SOS, coolant disaster!

[flomulgator]

So I screwed up yesterday and broke my rear heater hose in the middle of nowhere with no tools. I undid a bracket and pinched the hose under the bench seat which actually worked and I was able to limp to civilization. I then decided to try to make it home, and long story short had many more adventures and diluted my coolant with water and boiled something in the heater return hose. Finally in my city, but on the wrong side of it, the van gave up the ghost and would not circulate coolant from the engine to the radiator. (HVAC blew cold, engine wanted to grenade) Pulled over, called a cab, game over (hey at least I made it from a FS road to the city). But now I need to pick it up tomorrow and get it home.

P.O. installed SVX engine, I know nothing about the cooling system in vans or subaru conversions. My guess is it is air locked and needs to be bled. I see a tap valve on the main coolant pipe that looks like a bleed valve. But I have no idea how to do this, and a cursory search does not illicit a clear answer, just pages of techniques for different setups.

I should note BOTH the supply and return line to the rear bench heater are now cut and plugged.

Would some kind soul please tell me if I need to loop those and how to bleed the system so that I can get it home before the parking ticket nazis and PNW meth heads descend on my van like some Tim Burton Holiday Horror Show?

[malibu]

What were your engine temp? If your engine is going to overheat the rear heater is going to be the first thing to pop.

What were all the other adventures you had between the FS road and town?

Pretty much your only option for bleeding on the side of the road without moving it would be a garden sprayer hooked up to your blue cap and pump coolant in with the front rad cracked. I would hook the heater hoses together with a barb connector instead of plugging them.
_________________
85 westy weekender - 2.5 suby
85 full westy - 2.2 suby - Sold

[Tobias Duncan]

The added water is not the problem.
If you are pretty sure it needs to be bled I would make a libby bong and head back over there in the morning.
I remember something about subarus needing to circulate through the rear heater core so yes I think you need to loop them together.

[insyncro]

Have lt towed.

For the final fix, do not loop the heater circuit.
Trace back to the Ts and remove it all and use straight unions.

You must have a proper bypass loop installed for the thermostat to work properly.
I highly recommend the reversed coolant manifold technique for the EG33.

[Syncrozilla]

[flomulgator]

I need to learn HOW to bleed the system, like the very basics. Where is this radiator valve? How to I get to it? Etc...

Answers to questions:
As I limped out of the BC coolant slowly burped out of the hot/in side of the heater core (top), driven by I-dunno-what on the cold/out side.
When I hit the first town I got to a (crappy) auto store and rigged a better hose plug for the busted supply hose, and also a hokey plug for the broken top of the heater.

This lasted another 40 miles until I hit stop and go traffic. The hokey plug in the top of the heater core got pushed out by steam, and then blew more fluid out. At this point I chopped the out/return/cold hose and plugged it, topping off on water once again. This is when the engine stopped circulating coolant, and I parked it for good about a mile later. Water and oil temps, and oil pressure were all rock solid up until this point, and I did not let them climb into scary country for that one mile, so I think my engine is fine.

It sounds like I need to have the coolant flowing through that loop?
I should point out that the van is pointed downhill where parked.

Towing: We had to get somewhere last night and didn't have time. I'll certainly pull that card to get it home today if I need to, but I have a cold engine and a few hours to play with.

[insyncro]

If you search EG33 conversion here and the yahoo groups Subaru Conversion site, you will find plenty of data, how tos, skematics.....

If you are not very mechanical and lack tools, I would have a professional take a look and be there when you start it again.
If it is roasted, running it will cost you more money to fix it.

Best of luck with it.
Not a fun situation to be in.

[flomulgator]

Yeah I was just feeling really pressed for time last night and sifting through reams of pages to find how to do a single common procedure seemed daunting, thus the SOS. I'm sure you can understand the sense of desperation that comes with hours of fighting to get home and then having to ditch your van in a sketchy part of town. I'm a bit more calmed down now and actually found where all the how-to guides are on this site (because they aren't stickies in the proper sense I never noticed them).

I am mechanically inclined, but I'm new to the van club and have never dealt with the coolant system before. Knowledge does not come overnight, except when it has to!

Current plan to get it across town is to:

1. Fill hoses as much as possible, straight connect for now to make loop.

2. Use the following list to create a "Libby Bong"
1x 2"x30" black pipe(pre cut piece sold at homedepot)
1x 2" to 1 1/2" rubber reducer with clamps
1x 5/16" brass hose barb
10ft of 5/16" silicone hose, couldn't get any smaller quanity.

3. Figure out how to remove SA grill, find bleed valve on top of radiator.

4. Fill bong, open valve.

5. Drive until T-Stat opens. Park and repeat.

6. If the temps start climbing above standard operating temps I will call in the cavalry.

[Wildthings]

Some Subaru conversions require flow through the rear heater in order to cool properly. With no heater flow the thermostat doesn't open and the engine overheats. So yes you may need to either feed coolant through the rear heater or loop the two tees in the heater lines together. In the last instance you will need some kind of orifice so that you still get sufficient flow to the front heater.

Buy yourself an AAA membership with 200 mile towing. Way cheaper than wasting engines out trying to make it home.

[insyncro]

I would leak down test the motor.

I do not agree with looping the rear heater lines without the heater plumbed.

Check the schematics of EG33 conversions.

Is yours reversed or stock.

A top down picture of the engine compartment will allow me to answer that for you if you do not know.

[flomulgator]

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[flomulgator]

[insyncro]

Appears to the the stock coolant flow and NOT reversed.

You should be able to find schematics for this routing.
The thermostat will need to be feed with a proper bypass loop for the engine to attain and maintain full operating temperature.

[Christopher Schimke]

[insyncro]

Hawk eye.
I can barely see a weld on my phone.

OP, is there a coolant hose or pipe entering the manifold under the power steering pump?
Is there a temp sensor around that area with a none factory welded bung?


If no wrap aroundline, Christopher nailed it...I need glasses and that engine needs a cleaning

[insyncro]

A picture of the pass side lower portion of the front of the engine will show the tstat housing and the routing to it as well.

The line Christopher is referring to seems small in diameter to me to mate with the front to back cooling lines.
Does it Y and connect to the expansion tank?

[flomulgator]

At van, can verify that coolant manifold is reversed. Very large pipe going off forward side of manifold. Smaller pipe (prob in previous pic) goes from top manifold to burp tank.

[insyncro]

Ok.
I will look closer when I am on a computer.
I cant see a thing on my Blackberry.

I will find the routing schematic and post it ASAP.

[insyncro]

Ok.
I will look closer when I am on a computer.
I cant see a thing on my Blackberry.

I will find the routing schematic and post it ASAP.

[flomulgator]

Well that didn't work. First I looped the heater hoses. Then I bonged the vehicle while cold until it bled out the radiator. Then I drove it around the block a few times to turn the t-stat on. Once warm t got hot quick. I then opened the burp tank and it had some pressure behind it and hissed then refilled from somewhere. Set the bong back up, cracked the bleed screw, turned on the front HVAC full heat, and turned the van back on. Nothing happened, HVAC blew cold air, coolant trickled out the bleed screw, and the bog stayed full. Actually as the engine got warmer it got too full and took a trip out the hooka pipeand onto manifold to give me that steamy sweet glycol high I've been hankering since my last hit.
Do I get a badge for being the first sucker to inadvertently hit the Libby Bong?

Also the engine temp kept climbing and the HVAC and rear heater loop hoses kept cold. I threw in the towel and called AAA for a tow home. I'm thinking this will require a pressure chamber and the petcock valve on the coolant return pipe. Could still use advice on restoring flow though, as I'm just displacing this problem to my driveway.