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Correct way to fill completely empty cooling system?

MoparGuy68 said:
I just ran it second time, with the cap ON the entire time. Will let it cool. And check the level again tomorrow. After "cleaning" the threads on the fuel lines running to the Holley 4160 dual feed carburetor, because they looked filthy, I now have a small fuel leak. Primary line and secondary line get damp. With a very slow drip on the primary line. These are flared tube ends that are NOT supposed to require sealant. I have them as tight as I can get them.. The problems just never end with this car.

This sucks running the car in the garage with front facing the street. I am getting some exhaust fumes finding their way into the house. I can't turn it around and pull it in nose first, until I fill and prime the power steering system. It feels like a gas chamber inside the garage (with the garage door fully open). Burns my eyes too. I'm not sure if these old cars are worth the trouble.. So ******* hot in Phoenix right now, I cannot open the house to air it out.. Doing this work in 110+ degree heat is absolutely miserable!
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Can you get a fan behind your car and face it towards your open garage door? Get one of those high velocity floor fans. One of them should help.
 
I have a funnel that connects to the radiator neck and the big boil over goes in there instead of all over the place,as a previous post said drill a 1/8" hole in the t-stat and that will allow the air to escape.
 
As many others have said, every thermostat I install gets a 1/8" hole to bleed out air. Makes life easy.
 
red 69 runner said:
I have a funnel that connects to the radiator neck and the big boil over goes in there instead of all over the place,as a previous post said drill a 1/8" hole in the t-stat and that will allow the air to escape.
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I bought a BIG funnel for that purpose, but the neck of the funnel was too large in diameter to fit in the opening of the radiator.. Though I think the force was great enough that it would have blown the funnel out of the opening, or knocked it out of the hole, or still shot up out of the funnel. It was like a water fountain erupting.

I assume that most of the air, or all off it, escaped from my system during the BIG eruption. I was so pissed off when it happened, a thousand curse words came out of my mouth. I was mad at myself for doing something so stupid. I kept walking over and looking at the coolant in the radiator and each time I looked no visible sign of flowing.. Then I sat down in the driver seat, and that is when the eruption occurred, as I watched in horror through the windshield. Better than if I had been standing in front of the car where I might have gotten scalded by hot coolant. At least the heat of the engine and the intense Phoenix heat, evaporated a lot of it fairly fast. But I still spend an hour cleaning up the mess. Got on my new factory repro plug wires too.
 
slepr1 said:
Forget the rad for now and get the power steering system filled up. Turn the car around and you can breath again.
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I felt what it must have been like to be inside a Nazi "Black Raven" gas van. If the garage door had been closed I'm sure I'd be dead now. Morning news, "Man is gassed to death in his garage by big Super Bee muscle car". I think maybe AOC and her pals might have a point, regarding the toxic fumes these cars spew out..

I used an Edelbrock electric fuel pump to remove ALL the 7+ month old gas from the tank. And yes it was very yellow and looked like Budweiser beer or dehydrated piss, though it still smelled like gas and still had a normal consistency. I wasn't comfortable running the engine on it.. Then used the same pump to put 5 gallons of fresh 91 octane gas into it. I mixed 5 ounces of JB Gas Treatment in the gas before pumping it in the tank, which might have made the exhaust gasses even more deadly.

I also opened the primary site plug, and filled the float bowl with gas using a monojet syringe. So when it came time to start the car it was easy. Only two brief cranks and it was running. Was proud of my work until the eruption occurred that ruined the first engine run in 5 months.
 
MoparGuy68 said:
I completely back flushed my 383 block, and heater core. And forward flushed the 26" radiator (was too inconvenient at the time to black flush it). Afterwards I blew block, heater core and radiator out with compressed air. So the system was dry, totally empty. I installed all hoses, and a new 180 degree thermostat, I did NOT leave the thermostat out.

I then filled the radiator, with 50/50 mix conventional green coolant, so that the level was 1.25" below the bottom of the radiator neck. Next morning after seeing the level had dropped some, I added more to get it at the 1.25" level. At this point I had added only a total of a little over 2 gallons of 50/50 coolant. The manual states the system should take 3.6 gallons.

Reading the following in the service manual..

Service manual says:
(5) Fill Cooling system to 1-1/4" below filler neck, using soft water and anti-freeze, depending on season or if equipped with A/C.
(6) Engine should be operated until temperature gauge indicates normal operating temperature, then continue an additional five minutes to release any air trapped in system.
(7) Check for leaks and coolant level; correct as necessary.

Started the engine for the first time in 5 months, with the radiator cap removed from the radiator.

Engine fired up, kicking up to fast idle speed. I let it run a little bit, then tapped the throttle to drop down to curb idle. Looked in radiator, coolant level had gone down only a little bit. I added a bit more coolant to get it about 1.25 below the filler neck bottom.

Then this is where things went horribly wrong.. As temperature gauge started to reach normal operating temperature (second tick mark from left on temp gauge in rallye dash), coolant started bubbling out of the radiator neck. I panicked, and turn the engine off.. When I did this, coolant started erupting out of the radiator neck like a volcano!! It went ALL over the place!! Drenching the radiator and the entire front of the engine. Got the Borgeson gearbox wet, the power steering pump and pulley. Spilled out onto the garage floor. It made a huge mess! I spent an hour sopping up coolant with paper towels, sponges and a mop.

Instruction in step 6 and 7 above are completely inadequate.. I now have no idea how to fill the system. If I was supposed to have the radiator cap in place, how am I supposed to check the coolant level and correct as necessary? There was still close to 1.5 gallons of coolant that needed to be added at the time of the eruption. At the time it erupted there was only a little over 2 gallons in the whole system.

Could someone please explain how step 6 and 7 should actually be performed in detail, so I don't repeat this disaster again?
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The front end of the car should be raised and not level. Water bubbles go to the highest point in anything with the front end raised and the radiator cap off the air bubbles will go to the radiator neck and vent. which then would allow you to completely fill the system.
An air bubble in the block could actually have the radiator filled completely but be a gallon or more short of full. I backflushed a corroded system and had the vehicle on car ramps letting the engine run. when i got the air bubbles out the motor stopped overheating and ran steady on 180.
 
joemish said:
The front end of the car should be raised and not level. Water bubbles go to the highest point in anything with the front end raised and the radiator cap off the air bubbles will go to the radiator neck and vent. which then would allow you to completely fill the system.
An air bubble in the block could actually have the radiator filled completely but be a gallon or more short of full. I backflushed a corroded system and had the vehicle on car ramps letting the engine run. when i got the air bubbles out the motor stopped overheating and ran steady on 180.
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YES! One of the things you should always do when trying to evacuate air from your cooling system is to the jack up the front end of the car high, so that any air will be prompted to escape. Also, that spill-proof funnel that connects and seals to the radiator neck is a big help; It'll allow the radiator to overflow into the funnel instead of all over your engine bay and floor...
 
Last edited:
hunt2elk said:
How exactly does that work?
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You connect an air hose to the manifold which connects to the filler neck. When the air passes through it creates a venturi effect (vacuum) in the block and radiator. You valve it off and have the attached hose in your antifreeze and when you open that valve the vacuum created in the cooling systems sucks it into the engine.
 
Mike67 said:
You connect an air hose to the manifold which connects to the filler neck. When the air passes through it creates a venturi effect (vacuum) in the block and radiator. You valve it off and have the attached hose in your antifreeze and when you open that valve the vacuum created in the cooling systems sucks it into the engine.
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Raising the front end works great insures no air pockets and keeps $108.99 plus tax and shipping in your wallet.
 
joemish said:
Raising the front end works great insures no air pockets and keeps $108.99 plus tax and shipping in your wallet.
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Keeps me off the floor and what's $100 if it keeps me off the side of the road or burning my motor down???
There are cheaper ones out there and I think you can even rent them from Autozone...
 
If everything is working as it should the air will bleed of thru the overflow tube attached to the rad and if you over fill the system it will push the excess out there also
 
I got the car turned around with the rear end facing the street last weekend. Did this before attempting to fill and bleed the power steering system, which I haven't done yet. Didn't want to go through that process in a gas chamber.

When I ran it last weekend, the water temp gauge indicated it was at normal operating temp, so I guess all the air escaped during the eruption. I'll have to run it with the front end jacked up to bleed the PS system, so at the same time, any remaining air in the cooling system should escape.
 
Just a cheap and tip get some vacuum cleaner hoses or shop vac or even just PVC pipe get it around your rail pipes and just run it out the door! We used to have a vac setup at the school board bus shop we couldn't run a bus inside unless the (I called it the fart pipe) was hooked up .
It might not get 100%out but I bet it will get atleast 98% out . my wife hated my 57 Buick even with the tail end facing out it filled garage with exhaust . I would have to get a running start and cut it off as I was rolling up driveway!

Now my air handler in my garage is bagged up so nothing can seep into it it helps alot
 
Sounds like you need a vent in your garage if possible,dont know how big your work space is but check into a high volume bathroom fan n vent it out the roof or your soffit
 
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