Burping the LGT's cooling system - looking for reassurance

Hey all,

 

Did part of my 60k mile service yesterday, including a cooling system flush and re-fill.

 

I opened the plug at the bottom of the radiator and let it drain fully. Put it back in, lowered the car, and had both radiator caps off. Topped it off from the highest point and kept squeezing the upper radiator hose to "burp" out the air bubbles in it until no other bubbles appeared.

 

Car only took about 1.5 gallons - 6 quarts. I thoroughly "burped" the engine, but it didn't have any air bubbles left after my initial fill - none of the levels went down at all.

 

This is odd, since at my 30k coolant flush I used a full ~7.5-7.75 quarts (I still have the distilled water gallon with the mix in it from 1.5 years ago).

 

Anyone else experience this at a refill? Drove the car ~25 miles yesterday and no overheating, and again the coolant levels were perfectly filled this morning.

 

Joe

 

P.s. I hate those damn plastic screws that fix the undercarriage plastic panel to the wheel wells and such. I broke both sides, but they are still solid enough to hold the panel on.

http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3328763&postcount=6

 

Here i s how to avoid the problem next time:

 

1. Fill the radiator to the top and put on the round cap. Once it has been filled DO NOT OPEN THAT CAP AGAIN.

2. Fill the overflow up to the MIN mark.

3. Fill the tank by the turbo and leave the cap OFF.

4. Start the car, heat on max, AC off (so the fan stays off) let it IDLE until the fans turn on, which means that the thermostat is open.

5. Add coolant to top off the tank by the turbo then put the cap on and you are DONE

6. Keep an eye on the tank by the turbo for the next few days and add coolant i f necessary.

7. Also keep an eye on the over flow tank when the engine is cold and add coolant if it is below the MIN line

 

This works every time and is easy.

Rao - Thanks. That's actually what I did this time (must not have done it at the 30k mark and needed to burp).

 

Still odd that it only took ~6 quarts, but I followed that procedure by default and it worked just fine.

1. Fill the radiator to the top and put on the round cap. Once it has been filled DO NOT OPEN THAT CAP AGAIN.

2. Fill the overflow up to the MIN mark.

3. Fill the tank by the turbo and leave the cap OFF.

4. Start the car, heat on max, AC off (so the fan stays off) let it IDLE until the fans turn on, which means that the thermostat is open.

5. Add coolant to top off the tank by the turbo then put the cap on and you are DONE

6. Keep an eye on the tank by the turbo for the next few days and add coolant i f necessary.

7. Also keep an eye on the over flow tank when the engine is cold and add coolant if it is below the MIN line

 

#4 above is only partially correct. Subaru suggests running the car at 2500 rpms until the car is at normal temp on the gauge, then allow it to idle til the fans come on. Also you should put the cap on the turbo tank after the initial startup.

 

-mike

FYI, the cap on the "turbo bank" was off during my idling. It was fine, except that the coolant would slowly foam up and slightly drip over the side, then go back down to the right level, then foam back up again and overflow, etc.

 

Smelled wonderful when I drove the snot out of it afterwards

Older thread but do exactly as RAO said but use a lisle no spill funnel on the turbo tank and you will not get the coolant everywhere as it expands and contracts

.........Still odd that it only took ~6 quarts, but I followed that procedure by default and it worked just fine.

 

Maybe there was still some coolant trapped in the heater core and heater hoses? Did you have the heater temperature set at max before draining the coolant?