cliowsb

hi guys,im a noobie with a scooby and im after some help.Basically ive bought a 2004 blobeye wrx in mica black and my radiator is leaking coolant so ive ordered a new one and the correct antifreeze but i notice under the bonnet theres like a steel header tank and a cap on the radiator,so slightly confused on where to fill,could someone please give me some step by step advice on refiling please,thanks guys.wayne

petethemeat

iTrader: (6)

I have recently changed mine so can give you a few pointers;

Run your engine until the rad kicks in (this ensures your thermostat is open)

Looking down at your radiator from the top (drivers) side you will see a little tap. May be easier to see if you do it from the bottom (under tray off). Loosen this tap and this will drain the coolant – take your header cap off to aid this draining but IT WILL TAKE AGES so go and make a brew or something.

Note: At this point you may still have some coolant left in the system , looking at your radiator the right hand side you will see a coolant tank – this is the overflow and you may see some coolant left in here. When I changed mine I didn’t worry about this as I figured such a small amount wouldn’t matter. If you wanted to you could remove the bottom hose on the rad which I think MAY get this out of the system.

Your cooling system takes around 7 litres, pre mix this to a 50:50 concentration and prefill the system via the small rectangular header tank (near the driver’s side suspension turret) – take it SLOW and periodically stop to squeeze the top and bottom hoses to expel any air. At this point when you have some fluid in the system run the engine (get a mate to keep their eye on the temp gauge). It will be useful to raise the revs slightly as this will aid getting rid of any air. Fill this up until it is brimmed.

Then move on to the expansion tank on the RHS of the rad and fill this to the max marker.

Run your engine until the fan kicks in, keep your header cap off (near suspension turret) and keep topping up as required. It will take a little time to fully settle around the system.

Once your happy leave it to cool and check the levels a few hours later , topping up if necessary.

The above is the method I used, which did the trick and resulted in no airlocks etc.

myblackwrx

iTrader: (1)

I've got a classic impreza so no cap on rad so I just fill up the header tank.

Gava

iTrader: (10)

i got a bug eye and no cap on rad and i fill up with the header tank but cause there now bleed valves so it ttakes ages to bleed

cliowsb

ok so you fill the header tank until full,so would you leave the rad cap off until it starts flowing out of there then put the cap back on,just wondering because it seems the header tank is higher up so gravity will take place etc.cheers

petethemeat

iTrader: (6)

Yes , try not to overfill though and keep the revs raised to help circulate.

Fill the one next the rad up and it should stay full

cliowsb

petethemeat your a star,il get on it hopefully tomorrow and il let you know how i get on

maydew

iTrader: (9)

remove rubber water pipe from metal tank that goes to the turbo ,refill via this rubber pipe that goes to the turbo,this way you fill the engine from the bottom up and will not get an air lock,
method tried and tested many many times.

petethemeat

iTrader: (6)

No problem

cliowsb

ah i see what your saying about the pipe that goes to the turbo,it fairly small so it will take ages to fill,no problem though.probably end up doing this job on saturday,thanks for all your help guys

maydew

iTrader: (9)

slower the better ,i wedge a funnel in the pipe ,trust me its the best possible way to refill with no chance of air lock .

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

This is the recommended way, slightly different from petethemeat's.**

It takes around 20 minutes to refill the cooling system, DO NOT allow it to glug as you fill, pour slow and steady via a funnel shoved down the end of that rubber pipe. Once it fills the header tank, replace that pipe and top up the header tank.

Then, run engine until it's hot, rad cap off, mopping up or refilling as required.

Finally, replace rad cap, take for run round block, leave to cool before finally checking levels and adjusting as necessary.

All this with heater in car set to full hot

** If you look at the metal header tank, you'll see why we suggest this. The pipe goes straight down into the engine. Filling the header tank COULD allow air to be gulped into the cooling system, since the pipe is near it's top, and relies on filling that tank BEFORE any goes down into the engine.