Burping the cooling system on a freshly K-swapped golden era Honda can be HIGHLY aggravating….. to a newb. So, here’s some personal tips on handling the burping procedure. Oh and these tips are based on a cooling systems using a half-size or full size K-swap radiator and NOT a fkn tuck radiator setup – that’s a whole other fcking headache.
Get a No-Spill Funnel.
Using one of these is super handy, so buy or borrow one.
Use Proper Coolant.
Use factory Honda coolant or aftermarket pre-mixed coolant labeled for ASIAN VEHICLES bought from your local parts store/Walmart/etc. Forget running some oddball custom bullsh*t 80% water/20% water wetter – DON’T DEVIATE FROM OEM!
If the car is going to sit for long un-ran periods of time (ie. months) with an 80/20 mix situation that gets ignored, you will slowly deteriorate any factory steel plugs or freeze plugs on the engine. This actually happened to friend of mine. The oem steel freeze plugs in the cylinder head wore thin on the coolant side of the head and sprung a pin hole leak allowing his stupid 80/20 water wetter to mix with cylinder head oil! We wouldn’t have known this until Joe Alaniz caught wind of it after giving him this head for a refresh. Wild ass discovery for sure!
Use a Trusted Thermostat.
Run a virgin FACTORY HONDA THERMOSTAT. You cannot beat factory OEM these days.
If you need to cheap out, go with a Japanese/Nippon brand aftermarket tstat such as AISIN (P/N: THH-001 for K20A2/Z1/A3). Hybrid Racing and Tractuff are both trusted aftermarket alternatives because they use factory/Nippon OEM tstats.
No drilling holes in that shit either – you should NOT have to do this.
Stay away from the Chinese branded junk ass parts store thermostats on the market – they’re ALL short life garbage.
For those of you running those GAWD awful K-tuned knock off eBay/Amazon swivel thermostats…. those come with the most shittiest thermostats ever! But a fix for those is to run a factory Honda B-series thermostat. So do that or just switch back to a factory K-series tstat if you can or Hybrid Racing swivel or Tractuff tstat setup!
Set Climate Control.
Switch your climate control setting to FULL HOT before burping – other wise the thermal valve is going to stay closed and trap air.
If you’ve deleted your heater system and plugged the heater line to the tstat backhousing on the engine side you don’t need to worry about this.
Intake Manifold Recirculation Hose.
LEAVE THIS HOSE INTACT.
This is the hose that leads from the K-series tstat backhousing up to the manifold (like an RBC) or to a front facing water neck housing. You will 100% have cooling issues if you delete this hose – SO LEAVE IT!
Radiator Fan.
Make sure your radiator fan is properly hooked up dummy! No working fan = no cooling a stationary vehicle.
Make sure your fan’s push/pull polarity is CORRECT or else it wont be shooting the proper CFM’s at the radiator.
Vehicle Height & Cycling Height.
THIS IS KEY.
At the start of the burping process, raise the car up as high as it can go on jack stands. Start that sucker up and keep an eye on the coolant level and bubbles popping in the funnel while also keeping an eye on the vehicle temp gauge and/or on the Hondata Mobile app (if you’re using a KPRO v4 ecu). At some point, perhaps about 15mins in, lower the car back on ground level (if possible) and give it a 10min burp session whilst on the ground. Leveling the car on the ground may jog some trapped air. Then raise the car back up and continue again. The radiator fan should kick on two times during the burping process – after the second time it should be good to go. Your temps should be fluctuating in the 178-200 degree range landing somewhere in the mid 180’s when the fan starts to kick on. If its getting past 210 degrees and the fan isn’t kicking on somethings up!
Holding a Steady Rev.
Holding
Massage Those Heater Hoses.
Once you’ve top coolant off and the engine is running, you’ll want to periodically massage/squeeze the upper and lower radiator hoses to help jog flow that can help dislodge trapped air bubbles. Just be mindful of the hoses getting hot and not burn yourself. You really only need to do this until the tstat opens up and the lower hose starts to warm up/get hot. If the lower hose gets warm/hot you’re almost done son!
Coolant Reservoir Check.
Make sure your coolant reservoir tank has SOME coolant in it. Don’t leave it dry during the burping process.
Radiator Cap Check.
Inspect your radiator cap if its used or old. Those suckers can go bad and break apart and cause pressure issues if they’re falling apart.
Test Drive That Jawn!
If your car is in a drivable state, go give it a light 10-15min test drive and keep an eye on the temps and also for leaks! If the temp needle stays in that factory cool position – you’re good KING. If you’re up to it, give it a romp and get the high rpm coolant flow going and see if all holds up and check for weeps n leaks.
..that is all for now.