Just finished putting together the inline thermostat for my '04. I did not put a bleeder valve on the upper hose as Ive seen some others without this.
The front wheels are up on ramps, expansion tank is sitting as high as I can get it, heat on full blast, motor rev'd @2kRPM. I cant get the damn thing to bleed. The upper hose is definitely full of water once the thermostat opens, but my ultra gauge temps wont stop climbing. There is no rushing water sound when I start the car either.
Taller ramps?
Put in a bleeder?
Drive it off a cliff?

 

Take the tank loose ( leave hoses attached) and have someone hold it higher than the engine while servicing it. I do it on level ground and only use the bleeder as a last resort. Has worked for me several times over the years. We have owned this DII since new 2001, 148,000 miles and for sale.

 

Did that, cap off and cap on, still not burping the bubble in the system. Going to tap the thermo housing for a bleeder nipple tomorrow and open it before the thermostat opens.
Ironic that I nearly overheated the car doing a mod that is supposed to prevent that

 

I bled it using the RAVE method and it worked pretty well, though I still had the waterfall sound under acceleration.

Recently I bled using jfall's technique*, and it almost completely eliminated the waterfall sound.

*Jfalls technique - elevate coolant reservoir, remove cap, run engine at 2k rpm for 10ish minutes.

 

Have you done this with the inline thermostat mod? (ie: NOT the stock coolant hose routing) I tried this method as it worked last time I did it with the regular thermostat but it gets too hot before the 10 minutes is up when I do it now with the new inline thermostat

 

Yes, I have done this with the inline thermo mod.

Did you orient the thermostat with the spring towards the engine?

Did you drill a hole in it?

I think in your situation I'd just add a bleeder.

 

Thermostat installed with the spring on the engine side, I did not drill a hole as the Mr Gasket one had a hole in it already. I gave it another go using the method you described with no success... it overheats before the 10 minute mark. I have to find a bleeder that I can drill and tap into the thermo housing. Thanks for your assistance so far

 

You might check out this guy.

 

Got it sorted out today... I drilled the Mezire thermo housing for a 1/8" NPT plug and cut a small groove down the threads to make a bleeder out of it. Worked out great.

 

Smart! Glad you got it worked out.