Hey guys,

Need some advice, working on a friend's B18 swapped EK, he had a coolant leak coming inside the car so we swapped the heater matrix with one from a pre-facelift EK9. Also at the same time we changed the rad for a Tegiwa half length aluminium one, now when I bleed the coolant (car jacked up, rad cap off, heaters on full blast holding 2,000 revs) the temperature gauge goes slight above half way and the heater blows out nothing but cold air. I know the heater matrix won't have coolant in just yet seen as it was completely dry before hand, and therefore there's no coolant to heat up, whats the best method to get some coolant in there and bleed everything properly?

Thanks,
Hitmo

 

Have you checked whether the heater valve on the hose leading into the firewall is open?

Does the radiator fan run when the temp needle reads above halfway?

 

The blue wire thingy moves that valve coming off the heater matrix hose in the bay when I change from hot to cold so yes?

No the fan didn't kick in but the fan works when I bridge it from the fan switch.

 

If you disconnect the heater hoses on the firewall, does water from a garden hose flow easily through the core?

Sounds like either the fan switch is bad or there is still air trapped in the cooling system.

 

I haven't tried that, but my friend who's a mechanic said the reason why its overheating is because theres an air lock within the heater core, hence why the heaters are blowing out cold air. Why the fan didn't kick in I don't know, maybe fan switch...

 

Force some water through the core with a garden hose, reattach the heater hoses, and then redo the cooling system bleed.

 

By water do you mean coolant? Should I go through the left or right hose, or does it not matter?

 

I mean use pressurized water to push air out of the core. Once accomplished, drain the cooling system, refill with 50:50 coolant, and bleed the system.

Left or right. It shouldn't matter.

 

By pressurize it in do you mean stick the garden hose in the cooper outlet on the heater core, and poor coolant through the top? Or do I need some sort of pump?

I've already got about 6 litres of coolant (50:50) in the system and only about 2 litres left. Can I just take off one heater hose, pour coolant into heater core untill it starts to flow out, then put the hose back on and bleed as normal?

 

Ok guys, good news and bad news.

Managed to get rid of the air lock by giving it a short drive, then jacking up the car really high and bleeding the coolant. No longer overheating and the heaters are blowing out very hot air.*

But now the fan won't kick in, had it running for an hour and a half! Could it be to do with the Tegiwa rad providing such efficient cooling that the temperature never reaches above norm, and therefore no need for the fan to kick in? I've checked the fuse and its fine so I'm assuming fan switch or fan relay? I'm assuming the thermostat is fine because the temperature doesn't fluctuate when driving, and the fan itself works because if I bridge the connection on the fan switch, it works.