I was trying to burp my 2JZ-GE, and then these explosion-like big bubbles started coming up and overflowing, so I turned the car off. Is there any reason this is happening, or is this normal? I wanted to flush the system first since it was pretty dirty, so I used mostly distilled water with a little bit of antifreeze before doing a full antifreeze fill (so I wouldn’t waste it when draining everything). Most of it was distilled water could that be the reason?
Thanks for posting on /r/MechanicAdvice! This is just a reminder to review the rules. Rremember to please post the year/make/model of the vehicle you are working on. If this post is about bodywork, accident damage, paint, dent/ding, questions it belongs in /r/Autobody r/AutoBodyRepair/ or /r/Diyautobody/ If you have tire questions check out https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/comments/k9ll55/can_your_tire_be_repaired/. If you dont have a question and you're just showing off it belongs in /r/Justrolledintotheshop Insurance/total loss questions go in r/insurance This is an automated reply
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
That’s not an air pocket. That’s way overheated coolant. It’s boiling pretty violently so I’m guessing your temps got somewhere near 230 (if that’s coolant). If it’s water then the boiling point is a lot lower. You can’t get a car up to operating temp unpressurized with just water. It will boil like that. Let it cool off, drain it, add 50/50 mix and start over. Make sure you continue filling and squeezing the hoses until no more bubbles appear before you start the car. Then turn the blower motor on speed 1 and the heat all the way hot, a/c button off. Let it idle 5 minutes, then hold the rpm at 1500-1800 for 5 minutes. Once heat is hot out of all vents and fans come on, you should be set. You might see some bubbling and/or drop in coolant level when the thermostat opens, that’s normal just make sure sure the coolant level doesn’t go low when it opens
^ a lot of people don't know this, but you have to get the ratio of EG to water correct, or you will still overheat. you can't have too much EG in there. So if you accidentally bought the concentrated coolant, you DO need to follow the directions to thin it out.
Yeah and I actually forgot to mention mixture. He’s only going to get 60%-70% of it out by draining the radiator. And if it’s all water the remaining amount will dilute the new 50/50. So he might need to get concentrate and manually thin to 60/40-70/30 to balance it
yes. exactly (being too low on the EG in winter could be bad. so just try to guesstimate)
A coolant test bulb is like $5. Factor that into the savings of DIY and just buy one.
Can confirm, I tried putting just concentrate in my old clunker. It didn't flow through the radiator enough. Temp would go above the middle of gauge after 15 minutes of driving unless I had the cab heater on at least half hot half cold everywhere I went. Radiator stayed stone cold.
Flushed and put 50/50 in, and now radiator stays too hot to touch, and not a single oddity from temp gauge since.
Edit: Transmission was shifting oddly too, later I find the transmission is cooled by the radiator, I suspect it was too cold for it. Now it shifts normal again.
[removed]
It’s a half-truth. A diluted ethylene glycol (EG) coolant transfers heat better than pure EG, but the difference only becomes apparent when the cooling system is operating near its limits. In most real-world applications, ex doing 65 on the freeway on a 70 degree day, the cooling system has ample capacity relative to the heat the engine produces, so running 100% EG versus a proper mix would not result in a noticeable temperature difference.
Where it does matter is in high-load situations e.g racing, where the engine is producing large amounts of heat continuously and that heat must be rejected through a small, lightweight radiator. Under those conditions, sustained operation with poor heat-transfer properties can lead to higher operating temperatures, and the advantage of a water-rich mixture becomes evident.
All I know is that i personally experienced overheating, checked my bottle, said "oops", and then watered it down and never had another problem
look up the thermal properties. EG is like 30% worse for cooling.
I know a few things because I was in the middle of designing better cooling water. It's a long story, involving hybrid microwave synthesis of nanoparticles in my basement...
Better drop those potatoes in! They'll be done in no time.
The little known Toyota Stewpra
<golf clap> Nicely done. </gc>
😂
That's definitely not normal. I do this process often and just fill with the engine off while cold, then start the engine and add coolant as needed as it warms up, occasionally reving the engine up to move coolant through the system. It should never get to the point that it looks like that, that looks like it got way too hot.
agreed - thats violent boiling.
Looks like your engine is at operating temperature. Coolant boils at operating temperature if it’s not pressurized, kinda like how a pressure cooker works. For it not to boil in your radiator, it has to be sealed and under pressure.
50/50 without pressure boils at 226*.
That’s not normal operating temp for this car.
Good to know, that maybe explains my car that's got a bad reservoir cap thus no pressure, and doesn't seem to boil. It has a 190 thermostat.
Been like that for 9 years. Am afraid to restore pressure to it, anticipates it blows out hoses, radiator, water pump, heater core, and then heads if I restore pressure.
You’re overthinking it way too much.
depends on altitude. in my flatlands 400 feet above sealevel most of my vehicles have 0psi caps lol. thermostat should be opening up around 195* and able to maintain that.
It absolutely does not depend on altitude and you are absolutely losing coolant if you have a truly open system (which is what a 0psi cap implies)
Hmm my 30+ years of doing this and prolly combined 400k miles across 5 vehicles says otherwise. Just drill a little 1/4" hole in the inner part of the cap and walla 0psi cap lol. Much easier on aged cooling systems.
Water boils at a lower temp the higher up you go so at like 6000 feet it boils at 200 ish degrees. At sea level its 212. Most cars have a 195 thermostat and 50/50 mix of coolant raises boiling points anyways.
And no I don't loose coolant.
Seen this plenty of times. If it’s just water and the system isn’t under pressure, it’ll do that. No harm done, cap was just left off too long
Did you put the headgasket on right for the coolant to flow?
yea i made sure i did
You’re supposed to fill it up cold, squeeze the hoses so it goes into the block, then top it off again cold. Start the car, leave the cap off and when you see it start to bubble up, hit the throttle. You’ll see the coolant shoot down, fill it up quick and put the cap on.
Sounds like this dude drives a Kia
I mean that’s just how I bleed all my cars. Some of them have a screw on the water pump to bleed also
I squeeze my hose and burp at operating temps and have never had mine start boiling with the cap off and the funnel attached but tbh it’s like 20f where I’m at usually so results may vary in warmer climates
How you gonna squeeze a hose that’s supposed to be moving damn near 200 degrees fluid . You should never do that especially while hot and pressurized, if you pull the hose off or break it by accident, coolant is spraying all over you. You should burp it by hand when the engine is cold .
gloves? ive burped many cold and hot via squeezin....theres no pressure since the radiator cap is off.
yes absolutely never remove a radiator cap from a hot engine - that will spray and burn the fuck outa you.
Hell I did it literally yesterday without gloves. Buddy thinks just because he hasn’t done it personally himself it’s entirely outside the realm of plausibility.
Uh... do none of your cars have a reservoir?
The burping process is entirely dependent on the vehicle. Some even self bleed and you just have to top up the reservoir after the first couple drives.
bro is making a forbidden potion
can i boil some eggs in there🥚🥚🥚
yup just make sure to give me some 🤣
Not a mechanic but I was doing this exact thing this week in a jeep and had a very similar situation happen. Given you flushed it you may have air really deep in the system that is getting really hot. Then you open the thermostat and the gushes out. I did this for a few hours and all was fine in my jeep. That’s my theory anyways.
Didn’t have audio on and I was like brother with the car on?!?
Then you see the cams aren’t even moving.. lmao,
Did the thermostat open? How old is the thermostat?
Maybe put the cap on idk.
Did u by any chance block off the heater core outlets on the engine?....
u/harrysach9 That’s not normal and second your head gasket probably with that overheat got cooked and you will probably have to replace too that. So check after that overheat if is not mixing oil with coolant.
Never seen such a thing. But now I have a Nissan Leaf...
I see so many posts of people who just thought to flush their rad and this happens.
Whenever I've used a flush a second flush of just water has never been enough. The only way to get rid of all the froth and bubbles has been putting a hose through it. Maybe flush contamination causing it or debri come loose causing blockages.
Remember also, without the cap on the boiling point is lower and therefore limits how long you can leave engine running without it.
Consider a vacuum fill adapter if your going to overthink things which allows full fill from cold.
My advice, push the car outside, flush it through with a hose and then try again.
what car is this ?
I had this happen when the thermostat caused an air gap due to it not having a hole oriented at the top when installed
Edit: sorry didn’t realize car wasn’t running. Info still may be useful below:
If you just changed the head gasket and this is happening when the engine is cold, then combustion gasses are escaping in to coolant passages.
Is there any crap in the coolant? I just went through this and fresh green coolant looked like this:
https://preview.redd.it/hq4ny4ojky7g1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bef4fd617c774c03dfa12c0c2d3bd80907647af1
Demonic liquid
That’s no “burp”! HG !
i just changed the head gasket and i this is right after i put everything back together. 😔
Did you check the head and block for flatness and cracks???
Did you properly torque the head back down in multiple stages in the correct pattern?
This 👇🏻
Car is over heating like a mofo and you just keep running it lmfao gold
If you had a brain and eyes you can see the car isnt running 👍
Rip 2jz
What really have you done to it to make it boil like that? Even to just steam it would be idling for some time.
Those most likely aren't air pockets. Never seen coolant bleed so violent and with that amount of "air" coming out.
I changed the waterpump ,thermostat, radiator, and the headgasket as well thats why im confused on why it would be violently boiling like that.
when its pressurized, do the fans kick on and off like normal? is the heat blowing hot?
I’m actually not sure how it acts pressurized as of right now. I did a head gasket change, and on the first startup I was just trying to bleed the radiator. Before this, the fans turned on and off normally while pressurized, and they still did turn on also while I was bleeding the coolant.
drain it all, get your mix right, check the screen inside the pan. park on a hill. burp it. then let us know how it's doing. i dont think you burped it, i think the air pocket almost killed your car
Ill give it a try tmr thanks