Any tricks for refilling coolant on 4.8?

[Scottyc]

Hi guys,

I've had to remove my LPG regulator to get it repaired and lost a fair bit of coolant in the process. I've joined the two hoses from the regulator together (they are spliced into the heater hoses) and I need to replace the coolant.

I don't have the manual but from the information I could find, it said to open the air bleed at the front end of the inlet manifold as well as the radiator cap and to then run the engine up to temp, adding coolant. As soon as I started the engine, coolant started pumping out of the radiator. I stopped, replaced the cap and air bleed and started again. The water level just wont go down enough to put any coolant in. I didn't want to run for too long so as not to damage the engine.

What am I doing wrong?

Scott

[Clunk]

Hi guys,

I've had to remove my LPG regulator to get it repaired and lost a fair bit of coolant in the process. I've joined the two hoses from the regulator together (they are spliced into the heater hoses) and I need to replace the coolant.

I don't have the manual but from the information I could find, it said to open the air bleed at the front end of the inlet manifold as well as the radiator cap and to then run the engine up to temp, adding coolant. As soon as I started the engine, coolant started pumping out of the radiator. I stopped, replaced the cap and air bleed and started again. The water level just wont go down enough to put any coolant in. I didn't want to run for too long so as not to damage the engine.

What am I doing wrong?

Scott

Have you tried keeping you reservoir bottle open and also turn your heater on to the hottest setting while your engine is running?

Is there such a thing as RTI..... Repetitive Tapping Injury?????

[MarkGQ]

Scotty the biggest tip I could give is to make sure you have the exact same brand coolant in it, mate of mine mixed two different brands and the reaction between the two turned it to a jelly like substance and of course new head, new radiator, couple of hoses and so on. hope that helps.
Cheers Mark.

[Scottyc]

Tah guys, I didn't have the heater on but I did have the reservoir bottle open. Will give it another go with the heater on.
Mark, I have no idea what the coolant in the car is as it was in there when I got it. I just bought a bottle of cheap pre-mixed stuff to top it up as I'll need to do it all over again when the mixer goes back in next weekend - I'll replace it all then with some decent stuff. Do you know if your mate mixed Glycol types or was it ethylene glycol (Green) with the organic (Red) type? I have a VE commodore which uses the red stuff and there's warnings all over the bottles when you buy it not to mix types - ie flush system and replace all coolant if you mix types or are unsure what was in there.. Convenient because it's also really expensive - as with everything on the Commodore, it uses 20% more than you can buy in a single container.

[MarkGQ]

All I know Scotty is they were both green mate just different brands, as his got low he would just go buy any green one to top it up so what brands they may have been I really dont know sorry.
Cheers Mark.

[Clunk]

Now I could be wrong but if you're going to replace the coolant next week, you maybe better off emptying what you have in there and just replacing it with water......

Don't stroke it, TAP it!!!!.....

[93patrol]

I reckon if you don't know what coolant you have in your radiator best bet is to top it up with either water from the tap if cant get distilled water from the shops. Otherwise just distilled water


Just tap it in just tappy tappy tappy

[Scottyc]

Now I could be wrong but if you're going to replace the coolant next week, you maybe better off emptying what you have in there and just replacing it with water......

Yeah, I think I'll leave it and do the lot when the regulator goes back in on the weekend. I hadn't actually managed to get anything into it yet - I filled the overflow tank to max but couldn't get anything in through the radiator cap as the level never went down. I'll empty it and start over. I've always used the Tectaloy concentrate with demineralised water and had no issues with any of my previous Patrols.

[Scottyc]

Um, so I got my regulator back so started putting the car back together. Got 15L of Nulon coolant etc. I mentioned earlier that I joined the hoses together - I actually took the outlet hose out and looped the longer inlet hose back onto the outlet fitting but now I'll be damned if I can work out which hose is which. Does anyone know if the upper or lower hose at the firewall is the heater inlet on a GU 4.8? I'd assume the lower but not 100% sure and I can't seem to find this information anywhere....

[Clunk]

Have you downloaded the manual yet? May find what your after in there....... Unless one of the other 4.8 owners know

Don't stroke it, TAP it!!!!.....

[Scottyc]

Have you downloaded the manual yet? May find what your after in there....... Unless one of the other 4.8 owners know

Thanks mate,

I've got a couple of manuals but none really show the heater hoses - the flow diagram for the cooling system shows that the inlet for the heater comes from the thermostat housing and the outlet goes to the head so I'll just work off that.

Cheers!

Scott