I just thought I would update this for anyone else who might stumble across this thread in a search. I did not get the problem fixed right away and the car ended up sitting getting some other work done on it before I tried to drive it again, the first time I started it up (1 year after filling the radiator) the car was fixed, It blew warm heat after a few minutes and the whole radiator got hot once the car got up to temp.
Fast forward to this past weekend and I blew a heater hose on the way home from work, car overheated, lost tons of coolant, etc. After fixing the hose I had the same bleeding issues and didnt have time to let it sit for a year to let the bubbles work themselves out. I tried filling it with the lower heater hose off until I saw coolant, did not work, I burped radiator hoses by hand as much as possible, still nothing. Took it for a drive up and down some steep hills, still not working. What finally worked was pulling the upper radiator hose and then blowing into the expansion tank with a piece of hose that I fashioned to seal on the top of the expansion tank. I held the upper radiator hose as high and possible(with the front of the car on jack stands) and was able to get all the air out from the top radiator hose by pressurizing the tank with my mouth. When I started up the car I had hot heat and a cool engine. This time it only took me one day to bleed it instead of a year, at this rate of improvement the next time should only take 20 minutes :)
Fast forward to this past weekend and I blew a heater hose on the way home from work, car overheated, lost tons of coolant, etc. After fixing the hose I had the same bleeding issues and didnt have time to let it sit for a year to let the bubbles work themselves out. I tried filling it with the lower heater hose off until I saw coolant, did not work, I burped radiator hoses by hand as much as possible, still nothing. Took it for a drive up and down some steep hills, still not working. What finally worked was pulling the upper radiator hose and then blowing into the expansion tank with a piece of hose that I fashioned to seal on the top of the expansion tank. I held the upper radiator hose as high and possible(with the front of the car on jack stands) and was able to get all the air out from the top radiator hose by pressurizing the tank with my mouth. When I started up the car I had hot heat and a cool engine. This time it only took me one day to bleed it instead of a year, at this rate of improvement the next time should only take 20 minutes :)
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