Air bubbles in the coolant reservoir

[Scottydoggs]

must have a large crack in a head or something. that other truck looks damn good tho.

looks like the same color as my 05 too.

 

[Doubeleive]

must have a large crack in a head or something. that other truck looks damn good tho.

looks like the same color as my 05 too.

ya it's kind of bewildering that it's now holding coolant, runs perfectly (aside from the startup clickety that's not nearly as bad as it was or doesn't do it at all) yet still has bubbles in the tank and it passes a pressure test and block test. The 05 is pretty nice I picked up some front pillars with the bose tweeters in them today and will be adding a sound system to it and putting some power fold and blinker mirrors on, I had the cluster refreshed already and added a trans temp to it. ordered the hoses, T's, coolant tank, wheel bearings, some steering parts and washer pump for it, gonna have to pull the reigns in on spending money on it for the moment but the parts are all shipped so have work to do on it this coming week

 

[Doubeleive]

Well it's been 23 days since adding the blue devil, coolant level hasn't budged and it has been driven every day, the tickety-tick noise is gone and drives and sounds normal, the coolant did turn a funky darkish color but it was already mostly water. Appears to have fixed the problem for now. still see air bubbles though

 

[Rocket Man]

Well it's been 23 days since adding the blue devil, coolant level hasn't budged and it has been driven every day, the tickety-tick noise is gone and drives and sounds normal, the coolant did turn a funky darkish color but it was already mostly water. Appears to have fixed the problem for now. still see air bubbles though

View attachment 253675

Quit staring into the bubbles....I’m concerned for your mental health.

 

[Doubeleive]

Quit staring into the bubbles....I’m concerned for your mental health.

there kind of hard to see now that it's dirty water looking, I don't think I will flush it, maybe drain some out and add fresh coolant so it at least looks orange-ish again.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Well it's been 23 days since adding the blue devil, coolant level hasn't budged and it has been driven every day, the tickety-tick noise is gone and drives and sounds normal, the coolant did turn a funky darkish color but it was already mostly water. Appears to have fixed the problem for now. still see air bubbles though

View attachment 253675

Gotta check mine in my work van. I added Blue Devil to the coolant also--3/4 of the bottle anyway, couldn't suction anymore coolant out of the radiator.

 

[Doubeleive]

Gotta check mine in my work van. I added Blue Devil to the coolant also--3/4 of the bottle anyway, couldn't suction anymore coolant out of the radiator.

I put in 2 bottles, I poured as much as I could in the radiator and then I pushed the upper hose down to empty some coolant out and managed to get 95% of 2 bottles in it. what spilled on the ground looks like this now after the sun hit it

 

[Tonyrodz]

I put in 2 bottles, I poured as much as I could in the radiator and then I pushed the upper hose down to empty some coolant out and managed to get 95% of 2 bottles in it. what spilled on the ground looks like this now after the sun hit it

View attachment 253677

Bottle said don't pour anything in the overflow, and I didn't want to spill anything by cracking the upper hose--at the time. Guess I should've. This stupid van!

 

[TJ Baker]

When I added the AC Delco branded tabs I did a "rinse and repeat" operation, draining everything I could then refill with water, then drain everything, then refill with water, until it was fairly clear.

Then crushed up the recommended amount of the tabs since there is no radiator access to put the tabs in as the directions said so I premixed the crushed tabs with distilled water and poured that into the upper radiator hose which I had removed from the radiator end.

Having the upper radiator hose loose worked well as a refill point as I could hold that up high. Added fresh Dexcool & distilled water to as high as I could before it begun to come out the upper radiator neck. Re-attached the hose and topped off at the surge tank.

That was over 5000 miles ago and other than having to add a bit after working out the bubbles it has not dropped.

Thinking of sending in a sample from a recent oilchange to Blackstone to see where I stand.

Your bubbles are a puzzle. Is it the stock radiator with the restrictor in place? May have already been covered, I know but I can't scroll back from a reply window on a smartphone!

 

[Doubeleive]

When I added the AC Delco branded tabs I did a "rinse and repeat" operation, draining everything I could then refill with water, then drain everything, then refill with water, until it was fairly clear.

Then crushed up the recommended amount of the tabs since there is no radiator access to put the tabs in as the directions said so I premixed the crushed tabs with distilled water and poured that into the upper radiator hose which I had removed from the radiator end.

Having the upper radiator hose loose worked well as a refill point as I could hold that up high. Added fresh Dexcool & distilled water to as high as I could before it begun to come out the upper radiator neck. Re-attached the hose and topped off at the surge tank.

That was over 5000 miles ago and other than having to add a bit after working out the bubbles it has not dropped.

Thinking of sending in a sample from a recent oilchange to Blackstone to see where I stand.

Your bubbles are a puzzle. Is it the stock radiator with the restrictor in place? May have already been covered, I know but I can't scroll back from a reply window on a smartphone!

yes stock radiator

 

[BG1988]

The blue devil stuff "might" be working, the bottom of the filler cap is now clean and dry before it had some small amounts of milky like residue and the clickity-clickity noise at start up is going away and coolant level hasn't gone down in about a week, it still has air bubbles in the reservoir though but preliminary results are promising.

do a exhaust gas test on it (they have test kits that can detect exhaust gases)


if it's negative then it can just be some old air that was not purged from the system. or was trapped in a high spot and got moved out randomly

 

[Fless]

do a exhaust gas test on it (they have test kits that can detect exhaust gases)

See Post #1. Sheesh.

 

[Rocket Man]

do a exhaust gas test on it (they have test kits that can detect exhaust gases)


if it's negative then it can just be some old air that was not purged from the system. or was trapped in a high spot and got moved out randomly

Crap Brent why don’t you read the whole thread before offering your advice? Come on man you’re killin me!

 

[BG1988]

See Post #1. Sheesh.

well if it's negative for exhaust gases

it's boiling the coolant or not enough percentage of coolant, distilled water was not used at some point ( distilled water does not boil)

the water pump is not moving enough volume of water (causing hot spots)

intermittent stuck closed Thermostat.

 

[Doubeleive]

well if it's negative for exhaust gases

it's boiling the coolant or not enough percentage of coolant, distilled water was not used at some point ( distilled water does not boil)

the water pump is not moving enough volume of water (causing hot spots)

intermittent stuck closed Thermostat.

it does it instantly on a cold startup or hot startup, and when it gets up to temp it stays where it should and never wavers. It's not boiling Brent there air bubbles, I have done the block test 3 times at various intervals and I have done a pressure test 3 times, first pressure test it was the water pump seeping, replaced the water pump, then the crossover pipe was leaking replaced that, system holds pressure now and passes a block test. yet still has air bubbles all the time day/night, hot/cold, sat & sun too.

 

[Fless]

it does it instantly on a cold startup or hot startup, and when it gets up to temp it stays where it should and never wavers. It's not boiling Brent there air bubbles, I have done the block test 3 times at various intervals and I have done a pressure test 3 times, first pressure test it was the water pump seeping, replaced the water pump, then the crossover pipe was leaking replaced that, system holds pressure now and passes a block test. yet still has air bubbles all the time day/night, hot/cold, sat & sun too.

What, no party bubbles on holidays? LOL

 

[curtis ronci]

so the wifes 04 has a mysterious coolant loss, no leaks and passes a pressure test, also passes the test for gasses in the coolant, I see bubbles in the reservoir??, i'm stumped. looses about a quart every 2-weeks. water pump was replaced and replaced the crossover pipe because both were leaking. oil looks fine and nothing under the fill cap.

Saabs built by Gm used to do the same thing I have had many.Gm sells coolant tablets for such issues THEY WORK.Be carefull of the bluedevil store stuff they clog passages.

 

[curtis ronci]

it does it instantly on a cold startup or hot startup, and when it gets up to temp it stays where it should and never wavers. It's not boiling Brent there air bubbles, I have done the block test 3 times at various intervals and I have done a pressure test 3 times, first pressure test it was the water pump seeping, replaced the water pump, then the crossover pipe was leaking replaced that, system holds pressure now and passes a block test. yet still has air bubbles all the time day/night, hot/cold, sat & sun too.

Wait it could be a head gasket compressing the coolant system causing the rad cap to let compression out.

 

[BG1988]

it does it instantly on a cold startup or hot startup, and when it gets up to temp it stays where it should and never wavers. It's not boiling Brent there air bubbles, I have done the block test 3 times at various intervals and I have done a pressure test 3 times, first pressure test it was the water pump seeping, replaced the water pump, then the crossover pipe was leaking replaced that, system holds pressure now and passes a block test. yet still has air bubbles all the time day/night, hot/cold, sat & sun too.

air bubbles on a cold start can still be there from the previous shut down

have you inspected the spark plugs for coolant sludge?

should look something like this if some is getting in the cylinder and the cylinder maybe much much cleaner then the others



Don't use tablets or a fix in a can


I tried those (sodium silicate)and it did fix the leaks but caused issues with the Tstat and both coolant sensors..(unless you put dummy sensors an tstat by pass when you do the fix in a can )
you will have to do multiple coolant flushes to remove the "excessive left over "



in my old car with pitting sized leaks
better to pull the engine apart and fix it correctly.


do note it will lower the . thermal conductivity of the radiator and heat transfer from the engine(glass is an insulator)

 

[Doubeleive]

air bubbles on a cold start can still be there from the previous shut down

have you inspected the spark plugs for coolant sludge?

should look something like this if some is getting in the cylinder and the cylinder maybe much much cleaner then the others

View attachment 253763

already know there WAS coolant getting in the engine, but not anymore and the bubbles are still present