Author Topic: Foaming coolant? Among other things... (Read 2299 times)

e30Andym42 · « **on:** August 19, 2009, 01:11:45 PM »

I just replaced my waterpump, and put it all back together, and added coolant and tried to bleed the system.

At first it refused to idle correctly, and I noticed an air hose out of place, so I fixed that, and it still gave me trouble. My car seemed to want to idle at 400-ish rpm. There was also a somewhat loud air noise. It sounded like alot of air was moving around by a fan or something in addition to the engine noise. I placed a brick on the gas to add enough gas to keep it alive while I investigated. All belts and such were moving just fine, everything looked normal.

Then I looked at the bleeder screw for the radiator, and it was foaming/bubbling. I shut the car off, and there were bubbles in the storage tank on the radiator, and a bit left in the coolant that came out of the bleeder screw.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for reading.

EDIT: I probably bled the coolant system wrong, I kept the filler cap on securely, with the bleeder screw open.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #1 on:** August 19, 2009, 01:33:57 PM »

Any oil in the coolant? Foamy is odd, I usually get bubbly until it's bled properly. Did you park it facing up hill before you bled it? Heater on hot? Hoses full of fluid?

Missing any tools? Seriously, don't laugh, I've been there.

e30Andym42 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 19, 2009, 02:59:03 PM »

Thanks, I bled it incorrectly, which caused the car to churn up the coolant with air, forming bubbles. The idle issue is no longer a problem, so all is well... My bleeder screw is destroyed though, and leaks a bit, so unless I have luck at the dealer, I am not driving it for a while. No local stores have it, and I move in to college on friday, leaving my car behind. I really want to drive it one last time before I take it off the road for now, so wish me luck.

Thanks for the reply, luckily I didn't need to use it

dkbmxer002 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 19, 2009, 08:50:27 PM »

when i went to turn my bleeder screw it snapped off on me. thankfully the dealers usually have it in stock, so check there if you are in need of one quickly.

e30Andym42 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 27, 2009, 08:35:35 AM »

well you were right, they did have one in stock. I got it, and it had a rubber o-ring. The old one appeared to have a plastic washer (I could be mistaken) The new one didn't seem to go on very tight before it slipped. Bottom line, it still leaks, mainly under heavy-ish acceleration