how to fill the radiator

[corvairbob]

i had to pull the head on the 2.4 ecotec engine. well, i drained the radiator and now when i try to refill it using the tank up by the battery it runs out the bottom of that tank. i took a mirror and checked the bottom of the tank and it looks like there is a factory hole that goes up into the tank. i did not see any cap on the radiator, i took the covers off over the radiator and i did not see any cap.

i looked for YT videos and did not see anything for the 2013 equinox. so if i have to use the tank at the battery area just how do i get the coolant in without it running out on the floor. now i have half a gallon of coolant on the floor because i was not expecting it to run out of the tank. thanks, bp.

 

[bearbait]

I think there should be a hose running to engine . Either you disconnected hose or broke connection. That is how it is on my 2008.

 

[corvairbob]

nope the coolant tank has 1 hose going to the thermostat and one going to the return hose to the radiator. what i wound up doing was take that little hose to the return off the engine and put my hand vacuum pump on it and pulling a vacuum on the system, the pulled some coolant out of the reservoir and then i refilled that until i got coolant into the hand pump. then we ran the car and it finished filling itself doing the hot and cold cycle. since then i got a vacuum system that you pull a vacuum on the system at the coolant tank and then open a valve to the coolant in a container sitting next to the coolant tank, that is said to be the best way to fill coolant systems now. unlike years ago when all you did was take off the radiator cap and pour it in until that was full. thanks

 

[bearbait]

Sounds like a real PIA. There has to be an easier way. Makes me want to keep my 2008 longer as it seems like it might be easier to maintain. Besides, it is a V6 and they are getting harder and harder to come by in the new ones!

 

[corvairbob]

i do not think the new equinox's come in a v6 when i looked in rock auto i do not remember seeing those.

actually that process is not to hard to do it is just that you need another tool. you hook up an air compressor to it and run it to 25 pounds of vacuum and then take the other hose and put that in the coolant you are wanting to put in the car and turn on the valve. when it gets to 0 the system is full. but like you said sometimes the old ways are just better.

i did the chains in the engine and then the girl tells me it sucks oil like a boat and so i pull the head and see the valves are in need of some tlc and then i pull the oil pan and find lots of the timing pars in the oil pickup. then i pull the rods and see they are .003 clearance so i pull the pistons and the oil rings are frozen to the pistions. so i pull the engine and do an overhaul on it. and then i find the stem seals are hard as rocks, so she was losing oil from the rings and the stem seals.

so then i install another old-school pvc system on the oil cap and run that to the bottom of the intake. now she is complaining of the engine stumbling when it warms up at stops. so outside of the overhaul that is a normal thing the pvc i installed might be causing the engine to stumble when it warms up. so today i put a hose clamp on the pvc hose and choked it off until i saw the pinto in the pvc valve open to almost open. and now we will see if maybe it was getting a lean condition and that was causing some misfires. so now if it runs good then it was probably too lean. so i told her to drive it and see if the stumble goes away. if it does then i told her to open that clamp 1/4 turn every night when she gets home and then do that until it starts to stumble again and then turn it back 1/4 turn and that should be the sweet spot. but if it still stumbles tonight then i told her to just turn it tight and choke off the pvc and this weekend i will remove it.

something changed after the overhaul. so now i have to figure that out. it might even be the torque converter lockup messing up. so if anyone has a fix for the stumble send that along. thanks, bp