask for some. Most will comment on what a poor job the previous guys did, not bleeding your system properly. Egg 'em on. They love it when you put them above any other shop. Flattery will get you everywhere.

Hope this helps. Cheers.

[Alli-max]

thanks DMM... will try this weekend.