Cooling System

[DMCVegas@xxxx]

The night before last I finally got around to installing all the new 
upgrades for my car. One item was the Overheat Protector by DMC Joe @ 
DeLorean Services. Installation was beyond simple, and took less then 
10 minutes. Tools needed were a couple of rachets, a screwdriver, and 
some pruning shears. With a cold engine block, the coolant loss/mess 
was very minimal. All I had to do then was top off the coolant 
overflow bottle, and run the engine! The unit started working right 
away. Normally without bleeding the system, the temp will rise 
quicker then normal. But it took quite a bit longer this time.

The DeLorean cooling system itself does a good job of cooling the 
engine. There only problem with the system is air getting trapped 
inside. If too much air becomes trapped in the top of the water pump 
housing (the highest point in the system), it looses suction. Once 
suction is gone, water stops pumping, and you know the rest. My 
mechanic says that it can take quite a while to bleed all of the air 
out of the system on the DeLorean. And from what I've seen, he's 
right.

Bleeding the system is not impossible or very difficult at all. But 
it is a chore. When bleeding off the system, you are not just 
bleeding air, but coolant as well. If you bleed too much at a time 
out, the level in the surge tank will drop low enough that air will 
be sucked back into the system. You also can't leave the pressure cap 
off the tank because once the engine reaches it's specific temp, the 
thermostat will open up. I tried bleeding the system back into the 
overflow tank to avoid coolant loss. This resulted in coolant exiting 
the overflow bottle with all the sutlety and heat of a small volcano. 
I didn't get burned, but I did waste a quite a bit of fresh 
antifreeze. So to bleed the system properly I've always bled off a 
little coolant at a time into a bucket, wait 'till the engine cools, 
refill over flow bottle, start over...

That's where the self-bleeding kit comes in. Once installed, there 
should be no problem with bleeding the system ever again. The system 
works fine in as doing it's job. It just needs that extra step taken.

But on a different subject, I have no idea as to why DMC never used 
the same cooling system from the Alpine on the DeLorean. It looks 
like the system can bleed itself. But with the Overheat Protector in 
place, researching the changeover isn't even warranted...

-Robert
vin 6585