TheSamba.com :: View topic - Coolant Bleeding the No Stress, No Mess Way!

Wed Jun 22, 2011 5:39 pm

I feel special!

I am gonna make a trip to the hardware store and find a piece of pipe that can go in the tank and use the rubber cuff on that. Then just Teflon tape the he'll out it and see if that works...

Sat Jul 23, 2011 3:42 pm

J Charlton wrote: Libby's Bong - a real nice piece of innovation byAndrew. There are no "buts" here - a few principles of physics however.
1. Any liquid will absorb a gas - (well most liquids anyway). In our application we're taking about water absorbing air - the air is in solution in the water (that's why fish can "breath" - their gills can remove the oxygen from the air in solution in the water and transfer it to their blood).
2. The ability of a liquid to absorb a gas varies inversly with the temperature of the liquid - hotter liquid, less absorbtion - eg. put a bottle of coke in the fridge, let it get cold then open it - very little "frothing" - take another bottle, put it in the sunlight, let it get good and warm and then open it - what happens - its probably all over you - that's the gas that has been dissolved into the liquid (the coke) - C02 - carbon dioxide has been disolved into it that is either staying disolved in the cold coke or frothing out in the warm coke
3. The ability of a liquid to absorb a gas varies with the amount of pressure the system - gas and liquid are put under.

There's more - but this should do it for this - the Libby bong works by being able to supply a constant supply of new coolant to the system as the system warms up (gas - air - is released) and the pressure tank gets gas from the system - gas is also released from the top of the rad until you close it.
The beauty of the bong relative to a pressure system is that a pressure system will force air into solution in the coolant whereas the Libby bong will not. Hot coolant - one rev's the engine to ensure that the thermostat is open and that hot coolant is circulating - is under a degree of pressure - there's no where for the gas in the system to be released - the hot coolant would like to "give it up" until it gets back to the pressure tank, with the "bong" attached - there the gas can escape and be replaced with coolant. After a period of time circulating hot coolant, ensuring that there is no "bubble of air" at the top of the rad, all the coolant in the system will have given up its absorbed air at the pressure tank - the system is free of absorbed air, cap it off and as the coolant cools off and reduces in volume, it will suck replacement fluid back from the overflow bottle. If there's no air available for the system to absorb then you have a cooling system truly "bled" of air.

I'm using my Libby Bong for the first time today. I like to know "that" things work but its awesome to know "why" they work. Thanks Professor!

***EDIT***

The Libby Bong is the Bong Diggity. It works sooooo well. Casually walking back and forth to the front, bleed, then back to the rear, blip throttle...

Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:48 am

Awesome! After last nights geiser I am eager to give this a try!

Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:12 pm

I did three coolant flushes this week. Jeep TJ, Subaru Forester and '85 vanagon. I was dreading doing the van given all the places air could potentially get trapped and left it for last. Got on The Samba as I usually do before starting any job on the van and discovered the bong method. Let me tell you. Refilling the van was a breeze with the bong and flushing the system with the help of a shop vac made it even easier. Was the quickest and least messy of all three jobs. Mr. Libby is a genius!

Mon Oct 03, 2011 1:19 pm

i'm going to be filling my coolant system..

I'm gunna get this going.. awesome idea to do the vinyl a tad below the rubber fitting, so when you drain the bong.. it back drains to the proper level.

Killer idea.

Mon Oct 03, 2011 1:35 pm

I made my Libby's Bong and carry it religiously and perhaps some day I will need it again but now with new rad, new cooling system and new engine, I don't have any more coolant problems BUT it will stay in the van none the less. Oh soooo many times I could have used it and didn't have it! Hopefully it's like an umbrella, if you carry it, you won't need it :lol:

Mon Oct 03, 2011 2:18 pm

does anyone have measurements of the rubber reducer?

I'm going to stop by the hardware shop, did not see that listed.

Mon Oct 03, 2011 5:54 pm

BoneStock67 wrote: ... it's spelled PlumbQwik.
I bought a section of 2" diameter PVC and a 2" to 1.5" PlumbQwik reducer, which fits very nicely right over the expansion bottle opening...

Tue Oct 04, 2011 12:11 pm

Oh! Thank you, I missed that.

Awesome. I am so going to do this..

Mon Oct 10, 2011 1:47 pm

I took a hit on a Libby Bong this weekend and I'm another satisfied customer :D
Couldn't find a PlumbQwik reducer, so I ended up going with a 1.5" to 1.5" flex Coupling and a 2" to 1.5" ABS coupling.
I had to s t r e t c h the flex over the 1.5" ABS..... but it worked perfectly.

I lifted the front end when filling and had very little to bleed.

Kudos to Andrew. 8)

Mon Oct 10, 2011 3:07 pm

hmmm I thought with the Libby Bong you didn't need to raise anypart of the vehicle as the bong is higher than everything. :?

Mon Oct 10, 2011 3:11 pm

You don't, ... But I think lifting the front end hastens air movement from the horizontal hoses to the radiator bleed valve. :?

Mon Oct 10, 2011 3:51 pm

Why would you 'lift' the front end?
With the nose down, gravity pushes the air out.
I've never used the 'bong', but with a blown head gasket last year, I got real good at bleeding out the system. Nose down is the way to go.

Mon Oct 10, 2011 4:01 pm

"There is no gravity, the earth sucks"

Lift the front, Lift the back.... no matter. IMHO, Lift one or the other to get the horizontal hoses on an incline. Bently sez the front... Ben sez the rear (but used to say the front). It's all good too me. I just happened to choose the front. :P

Mon Oct 10, 2011 4:13 pm

maybe its obvious but don't lift the bleeder higher than the bong's colum of antifreeze or you'd be defeating the bong.

Mon Oct 10, 2011 4:36 pm

All I have done in the past was use a hi-lift jack on the hitch between the tie down loops. Then raised the rear end high enough that the top of the burp tank was a couple of inches above the radiator bleed screw. Never even had to run the engine during filling. It was no doubt slow, but efficient. Then i would take the van for a ride up Loveland pass. This would bring the coolant up to normal temps. Upon returning home I would park on an uphill slope and open the bleeder screw and let the "expanded" coolant push the rest out of the radiator. This worked incredibly well. Thus I have had no need for the bong, but for the "conversation piece" and a curiosity factor I tried the bong last week. It does the same thing, minus having to jack up the rear.

FYI- I have a pecock(sp?) on my radiator from Kennedy Engineering that has a clear hose on it so you can see how well the coolant is coming out, direct the coolant into jug(even less mess!) and open/close the valve with my finger(no need for a wrench). I highly recommend it!

Wed Nov 02, 2011 10:50 pm

Just bought my '83 Westy a couple of weeks ago and panicked when I couldn't get the blinking temp light to go out. After MUCH research on this wonderful resource called TheSamba, I came across Andrews "Libby Bong".

Bought the parts today at Home Depot, came home, assembled everything, went through Andrews steps in post #1, and all is right in the world again.

I cant thank you enough Andrew, your idea made a once daunting procedure actually sound like fun. Oh, and it took all of 30 minutes. =D> =D> =D> If you're ever in the SF Bay area hit me up and I'll buy you a drink of your choice.

If anyone reading this is in the SF Bay area and would like to borrow my "Libby Bong", "Libby Pipe Method", or whatever you want to call it, just send me a PM.

Thanks again,
Eric

Sun Jan 29, 2012 8:44 pm

:bay_blue: My new syncro came with a Libby bong, took me 2 months to figure what it was. Now cool thanks ! :D

Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:55 am

Here is another happy Libby Bong user.

My only problem was to locate proper fitting to match the reservoir and some pipe. I ended up using a rubber tube with 44 mm inner diameter. This clamped pretty well. The clear smaller hose was 12 mm outer diameter.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:06 pm

Just built my bong, but I want to be clear on my procedure, would you all kindly check me here:

All heat controls on full heat
Rear heat valve under seat open (bleeder closed)
Radiator bleeder closed
Bong attached to overflow tank (should there be fluid in the coolant fill tank, or just the overflow tank?)
Engine off

Fill bong & walk to font of van
Open radiator bleeder and listen for air out of the radiator hole
When air stops and coolant runs out, replace the bleeder screw.
If no coolant runs out, close the screw and add more coolant to the bong and have another go
Close radiator bleeder valve
Start van
Rotate between opening radiator bleed valve, revving the van to 2,000 rpm or so, and refilling bong
Once it's up to temp, shut it down.
Then, drain the bong, replace cap on expansion tank, and done?

A couple questions:
Should there be fluid in the expansion tank when I'm done?
How will I know when the system is properly bled?
Do I need to open the bleeder on the thermostat housing at any point?