I just bought a Ford 1997 4.0 L explorer XLT. I drained the coolant from the radiator but when I add back in the coolant into the radiator, there is almost one gallon less going back in.

So, I think there is air in the system. How do i take the air out ? Where is the air engine bleed valves or nuts? What procedure should I use to maximize my chance of getting all air out? Thanks for any input.

 

Some Ford products needing seperate air bleeding (Such as my son's 95 Mustang 3.8L) had a bleed cap on the waterneck for the top radiator hose. It is situated behind the thermostat. If you cannot find one, what I generally do is fill the radiator till water is 3-4 inches below top and run the engine till thermostat opens, refilling as needed. This will get most air out. Over the next several run cycles of heating and cooling down, the rad will siphon fill from the overflow tank if you keep enough water in there, the cap is good, and overflow hose is in good condition.
Dialtone

 

Thanks Dialtone. I need that info. I will do that tomrrow morning. I did see a a pipe standing up from the radiator. I think this might be a air bleeding vlalve of some kind. It goes to the radiator.

If I used the use your second idea, will the air go out of the system to the coolant reservoir since I have the radiator cap on with no air to escape except maybe trhough the coolant reservoir. I will be checking the level in the radiator very carefully so I don't ever heat the water pump or head casket. I lost my van recently because of this heating problem and bought a used Ford 1997 explorer. It has couple of problems on it. The horn doesn't work also. i have not tried the cruise control yet. The relay and fuse are good so I guess it must be some kind of switch at the wheel that is open or wires are broken. It looks to me, the explorers and F150 trucks have such problems. Is this a factory defect and should be recalled?

Fordtennis.

 

Update on air bleeding the coolant system, it works great. I use the second method since I can't find any air bleed on this explorer. It works because I put back in exactly the same amount of coolant I took out. Thanks for your idea.

Now, I have to deal with the horn and cruise problem which I found out is not working. Relays seem to be good and fuses also so I think it is the switch at the steering wheel that might be open or broken. Why Ford made lousy weak points at the wheel? No wonder it's losing market shares in recent years.

 

leave the radiator cap open and let the truck run up to operating temp (watch the gauge bc you dont want to over heat) make sure the radiator is full and when the termostat opens it will push the airout but watch out it will spit out at you the just keep filling that is what i did in my x

 

After I did the air bleeding, the engine light came on with the engine getting hot. I think there was too much heat and caused the engine light to lit.

How do i get the engine light to go off? I read some posts that taking the negative battery post out will reset the computer. Is that how I can get the engine light to go off? Thanks for any info.

 

yea it will

if it does not you will have to have the codes erased from the computer