Best way to completely bleed the 944 cooling system

[Techno Duck]

I am pretty sure the coolant level should be at the minimum when the car is cool. I personally have filled both my 944 and my former 924S to the halfway mark cool and never have problems.

I recently changed my headgasket and had rough time getting the air out also. I to bought a 8mm grease fitting and punched out the spring and ball bearing. I bought some clearn vinyl tubing from HomeDepot..but need to get something that stands up better to heat....the vinyl stuff gets real soft with the heat. I think i used 5/16th's diameter. It did work great though. Defenetley cleaner than spewing coolant all over my nice and freshly put together top end.. .

[Eldorado]

sorry for the thread drift guys. lol

EMB, i'm not sure what to use on that... mine looks VERY factory too... passenger side is even dented in a bit.

when i took my door panel off, i found a ton of broken glass inside the panel.. on further investigation, there is no security etching on the glass of the passenger door either, unlike all the other windows...

oh, if my car could tell stories... i'd love to know what happened there.

maybe try using some flat black paint on it.. or maybe even some 'back to black'... not sure if that last one will work or not..

[Razorback1980]

Kevin

The EPA will be stopping the sale of automotive paint to the average citizen pretty soon, but for now, go the an automotive paint store and buy the right stuff. Don't buy the duplicolor stuff normal auto parts sell, it isn't tough enough. Go to a paint dealer and they will sell you the right primer, base coat and clear coat paint to do the job right and put it in spray cans. It's more money but money well spent. It will look better and last much longer. They will also have a single stage paint that will do the job if you prefer only one stage. It isn't quite as shiny but that might be a good thing anyway. If you can spray rustoleum, you can spray the right paint and it will look better and last longer. I buy cans here for about 10 dollars a can and the primer is around 4 dollars. Total cost for single stage 14 dollars...base coat/clear coat will be 24 dollars...excluding sandpaper. If you want a detailed step by step guide, email me and I'll help you through it. It's not hard at all.

As for wiper arms, you probably should just buy new ones..that paint isn't going to last long. They are not very expensive at most auto parts places. Otherwise, you will probably have to powder coat them to get the paint to stay.

Also, there is probably nothing wrong with your car, the expansion tank is there for one reason..expansion which is why it's blowing the excess out. As already noted, it's best to let it stay where it wants to as long as it's above the minimum mark.

[Eldorado]

hey tom, i think "arm" is the wrong word to use.. i'm not sure what he painted, but on mine i painted the part of the rear wiper with the spring on it... the part that's actually attached to the car.

as for the auto paint, i dont think the paint you're talking about (the body paint) would be good for the black areas between the door and rear quarter. I could be wrong, though.. but i wouldn't want it glossy by any means on my car. the original part may have been powdercoated. i'm not sure.

up here, a big spray can of custom paint costs about $20. I have the ability to get free paint, though.. a guy that helps run one of the area's biggest and oldest body shops is dating my older sister... he helps me out with anything i need.. it did wonders for my rockers when i fixed the rust hole and painted earlier this summer.. and it was a spot on match for my battery tray.

[EMBPilot]

i figured the arms were no big deal to test on, as they can be removed, and if i screwed them up or the paint didnt last i can easiy remove them off the car and get them done properly. ( i know a body shop guy but it wont be free). but for now, they look great! much better than before. but like i siad i wont hold my breath

thanks for all the good advice Razor,
the strips on the door are still somewhat shiney but it has some chips on the edges that bug me, i may just leave it but thats a good idea to visit a paint store and give that a shot too.

[todwic]

Pishaw. Rastle the overflow tube out and blow into it. You don't even have to start the car.

[EMBPilot]

Yum!

[dan476]

is this is a bleeding screw for coolant system, if not could you guys direct me to it.

[Rick V]

I have a little trick when replacing the thermostat. I push it open and insert 2 non buffered asperin into it. Fill with colant. The asprin will desolve quickly with the heat from the coolant, but not before the waterpump can push the air right past the thermostat. Bled out quickly and it does away with alot of headaches. (intentional pun)

[dan476]

i am done with thermostat, and system is hooked up, i already poured a lod of collant into the system and just need to bleed the system, but i am not sure where the bleeding screw is.

[Rick V]

The bleeder is what you circled in your diagram. Remember, righty-tighty-lefty-loosey.

[dan476]

Cool, thanks Rick

[HondaDustR]

I found that dismounting the expansion tank and just holding it higher than the bleed screw helps a lot if you don't have a pressure tester.
Also, I've rigged a pressure tester with a bicycle pump and a pressure guage, connected to the overflow fitting on the upper left corner of the exp. tank. Just remove the hose that's already there and plug it with something. Costs nothing if you've got the stuff laying around already.

I like the grease fitting idea. I hate the coolant mess, especially if there is lots of air to bleed.

[tnporsche]

I elevated the front, filled the rad with the plug out untill it ran out the hole. Left it like that overnight, and then topped off the next day. No problems,. Did I just get lucky?

[Taz's Master]

Just remember, that bleeder is fragile, don't crank down too hard.

[Slam]

I'm with todwic on this one, but I just remove the rad cap and give the car mouth-to-mouth. No, I haven't burned myself. At least not there...

For touching up flat black paint I use ColorXtra. For some reason it seems to last well. I did my centre caps last summer and they still look as good as the day I shot them. I didn't expect the paint to last so I didn't even bother to prep them!

[vintageant]

mlue - what's an HG problem?

[944 Ecology]

Originally Posted by vintageant

mlue - what's an HG problem?

HG = Head Gasket

[Monkey Wrench]

I haven't seen them lately but at one time if you bought a bottle of antifreeze there would be one of those adapters, You cut the heater hose near a high point and add it, after that you can hook your garden hose up to the heater core hose and it comes with a cap. Its there in the car forever more. part of the reason is to backflush but it also might help to fill the heater core.

you can let it run a while with the engine running and the rad cap off, that backflushes it well, fills the heater core up, then unhook the hose, drain some of it out from the lower rad hose and refill with fresh coolant.

[mistertate]

Originally Posted by Slam

I'm with todwic on this one, but I just remove the rad cap and give the car mouth-to-mouth. No, I haven't burned myself. At least not there...

I’ve done that, with it cold because someone had borrowed the tool. Works great. You can get it most of the way cold.