Guys, finally got my Discovery back after 4 days in the radiator shop, where my friend ( owner of the shop) custom made a copper/brass rad to replace that leaking plastic rad that I had. Here are my findings and questionning....

With my old rad, when hot, the hoses were hot beyond touch, and you'd almost leave your fingerprints if you manipulated the top hose to remove the top plastic cover for inspection. Now, although still very hot, you can touch that same hose and feel that the engine is now running a bit cooler. And the gauge needle was steady in the middle like before, well, maybe 1/16th of an inch lower but no real difference

My question is regarding the fact that before the new rad, when I would remove the expansion bottle's cap to add coolant, I would hear the vaccum sound of the pressure being release as I unscrewed the cap. I just did this a few minutes ago to add coolant and since the job is new, my friend gave me a bottle of Dexcool to top off during the next couple of days until the system is at its normal operating liquid quantity. But when I unscrewed the cap, NO vaccum sound ????

Should I be concerned about that??? Is it that it wasn't normal before for pressure to build in the bottle???? or is it now that there should be pressure building in and there isn't???

Thanks,

Darover

 

It is not vaccum you hear it is pressure and normally yes you do hear it. Top off your coolant first thing in the morning filling it to the top of the neck of the bottle and it will be fine, may drop a little over the next 2 days of driving.

 

Whenyou say the neck, you mean the very top???? not like just over the full line at the seam where the lower part of the bottle meets the top part?? right??? Just wanna make sure to not do a stupid mistake due to a misunderstanding. It's just that in the owner's manual, it says DO NOT OVERFILL!!!

 

I run mine within 1/4" of the top of the neck, this is a recirculating system and not prone to having any problems when full, it just gives you a little more coolant to work with and won't cause any problems. If you are concerned, don't fill it quite as full.

 

Well, If you of all people run it this way without problems, I don't see why I'd be concerned.

Thanks for clearing that up.

p.s how long should it take before the coolant level adjusts after a rad change ???

 

If it was bled properily, 2 days at the most.
Are you getting any gurgling noises from the dash?
Do you have a bleed screw on the Tee that connects your 3 top hoses together, if so crack it open, be careful not to loose the rubber o-ring and then poor in coolant into your coolant bottleuntill coolant comes out the bleed hole then reinstall the screw and continue to fill the bottle to whatever level you want.

 

No guggling noise from the dash at all. Paid special attention to this by turning radio off when I left the rad shop yesterday.

My bleed srcrew is in the middle of the top hose that sits on the top cover. I printed them the procedure for bleeding the system from my Rave CD, which mentions to lift the expansion bottle while fillinguntil the coolant comes out the bleed whole, reinstall the bleed screw, start engine and check for leaks, then let engine cool down and fill the expansion bottle when engine is cold again.

But the cool and fill part was done by me last night, since I picked up my truck as they were finishing the warm up and check for overheating and leakage step. So I filled it up last night and came to work today. When I get home tonight I'll check the level when thew truck gets cold, and hopefully the level will be dead on.

 

Cool, No more rad worries. The level came back perfect.

 

Congrats. Always nice to get something like that out of the way. Post some pics if you have some. I'd like to see.......

 

Will do this week-end, but honestly, even with the top cap removed you really can't see much except for the thickness difference.Stay tuned.