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Refilling coolant on 2001 SIlverado

I did a few searches, and didn't find anything that might have answered my question. Sorry if I'm beating an old horse to death here...

I'm about to replace the upper and lower radiator hoses on my 2001 Silverado (5.3 V8) as part of doing some preventative maintenance. I found the coolant drain plug and hose on the driver's side, but it's a sealed system otherwise with no cap to refill the radiator. How the heck am I supposed to refill the main reservoir and how do you bleed the thing?

Thanks for any advice.

Reply to
martin.schuessler
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Call a chevy dealer yet?

Reply to
Meat Plow

Duramax

Reply to
Phantom_circuit

What about filling it through the overflow tank/resevoir?

Reply to
Mark Schooley

Attach the lower hoses, fill as much as possible through the upper radiator hose. Connect it up. Fill the reservoir to over the hot line and start the truck and let it warm up, with the Heat on FULL hot and the nose parked uphill. Let it burp out the air and then top off the reservoir. OR have a dealer pressure fill the system.

Reply to
Steve W.

I did talk to a dealer during lunch today, and he did mention that they use a pressure fill. I'm just worried that doing it the "other" way could cause air to be trapped and the truck overheat.

Reply to
martin.schuessler

FWIW - I just talked to a buddy of mine who has a Chilton manual. The steps it outlines to refill is:

1) Reconnect hoses

2) Fill to "Full cold" mark

3) Leave cap off, start engine, let idle one minute

4) Install cap, but leave loose, pressure must be able to escape

5) Raise engine speed to about 3000rpm in 30sec cycles until normal operating temp is reached

6) Turn off engine, remove cap, wait until hissing stops before removing cap

7) Restart engine, idle one minute, refill to 1/2" above "full cold" mark

8) Repeat 4-7 until full

Still kind worries me to have the engine running (even for a short period of time) without much of any coolant in the system.

I guess I could refill the radiator through the disconnected upper coolant hose as much as possible to alleviate some of my fears. I wonder if some of the coolant will run out of the reservoir and fill the radiator on its own though. Is there a vent for the air to escape to allow this?

Reply to
martin.schuessler

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