wheelin66

Need some help. The water pump in my 2003 was leaking so I replaced it yesterday. Took it for a trip today and for 20 minutes it didn't get hot. Then when the temp gauge started to move, it quickly moved clear to the right side. I have heard of guys having to "burp" the system after they replace the water pump. Is this true? How do you do it? Or, is it more likely a thermostat? Please let me know what you can as this is the truck my wife drives to work and I need to get it back on the road quick! Thanks.

Geico266

Did you top it off when you got home?

wheelin66

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that both the rad and overflow bottle are full.

PoorMansCat

hey wheelin.... sounds like u have air trapped under the thermostat... Find a place as high on the engine as u can but behind the thermostat and bleed the air out from there... If you've driven it that far and you saw the temp guage spike out, it may have bled the air out right then... When there is air in the system it works is way up behind the thermostat. The thermostat(like at h2o temp guage) won't function properly with hot air, it must be submerged by coolant.

wheelin66

Thanks for the input, that makes sense to me. How do I bleed the air out thought? Do I need to pull the thermostat and fill the engine block with coolant or is there a way to just bleed the air out?

bulabula

I like to drill a small hole in the t-stat to permit the airbubble to escape. Some t-stats already have the hole there.

bgott

Drill the small hole or prop the thermostat open with an aspirin or two. The aspirin will melt away once you have the cooling system full.

ZacHolley

what i had to do is to take the hose off that connects to the thermostat and hold the hose up where its not leaking then pull the thermostat out put coolant in it and then put the hose back on....

that fixed it for me I made it 40 miles before mine over heated I replaced a 300 somthin dollar fan clutch before i realized what it was and it was an air pocket.....

just like these stupid LT1 chevy motors I have they are horrible about it but at least they have a bleeder screw valve that will spray constant once all the air is gone....

wheelin66

Thanks for all of the info guys. I will try it out today after work!

ZacHolley

be sure to let us know what it is