refitting engine on saturday coolant?

[clartsonly]

Hi

I am hopefully putting the engine back in after helicoiling the exhaust and giving it a service, part of my servicing was replacing the rusty old thermstate housing to engine bolts, I have used instant gasket between the block and the housing.

When I start it up should I only use water and get up to temperature and bleed the system fully to check for leaks under pressure, or simply use coolant and if I have a leak somewhere collect the fluids again for reuse.

I am doubtful about spending an hour bleeding and testing with tap water, and then having to do it all again once everything is cold again.

[ermie571]

right, this may be a stoopid answer as its based on female logic (God help us all...)

coolant is 60/40 split, 60% water right?

so, why not shove the 60% in and start pumping it round....surely that would give an indication of any immediate water leaks?

Then if all clear, you can carry on with the 40% posh stuff?

As I said, tis only an idea.

Em
x

[Ian Hulley]

Antifreeze/water is 50/50, if you use a generic blue antifreeze it's cheap anyway. |t'll only be out again within 2 years anyway

Ian

[clartsonly]

I agree with the "it'll be out again within two years) and I only have 5 litres so it will be 60/40, I am not sure half filling with water (female logic) will do anything apart from cause no end of problems.

I will go with the coolant mix and look for leaks to solve after without the need for repurchase, or maybe I will only get a couple of litres.

[ermie571]

Clart....

thanks for the comment. ...just out of interest why would it cause problems....I am NOT suggesting you run it up to temp or owt - We did ours water first, and it became apparent pretty dam quickly that one jubilee clip wasn't tight, and the temp switch in the thermostat housing wasn't seated correctly. We hadn't even turned the engine on at that point!!! Just poured water in and pressed whatever pipes we could to make it circulate! Once I managed to keep water in the thing without obvious leaks, we went ahead and did the rest of the bleeding procedure. But we got as much in as possible before firing it up.

Good luck!

Emx