Removing air pockets in engine with plastic bottle 

Holy Hannah! We were banging our heads against a wall trying to figure out what the hell we missed after putting in a new thermostat. So simple it's insane! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You saved us so much money and time with this video! It was a God send.

I can't thank you enough for showing me a great and simple way to bleed the air from my engine. I too replaced the water pump and thermostat but kept overheating. I thought I was bleeding all of the air out of the system until I watched your video. It took nearly an hour to get all of the air out but my Grand Prix is working perfectly now thanks to you!

This is by far the fastest and simplest way to do it. After working for more than an hour using the little bleeders (like they all say it should be done and getting nearly nowhere), I looked at a few DIY videos. This one worked and the car is not overheating any more. Absolutely fantastic idea. Thank you Art & Hardware. Brilliant idea.

I used your idea, man! Best out there! What helps too, is jacking up the front end about 10”-12” inches. Couldn’t just buy one bottle of water at Wal-Mart for a good price, so I had to buy 48! Thanks again!

Great video and explanation on how to do it. My 2003 Monte Carlo 3.4 is experiencing some problem since the Shade tree machine replaced the water pump.

Just used this technique on the same engine... i will say take any water bottle with a small head... heat it up a bit and it will conform to the bleeder connection... took me about 15 mins i took my thermostat out previously. After flushing the system i filled the radiator up with 1 gallon and used a second to fill up the top of the engine. while testing the car (driving 75 for 20 mins and idling for 10 mins then returning same speed) the thermostat went to the 1/3 on the temp gauge and while driving the needle fell to the first line. I appreciate your tip thanks so much

AMAZING! A family member of mine has an 05 impala with the same 3.4l engine. It developed an overheating problem and we chanded out the radiator water pump thermostat and even temp sensor the overheating continued. Before i could solve the issue the overheating got so bad it blow the head gasket and cracked the block. We recently did a motor swap on the car with a 3.4 from the junk yard once we had it all back together and runing it seemed to have the same problem! After inquiring of the impala forum i fould these engines are known for having this issue with air in the system I found this video and gave it a try and it worked the car idled for about an hour with no overheating I can not thank you enough for this video i will be sharing this trick every chance i get.

I can't thank you enough! If you are watching this and have overheating issues this video is 4 U:) I agree with all of my fellow you tubers when I say THANK YOU!!

Forget all the other methods! This works amazingly! My water bottle was a tiny bit too small so I use a heat gun to warm the plastic and slipped it onto an 11/16 socket 3/8 drive end and it fit perfect. I also use a long extension with the 10mm socket to install the plug while the bottle was still in place preventing air from getting back in the system.

Super idea! That would have saved me half the morning today! I'll still check tomorrow to see if there's still some air in the tempermental SOB.

Worked like a charm! Cannot say enough thanks. Got this done over lunch hour on an '02 Impala I bought yesterday. I used a pocket knife to scrape a larger opening in the water bottle and get it to fit. Thanks a million!

I love this idea just skip the part where you bump starter just fill rad put bottle on pipe bypass start engine and let the bleeding begin ...this is so great thank you so much

Great video!! I have a vespa that i changed the coolant in, but did not bleed it for air. Suddenly it is overheating like crazy. But videos like this help me to understand that i obviously have a bunch of air in the system somewhere.

Thanks I think my car problem is finally solved. Thank you sooo much! New subscriber, Brian

Thank you so much! You're an effing genius! Talk about thinking outside the box. This is the best tip I've ever seen on RU-vid. I've owned this Lumina for about 20 years,and I've had to do the bleed routine several times. I had just about resigned myself to either farting around with it for two hours,as usual,or maybe,get one of those "spill proof funnels" which work very well,but cost about 40 bucks at the parts store. I was also going to try to fill it thru the bleeder this time(didn't know if it would work,or not),but I was going to try to use a funnel. Never even thought of a water bottle fitting that neck so perfectly. It's hands free,no holding a funnel and trying to pour coolant in, or squeezing the hose in an awkward position. Plus you can fill the bottle and walk away,drink some coffee,or whatever,and just let it bleed in. Just used a cheapo Kroger half litre bottle I fished out of the recycle bin. BTW, I found out that squeezing the lower hose displaces more air than squeezing the top hose,and gets the job done a little quicker. Thanks again! :) ,

INGENIOUS!! Thank you very much!! Worked great!!

Great advice have a 2002 Mercury mountaineer, thanks to this video I will try to figure it out how to do it

I used to use clear tubing and a funnel, but this worked much better for me . One big thank's

Omg....... that is so simple but yet so smart. I'll do this now after every antifreeze job.

Thank you for the video. I removed one gallon of coolant to change the thermostat on a 2005 Chevy Equinox and then added more coolant.. it started overheating and blowing cool air only. This solved my problem and luckily I had a water bottle that fit just right! 🙌🏼

Gave this a try earlier today. Will let you guys know the results after I go for a long drive later today. Burped out a bunch of air and it took in much more coolant than I thought it would. Leads me to believe this solution will work. Also starting to get some heat in the cabin now, before it was non-existent. It took me 45 minutes but I was pretty thorough.

This really worked, with a common, cheap water bottle, I honed the bottle out with some sandpaper, tapped in on with hammer and flat screw driver. the bottle melted a bit as the car got hot, but it did work, removed the air pockets.

What a great video! Thank you so much as this has fixed the no heat issue on my 05 Aztek!

Hey man. Very awesome video! Very imformative and detailed..right now i have a 2005 Chevy Impala 3.4L and its over heating, im doing the same process as you and was suprised at how much more fluid i can put in the car, ive only been able to get about 2 qts in

Thank you, tried your method on my Montana and haven't had a problem since.

Been having issues I tried this and so far it’s been running normal temp. Thanks

Thank you. Very helpful with my 06 uplander.

Thank you so much for this. I just did this to my wife's Venture after she was complaining about no heat. No wonder. I hadn't checked the coolant level in the overflow tank for a long time, and it tends to use some. The water bottle was indeed necessary because the rad cap refused to come off for some reason. It was getting pretty hot by the time I stopped seeing air bubbles, but I made it.

Thanks!. Worked perfectly. The toughest thing was to find a bottle that fits perfectly.

I went through numerous youtube videos about this, I was thinking about trading my car off due to this problem. I had put a new thermostat and water pump in it (Aztek) and I was going nuts trying to get the air out of it without wasting a ton of coolant! This worked like magicI have had my Aztek seems forever and did the headgasket and manifold gasket.

I used to have a shop full of these cars and would charge my asking price to vacuum bleed. Good old days. This is smart.

Thank you, that is clever. I just changed a thermostat and I thought I got all of the air out of my system, had fluid coming out of both bleed screws. Doesn't overheat, but the rear cabin heat doesn't work now. I wasn't to worried, but now I will try this. I bet I still have air in mine. Thx

My bottle was slightly to small. I held the water bottle over the stove to soften the plastic and pushed it on to my 1/2 drive extension. Rotate the bottle so it will get softer all the way around the opening when heating it. I only stretched the bottle opening a little but it worked for me.

Clever! Thanks for the tip!!

I did this on my Nissan Quest. You do not need any fancy funnel that cost $30 or more. I decided I would just cut the bottom out of a pop bottle. It worked awesome!

Thx a lot forma showing tour idea.

Thank you !!! Worked great.

This really is an amazingly simple solution that looks like it will work better than our prior options. After replacing the lower manifold gasket on my 3100 I knew the coolant system was going to be a pain just from how the channels inside the block looked. So I put the entire coolant channel network under vacuum thinking that would do the trick like with any other engine. Much to my surprise I've had to bleed it multiple times over and still have air bubbling up each time I open the bleeder. Each time less air but so far it hasn't lost enough air to stop throwing the low coolant light or stop interfering with the heat. This techniques reminds me of a chemistry tool I've seen where the chemist doesn't want to contaminate their liquids but needs to collect the gas coming off from them. So they use a setup similar to that bottle on the bleeder neck to create a liquid barrier that only allows gasses out by choosing a liquid that wont overcome the pressure inside the flask containing their reaction (meaning the liquid floats inside the barrier and doesn't fall through the hole). This is just a slight variation on that where the liquid is one that will overcome the barrier but is a desirable liquid to do so.

Best video on the subject, hands down. Thanks a lot!

Excelent tip for this GM engines, thanks!

Man I've had a couple of vehicles with these engines,I always put them on ramps and use the bleeder screws and find that it usually takes 3 or 4 times with some driving in between to make these engines act right.Great tip ,huge time saver.Haha these were great motors as long as everything is right in the world,got alot of miles out of everyone ,but man if they don't do the weirdest shit if anything at all is not right in the world

I know this video is 3 years old but i want to say i love u man was thinking bout this was not shur what to do. But i have a 2000 malibu 3.1 but this will help me cus it was what i was thinking when i was trying to bleed.

This guy saved me (PT Cruiser - Brazil). I only used a water bottle

Thanks, That seems to work well.

Thanks from Mexico !!!

This is going to be long but it'll be worth the read. I was experiencing a loud, rattling sound during hard acceleration as well as hesitation and slow shifting. I knew there was air in my coolant system because the temperature readings fluctuated considerably. I have a 2000 Malibu with a 3.1 SFI btw. Your technique with the bottle is excellent. But a different way, and according to the Haynes manual the proper way to proceed, is to not remove the bleed valve, rather opening the 7mm screw. Using your technique of the bottle fill it half way with the bleed screw submerged within it. Begin filling the coolant system with water (if you will flush, prederably distilled) or coolant if you will fill/top off. With the bleeder valve open and submerged in water within the bottle, you should be able to see the air escaping the system (bubbling) through the valve as you fill. Fill surge tank (in the case of the 3.1 sfi) all the way to the cold full line. Continue to let the air escape the system (continue bubbling) which in my case took up to 8 minutes. When bubbling stops COMPLETELY, close the bleeder valve while submerged within the water bottle. Top off surge tank. Run car to operating temperature and drive around for a good 30 min. Park to check the coolant level. IT IS COMPLETELY NORMAL FOR IT TO HAVE DROPPED. As the engine heats and the thermostat opens, coolant will have filled the rest of the system, resulting in the drop in the surge tank. Once engine cools, you can repeat the bleeding process to top off the system, although probably not necessary...so just top off. If it was a system flush you performed, repeat entire process to fill with coolant instead of water. Hope this helps.

I take the upper radiator hose off of engine side and fill radiator since there's no cap on radiator. Then run engine with heater on and bleed system with the two 7mm screws.

Wow! Been fighting this overheating engine for a while now and after seeing many videos, I finally saw this one. I thought I had a cracked block/bad gaskets/bad rad cap/random leak because I could never seem to get all the air out. With your method, I can SEE whats happening and KNOW when the air is gone. Please edit your title to include "removing vapor-lock", Chevy 3.4" or something similar cuz I _wish_ I had seen this video many months ago! Well done sir! Thank you so very much!

5 years later and still a fuckin useful as video

You are the man! Thank you for not keeping this gem of an idea to yourself.

I gave a Buick century 3.1 liter with the same two bleeder valves Thanks for the info

I think the yellow funnel you buy that goes in the radiator for removing air a bit less complicated over the little plastic bottle method...still a great video...looks good and provides another good option .

Brilliant! I only have one bleed valve and it's at the top of a riser but same thing - always some air left. Lots. I was using a tube into a bottle but it wasn't nearly as effective as your method.

yup, just put in a new thermostat and was great for about the week and then no heat until transfer and every thing is full. Temp gauge goes way up. almost over heating. I think I got it now..Hey how about this? Just raise the front of the vehicle so the radiator cap is the highest point. Open the radiator and open the reservoir. Make sure they are both full. Run the engine and the air will rise to the top of the radiator cap. As the fluid levels drop add more and make sure the radiator and reservoir never go dry. Makes to much sense.

Nice and simple...thanks

I tried to do it from the expansion tank, and it overflowed about a half gallon onto my driveway as soon as I turned my car off. What went wrong?

Great trick 👍

Thanks dude now my wife's 02 pontiac montana is runnin normal temp and cost me nothing

Did you run the heater while doing this method?

My 2003 Buick Century didn't have this problem until I opened up the radiator. Time to get a baby bottle and burp her. Great video

Cool vid! Dude! Thanks!

Thanks buddy 👍🛠

will this work without the right bleeder? I don't have both bleeders on my 3.4l equinox

great video

Great video. Do you still have this car and if so, does it still have this cycle of coolant in it today?

thnx for the info. Would this work on the fx35? It has only one bleeder (on the radiator).

Thanks a million

If I ever have to drain the coolant system in any vehicle, I just refill the engine by disconnecting the heater core hose that goes back to the engine block. Then I fill the radiator. You will need a funnel that fits inside the heater core house of course.

Will this work on a 02 lincoln ls v8??

you are a genius

Wow!! Good idea

Good workaround but not really necessary. The coolant from your reservoir in not flowing back into the system because you have an air pocket in the hose connecting the reservoir and the radiator. You can easily remedy that by removing the radiator cap and lifting the reservoir higher up until you see coolant starting to flow into the radiator thru the small hole on the radiator neck (and then you can clip it back where it belongs). After that you can bleed the air off using the bleeders. Open them both and wait until you see as steady flow of coolant with no bubbles on the lower one. At that point you need to close the lower bleeding valve. Close the upper valve once you see the coolant flowing free of bubbles and put the radiator cap back on. Then start the engine, wait until it warms up and repeat the bleeding procedure. It will help if you have the vehicle uphill or the front end lifted on a ramp or jacked up. I do not know what king of coolant you are using but it did not look like the one recommended for GM vehicles which is Dexcool (red in color). Other coolants can damage your cooling system as they get in chemical reaction with the aluminum and turn into gel deposited everywhere inside the cooling system which decreases the heat exchange and will eventually cause overheating. Those 3.1 and 3.4 GM engines do not tolerate overheating very well which makes them notorious for blowing head gaskets.

Very nice! Will be doing this myself. But aren't you supposed to be using dexcool?

going 2 see if it work. been having my van sitting for about 3months change the thermostat & water pump it was over heating 2 many times.. Try 2 bleed. it w the lil screw but notting.

Also works on 02 Malibu except just open the cover to coolant tank to purge at end cause there's only one passenger side valve.

I have a 2004 Chevy venture and my heat gets just barely warm do you know what the problem would be with that do I need to bleed mine.

Just wondering... if you have no heat and find you're low on coolant, if you fill your coolant while cold in the rad and in the reservoir, is there any reason that the air would not burp out through the reservoir while you are driving? And then as the engine (and rad fluid) cools down after usage, the air that was burped out would be replaced by fluid being sucked out of the reservoir?

Tried this yesterday. Unfortunately, it did not help me. I still have trapped air. Idled the car for almost an hour during this procedure. Once I took the car for a drive, the heat inside got luke warm. Also notice when it does this, the overflow reservoir dumps some coolant out, causing a bit of a mess and nice smell!

Thank you sooo much

How can I find the bleed plug in my car

I thought this was the fix, but turned out that the radiator was bad/clogged up, and I replaced it. 2000 Olds Silhouette minivan temp would go up to 3/4 and would also get no interior heat, then it would drop to normal and stay. Heat was intermittent, but seemed to be no heat after sitting overnight in 35 degree temp. Maybe this caused the sludge in the radiator to clog up, then the heat let it break free? Or perhaps I had a tiny hole allowing air to get back into the system every night, and this caused the lack of heat? Not sure. I had changed the thermostat before the radiator and thought I still had air in the system. Appears that the new radiator fixed it.

Could this fix my ac problems ??

Is it best to have the heater on high to open up that air vessel?

Would this work on a 96 chevy blazer? I am uncertain if I have bleed valves like that but I have a slightly different situation where my car is not heating up all the way. Changed thermostat and coolant is topped off I am certain there has to be a air pocket somewhere. Thanks in advance.

How do you remove the plastic bottle?

08.27.2019 ( do you need to bleed air off every time you take the radiator cap off to check water level are antifreeze

My thermostats overheats very often is it advisable to remove completely the thermostats as the mechanics in the country where I am told me it is because of the hot weather and therefore we have to remove the thermostat PLEASE advise thank!! you

Can do the same just by opening your radar cap and use a funnel that's made for bleeding roads. Once you do this just squeeze the upper radiator hose. This is sorta redundant.

THANK YOU!!!

Brilliant!!!

So we’re did you put the bottle in the radiator or bleeding valve?

What temp is it supposed to run at?

i cant fill mine in the same area as yours, so 2nd best method to get an even equalibrium, could fill it from the thermostate them the radiator/

Did you do this while the engine was hot?? (Open thermostat)

so what if you dont have 2 bleeders ?

I bled my coolant system yesterday. I filled my cold system with coolant. I then started the engine and brought it to operating temperature. I waited 20 minutes before lots of bubbles started escaping. I raced the engine, squeezed the upper hose and waited for the fans to come on. Always keep the coolant at the same level. This is not a quick process. I had replaced my radiator so my process was significantly longer than others; about one hour.

Excellent

Great idea. U could Help more people find this by putting engine size make model year in title

Why is having air pockets there bad? What problems could they cause?

You know they make a funnel for this? It fits in the rad and has a stopper for the bottom.