Re: 97 LT1


I'm appealing to you guys for an issue that has been bothering me lately. I had to replace the water pump last week and now with everything put back together it should be the easy part of just refilling with coolant and im on my way. Well im not.

After opening the two bleed screws and adding coolant until a solid stream comes out according to the directions in my manual i should run the car with the radiator cap off until the thermostat opens and fill until the radiator is full. This simply doesnt happen to me. Every time after 3 or more minutes of idle the coolant slowly starts spilling out of the neck of the radiator. What dumbfounds me even more is after happening several times now i know there is actually less coolant in there now than previously. I have let the car cool down then check the level in the radiator and its full even though i just lost a bit of coolant. The car wont overheat but i can tell its running slightly warmer than before. I replaced the thermostat and both upper and lower hoses are hot to the touch after idling for a few minutes. I have pressure tested the cooling system and the car holds pressure steady without any loss of psi.

My question is what am i doing wrong and how do i actually end up adding coolant instead of losing coolant? Any help is appreciated.

 

best thing to do is just use the overflow tank the cap is approved to 18 pounds of pressure which camaros use just about all of that best thing to do is fill the overflow start it up let it heat up do the bleeder screw thing untill coolant comes out then close them and refill whats used from the over flow and these cars are made to run hotter then most so dont be afraid just dont let it get to the red ever..... hope i helped

 

when you bleed it park it on the steepest hill you can with the front of the car on the up side. when changing the opti i have left the front of mine on jackstands and filled the radiator and did a pre bleed and refill the let it set overnight and refilled the next day before starting, if you wait for the motor to warm enough to open the therostat then you are going to see an overflow from the expansion of the coolant. ok ill go through this for you, get the front of the car up, let it cool and fill the radiator, open the lower bleeder/bleeders and close when coolant comes out, refill the radiator and start the car with the cap off, if the coolant level drops refill and put the cap on, now bleed the air out of the bleeder on the hose by the alternator. if on jack stands turn the motor off and lower, then take it for a spin around the block and re park on a hill with the front up. let cool and re fill the radiator,open the lower bleeder to check for air. put cap back on and start, bleed the bleeder in the hose, and take it for a spin around the block. redo this till you get no air.

 

And probably why you're not seeing the coolant level go down after the engine heats up, is because the thermostat might not be opening at all. The stat opens/closes by reading the coolant temperature, not air temperature. If the coolant level in the block is down and there is a pocket of air surrounding the probe of the stat, it's not going to be reading true engine/coolant temperature. One trick for these p.i.t.a. LT1's is to drill two tiny bleed holes opposite each other in the base of the thermostat. That will help the coolant bleed past the closed stat, and into the block. What a nice design this Camaro has eh? I don't have this bleeding issue with my LT1 Vette, it has a separate reservoir with flow-through coolant lines coming from and going back to the engine.

 

Many thank you's to you guys. As always you're on point with good advice.

I followed the shbox and this forums suggestion of adding coolant to the block through the water pump in order to reduce trapped air. I mention this because I think camaro69 hit it on the head that the thermostat might not be opening or possibly in this case she's already full and I'm trying to add coolant to a block that's full. As for the coolant expanding, running with this theory, since she's full and I have bled her there's no where for the coolant to expand except out of the open radiator cap. As I have mentioned she doesn't overheat and she runs well.

Craby thanks for the instructions I have followed them religiously when I changed the pump as I did my homework before doing the job thanks to the info here. Having the car elevated like you said really helps.

For what it's worth this is my 2nd pump as the 1st one from Oreilly's crapped out on me after only 3 months (weep hole leaking, masterpro brand). I ordered a Bosch so hopefully I have better luck with this one.

I am very happy I found this site as I am able to take much better care of my camaro with all this knowledge we have here.

Next up I need to change the plugs and plug wires. Just got the msd 8.5 mm wires today. I'm going to buy the NGK iridium plugs.

 

Master Pro remanned is not that great. Neither is the ultra cheap Best Test. I miss my A1 Cardone remanned those were actually good. The Master Pro New waterpumps are usually pretty good.

Massey

 

I've been searching for a coolant answer of my own, and stumbled into this thread. I just bought a 96, and the low coolant light is on. Of course, I don't have the owner's manual. So, I can't simply uncap the overflow reservoir and fill with coolant while the car is cold to the cold fill line? I did check the level on the dipstick, and it is only slightly low. After reading what the OP experienced, I don't want to top my coolant off the wrong way and make things worse. I feel a little clueless without the owner's manual coolant fill instructions.