redvxr8clubby
16-11-2014, 09:30 PM
Had a problem with the VE SV6 (SIDI) a week ago, I was towing my caravan and the top radiator hose came off the radiator, anyway the hose is OK and nothing broken on the radiator so refilled it with water and put a screw type clamp on the hose, all good. Now as I lost a fair amount of coolant and the car is just under 5 years old, I figure may as well drop the coolant and replace with new. I have pulled off the bottom hose at the engine and coolant dropped of course, though I suspect it didn't drop 10 litres, but as I didn't collect it I don't know for sure. So I go to fill coolant via the cap which is hidden under the engine cover and also topped up via the yellow coolant cap adjacent to the radiator, I have hardly been able to add any coolant via the cap under the engine cover, I have added some via the usual coolant cap. I have only added about 2 or 3 litres back in, and it won't take any more coolant via the cap under the engine cover and I'm not sure that much of the coolant added into that refill point is finding its way into the engine. When the top hose came off there was no problem adding the water via the cap under the engine cover. I have changed coolant in a number of cars before and usually flushed by pulling of the top hose, then put the hose back and refill by the radiator cap, but the VE seems to be not quite so simple. I know some Commodores have bleed screws on thermostat housing, but in the VE I can't see any such screw and not even sure about the thermostat location. Any clues on the best way to refill the coolant and be confident the air in the cooling system is expelled (including locations of bleed screws and anything else that's relevant)? I did do a search before posting this and didn't find much except one by Wonky with a VS V6, I did have a VS V6 for 13 years and would have changed the coolant several times without much of a problem, but there seems to be something different with the VE.