Kicking out coolant, seems like too much, and AC stops working...

Hello everyone! Again, total DeLorean new owner here, but I've been building subaru motors for years. Got an interesting problem on my brand new 10588. After driving the 800 miles home with no problem, I go on vacation and come back a week later. I drive my car to the store about a mile away, enough time for the car to get to operating temp in stop and go traffic, and i look down to see my temp gauge climbing towards halfway, higher then i've ever seen. I get nervous, pull over, wait about 10 minutes, and pop the rad cap, and the res is basically dry. curious. I see that i'm only supposed to put about 1/4 to maybe 1/2 full on the tank. fill it to about that, go home, no problems. I'm thinking theres maybe a bubble in the coolant line? but where did it show up?

Granted I just want to go for a drive, and I've got a new radiator, fans, coolant piping, etc etc on order, so the entire coolant system is getting redone, (including some electronics) but ... whats going on?

Going to try bleeding the air out, (looking for bleeding procedure now) but where did it come from in the first place? did i introduce it somehow?

yeeah then the AC compressor stopped firing. I think I've got a leak. The previous owner had the system vacuum tested for an hour, then completly charged, and it worked great for 2 days after. then last week it wasn't as cold, but worked, now the compressor doesn't fire at all. Ive heard of the high pressure line going bad. ideas?

If i can get the car to not get warm, its going to the AC place tomorrow to get vaccum tested.

Ideas?? oh great and glorious brains of DMCTalk, LEND ME YOUR WISDOM! :)

thanks!

Luigi <--noob

If you are somehow getting air into the system, I would install one of these:

http://www.delorean-parts.com/Mercha...gory_Code=9475

That is Toby's bleeder kit for both the engine and the radiator. Once that's installed, I would pressure test the cooling system and see if you have any coolant leaks at all. If not, fire your car up and see how the cooling system performs. The fans should turn on around the 207 deg mark (or a lil bit above the first unmarked line on the temp gauge) and should turn off around 197 deg mark (right off the top of my head, I think those are the correct numbers).

Fill up the cooling system and pressurize it with a tester to 15 psi and watch for leaks. If you don't have any leaks open the bleeder on the thermostat housing and loosen the small hose on the radiator on the top of the left tank to get the air out.
David Teitelbaum

If you said you drove 800 miles and it never overheated, yet it did in a short drive, but one that was stop and go... I would say your cooling fans probably aren't working.

The car does a good job at cooling itself at certain times of the year while you are mostly driving at highway speeds. It does not cool itself very well if you are stuck in traffic (or waiting in line at a busy gas station, which is how I realized my fans were not coming on initially).

There are two main ways to test your cooling fans and get them to come on and one of them is related to your A/C system. Your A/C system having problems recently as well tells me it is indeed likely related to the fans not working.

Easiest way to test them is to jumper the wiring connections to the otterstat. The otterstat is what tells your car the coolant is hot and to turn the fans on. It is located in a tee in the coolant pipe down low on the drivers side of the engine. The tee is likely/hopefully facing down. Remove the connector and jumper them together. Turn your ignition key to accessories (not on) and you should hear the fans come on. If they don't come on, there are problems to resolve. If they do come on it likely means the otterstat is bad.

There is a similar test with the A/C system. If you have the HVAC knob to MAX AC and you turn the key to accessories, you should hear the clutch on the compressor clack in and the fans come on. If neither happens, you are likely low on freon and haven't satisfied the low pressure switch. If the clutch clacks in but the fans don't run, you likely have enough freon but a problem with the fans. If fans and clutch happen, the A/C system is likely okay and I would suggest it is just the otterstat. If you get neither clutch nor fans, but don't think it told you enough, you can jumper the low pressure switch to simulate an adequate freon pressure to conduct the test. Don't start the car doing this as it will damage the compressor. Do this after you've tried the other tests.

If the fans come on in all these conditions, then it would be back to an air pocket in the coolant system perhaps or something else. Our cars don't expell coolant if they are working correctly. Not a little, none.

My money is on your cooling fans being the culprit. We can fix them pretty easily but let us know what is working and what isn't and then we'll hop on it.

Ok! I think I got it. My fans are fully functional. I found where the bleeder is on the thermostat housing, blead the system at the thermostat, i had WAY overfilled the header bottle so I got rid of the excess, then got everything equalized. Drove around in-town, stop and go for 30 minutes. The temp gauge would just barely travel (now) past the 1/4 mark (1/3 mark? The tick before half way) and then go back down, and outside was warmer yesterday.

I drove the car home through LA traffic with no problem AND over the grapevine (And for those of you who know, the grapevine is a car killer).

Here's what I think I did. I think I overfilled the header bottle and then watched it all come out and by doing my incorrect move, i then introduced a bunch of air when opened it and that gave me problems. I think I solved it now by putting the proper amount of fluid into the header bottle and properly bleeding the system.

I've also ordered the bleeder kit

When I install all my new parts, I will get a pressure tester and do it right. Thank you!

TLDR: I'm a supernoob

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nuclearbacon

I've also ordered the bleeder kit
When I install all my new parts, I will get a pressure tester and do it right. Thank you!

---

Good plan. David T is correct. The bleed sequence with or without a hose on it is iterative at best if you don't keep the pressure up. A pressure tester makes it a one-sequence process. Get a good one since it will be your friend for as long as you have the car.

And now you know that the header bottle is indeed just that. As with old-fashioned non-coolant-recovery systems you need some headspace (air) above the cold coolant level. A half-full header bottle/tank means the system is "full".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rich

As with old-fashioned non-coolant-recovery systems you need some headspace (air) above the cold coolant level. A half-full header bottle/tank means the system is "full".

---

Attachment 18636

Agreed.

Love it! Today was the test. My car is perfect. Drove at 3:00pm, in stop and go traffic all over town, downtown, thru drive thru's, and down the coast at idle speeds. I did what I could to make the car hot, and it performed perfectly.

:) thank you

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nuclearbacon

Love it! Today was the test. My car is perfect. Drove at 3:00pm, in stop and go traffic all over town, downtown, thru drive thru's, and down the coast at idle speeds. I did what I could to make the car hot, and it performed perfectly.

:) thank you

---

That's terrific! Good news :)

Ironically one of the ways to force your car to cool down can be to turn ON the air conditioning. Nothing to do with getting heat out of the engine from the A/C system itself of course, but by turning it on you force the cooling fans up front to come on. Just a little trick in case things get a bit warm... inside and out.

Hmmmm...I disagree...sometimes I turn the AC on to make one warm up faster...and it is a common practice to turn the AC off in stop and go traffic when one starts to get hot.
If the engine is hot, the Otterstat should already have the fans on and if you turn the AC on, the Condenser will add heat to air going through the Radiator... this is why the fans are turned on with the AC, so it can get a head start.