Help, coolant disaster

[David Vandercook]

About a week ago I noticed my coolant was boiling, so I decided to burp the system. I bought the funnel and hooked it up and started the engine, and things seemed to go fine, the air was coming out. Then it started boiling over and I shut the truck off and then the coolant erupted in a huge mess. What happened?! Why is it boiling and why did it all shoot out?

 

[HarryS]

How's the water pump?

 

[BenchTest]

What's your mix rate on the coolant? Thermostat functional?

 

[David Vandercook]

I recently replaced the thermostat, not sure how the water pump is. Is there a way to test it?

 

[David Vandercook]

I've got the coolant at 50/50

 

[BenchTest]

I've got the coolant at 50/50

Are you able to discern that the thermostat is in fact opening up? If you start with a cold engine, you should be able to feel the thermostat open (hose goes from room temp to hot). Once that takes place, you'll know if your water pump is operational as it will be moving hot coolant, quickly, and your other hoses will heat up rapidly.

 

[David Vandercook]

That does all seem to be happening. After running for about I and a half minutes I can hear the pump kick in and I also saw bubbles and coolant rising in the burp funnel.

 

[BenchTest]

That does all seem to be happening. After running for about I and a half minutes I can hear the pump kick in and I also saw bubbles and coolant rising in the burp funnel.

"Hear the pump kick in" - I'm confused by that. The water pump is moving when the engine is running. It's mechanically driven. There shouldn't be any "kicking in". So you're getting hot coolant on the upper and lower radiator hose? And you're bubbling inside the radiator? What temp are you at on the gauge when you start to see/hear bubbles? If you're getting bubbles at a low temp, you've got something else going on (blown head gasket possibly).

 

[David Vandercook]

Low to medium temperature. What I mean by hearing it kick in is the engine slows a tiny bit right when the pump starts doing things. I'm a little scared about the head gasket, but there's no coolant in the oil and the exhaust is not white. Is that still a possibility though?

 

[David Vandercook]

By the time I see the bubbles its almost to the middle of the temperature gauge

 

[Daw14]

May want to try the kit where you take some coolant into it and it checks for exhaust gases. I believe it’s called an exhaust gas coolant tester , or combustion leak tester.

 

[alpinegreenneon]

I never liked the funnel method for filling the cooling system. I have had the overflow boiling like you did and would still trap air. It was a bother checking the level for days later. Look into the vacuum fill tools like the UView Airlift. There are you tube videos. Once you use it and realize it's fool proof, no guessing, and most important, NO AIR. Air in the system leads to hot spots especially in the heads and you get the boiling.

 

[rzr6-4]

What I mean by hearing it kick in is the engine slows a tiny bit right when the pump starts doing things.

The pump is always turning with the motor. The higher the RPMs, the faster the pump goes, all the time. The only thing is whether or not the thermostat is preventing the fluid from flowing. You can touch the upper rad hose to see if it gets warm (fluid is flowing).

After putting the new thermostat in, did it ever cool properly or did you immediately start having issues? I haven't experienced it personally but many here report having issues with brand new thermostats not opening.

 

[David Vandercook]

The upper rad hose was very hot. You could also hear boiling in there.

 

[crash68]

The upper rad hose was very hot. You could also hear boiling in there.

It could be trapped air in the system. Drain the coolant and use the above mentioned vacuum fill systems available to eliminate air in the system.

 

[David Vandercook]

May want to try the kit where you take some coolant into it and it checks for exhaust gases. I believe it’s called an exhaust gas coolant tester , or combustion leak tester.

Do you know whether or not it would give a false reading if there was still air in the coolant from filling it?

 

[mrack]

Use the bleeder screw to bleed it. Located on the water pump

 

[rzr6-4]

Do you know whether or not it would give a false reading if there was still air in the coolant from filling it?

The kit isn't testing for air or gaseous bubble in general, its testing specifically for compounds that would only be from exhaust gases. No false positive.

 

[seems fishy]

I changed a thermostat in a Jeep and it only worked for one time(5minutes).It broke in the open position.Even though your thermostat may have been new,it may have been faulty,causing overheating,in a closed position.

 

[David Vandercook]

Use the bleeder screw to bleed it. Located on the water pump

I didn't know you could do that. Thanks, that will save me a lot of trouble.