AW11- air in cooling system

[Casino Kid]

Hey, so basicly wats going on with this, the other day after bout a 10min drive I stopd and turnd the car of and i could hear this strange sound coming from the bay so i had a look and noticed the coolant in the radiator over flow bottle was bubbling like crazy so i pulled the pipe out and there was heaps of air coming out of it, wat the?

-Firstly the temp was just under half way where it allways sits so it hasnt gotin hot

-theres no water in the oil, it dosnt use any water and it blows no smoke

- ive taken the car on 3 long drives since and it has been faultless except I just went on a 5min trip to the shops and it was worst than ever, so it comes and goes.

-is it geting hot and my temp gage is faulty?

any ideas, should i be worryd

Ive never seen any thing like it before

[KARNAGE]

you need to bleed the system. you can do this by running the with the radiator cap off for about 5 mins. you will see the bubbles coming up and the coolent level will drop. when it drops keep filling until all the bubbles stop. then take it for a drive and check level once cool. i just did that to mine the other day and it fixed it fine.

[4agte]

actually you will need to jack the rear of the car up or just reverse it onto ramps or steep driveway so that the rear is higher than the front. then run it with the rad cap off for a bit with the heater set to hot

you will need some clear nylon hose from you local hardware store to attach to the heater core bleeder valve. Run the nylon tube from the bleeder and hang it ontop of the open frunk hood so that its higher than the rear filling point. Then open the bleeder you should hear air escaping and the water level should rise to the height of the rad cap

then open the bleeder valve ontop of the radiator should be on the passenger side again you should hear air escaping if there is air in the system. Close it once water starts comming out.

then run again for 5 mins and repeat to make sure you got it all

[Casino Kid]

Cool thanks for your help guys, any idea how it would of gotin air in the system or is it just a problem aw11's hav

[feral4mr2]

you need a new radiator cap. and bleed your system properly before you put the new cap on and go for a drive.

http://gb.detonated.org/mr2coolant/
(cheers for gearbox for hosting this still).


*edit* a CPC 560-90 will do fine from any good autoparts store.

[DeftAnesthetik]

Cool thanks for your help guys, any idea how it would of gotin air in the system or is it just a problem aw11's hav

this is very common in the aw11, almost anytime you open up the cooling system you give a chance for air to enter giving false readings to the temp sensor thus friggin up the ignition timing.

it should take you 15-20 mins if done properly. and ya, get the ass end up in the air, it definately makes it easier.

[Ben Wilson]

I had the same problem with mine, it turned out the water pump was weeping coolant. Here's the tricky bit - it only did it while I was driving so there was never a puddle under the car.

[feral4mr2]

when the radiator cap gets old it will allow coolant to force out into the overflow bottle when you are out driving along. then when you've slowed or parked up it'll suck in some coolant from the overflow til it's empty and then some air. it will give the fault casin kid mentions. same as ben with the water pump.
some tell tale signs is a very light white coating (dried coolant) on the driveshaft, rear fire wall and muffler.

this is very common in the aw11, almost anytime you open up the cooling system

the only time air gets in the system is when you've drained the system and refilling or there is a fault. and that aint that common. it's a very relieble system that once filled and bled correctly will give you years of motoring 'non' drama.

[adamaw11]

Strangely mine has been having these air-bubble problems lately, I thought it was just caused by me stuffing round with my electric water pump setup, but maybe its just this time of year.