Proper way to burp coolant system ?

[oxnsox]

Finally, if your fan running messes up your charging system that's another issue entirely.... there's many more know more than me on that subject...

If you are sitting stuck in traffic at idle and the fan comes on, you won't be getting much out of the charging system so you will see a Voltage drop because the battery is supplying the power rather than the alternator. Volts should get back to normal when the engine is spooled up and the charging system starts working.

[ridin gaijin]

If it's internal blocking, backflush it, if it's external blocking [do all this other stuff...]

Erm. Yes. I'll be getting to all that as best I can. A constraint here is that everything I'm doing to the big lug is happening in a leased parking space in my apartment building's garage, without access to water or electricity. Most of my tools went after the divorce and subsequent moves, too. This is a pretty bare bones operation--a couple steps up from the side of the road, but not more than a couple.

For dealing with the radiator, my present plan is to:

drain the system as best I can
refill with 1 part water 1 part white vinegar (both distilled)
reinstall the battery and tank
hope the new battery will run the f*cked charging system for a few minutes to circulate the hopefully cleansing solution
remove tank, battery, etc. and drain once more
refill with Engine Ice (I think 2.8 liters is the capacity) slowly, as advised herein
replace the battery and tank etc. to the point where the thing can be started again
top off in the overflow tank & hope for the best. Ta-da!

I know the charging issues don't directly stem from the cooling situation. However, it can only help the system to minimize the amount of time the fan is on while I'm stuck in traffic--that's my theory. I don't see this as a fix to the charging woes; just an environmental kind of "what the hell, I have the friggin' tank off anyway" sort of thing. :-)

[Bixxer Bob]

Sorry RG, it's easy to forget we're not all lucky enough to have the stuff most of us take for granted.

If you've got the tank off and you suspect the rad is blocked, in or outside, you're probably going to need to remove it then you can clean it thoroughly in the shower / bathtub / whatever (you said you were divorced so I'm guessing you don't have the disadvantage of "you're not bringing that in here..." conversations.

As I think Evil  Betty said,  backflushing (running water the wrong way through the rad) is best.  You could use the bottom rad hose and a tap (fawcet I think you call them).

Good luck!

[chilly]

Not really a solution to any problems mentioned here, but something to watch out for... I almost f'd it up.

If you screw around with the overflow tank... cleaning whatever... make sure when you re-assemble, the little hose inside the tank is connected to the top fitting when everything is said and done.  Otherwise, you'll bleed off overflow, but suck back in air on the reverse cycle.

Not sure how big of a deal it would be but I almost did it by mistake.

[iansoady]

Not sure how big of a deal it would be but I almost did it by mistake.

It's a big deal. You end up losing most of the coolant from the engine but you don't know (other than from the temperature gauge) as the level in the overflow looks OK.

[2004Tiger]

[quote="ridin gaijin]...drain the system as best I can
refill with 1 part water 1 part white vinegar (both distilled)
reinstall the battery and tank
hope the new battery will run the f*cked charging system for a few minutes to circulate the hopefully cleansing solution
remove tank, battery, etc. and drain once more
refill with Engine Ice... [/quote]

Caution: You won't be able to drain 100% of the vinegar solution. Best to flush with water next. (I'm assuming that vinegar remaining in the block is a no-no.) After the water flush water will remain in the block also. If you fill with 50/50 mixture the end solution will be less than 50/50. Theoretically you should fill with 2.8/2 = 1.4 liters of 100% antifreeze and the remaining volume fill with distilled water. I have not ever been able to fill with the published capacity. Others have reported that removing the bottom hose connection will drain the maximum volume, but still not the published volume. A forum search will yield a few very informative threads on the topic.