Squeezing the hoses when the van's engine is cold is not going to tell you anything about whether or not there is air in your coolant system. Of course, squeezing them when the engine is hot won't tell you anything about air in the system, either. All that squeezing the hoses will tell you is whether or not the system is pressurizing, and it can do that whether there is air in the system or not.

As to the idea for clear hose for air dignosis - great idea, but there really aren't any hoses that will stand up to coolant system conditions for any length of time. Most will fail SOON. And that is a BAD THING. :P

The best way that I have found so far for finding air is to get the van hot, and then slowly open the bleeder on the radiator. Since that is the highest spot in the system, air usually (!!!) collects there.

                  Evan
 Last <Rubatoguy@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
I was under my van looking at the radiator hoses that connect the
radiator to the plastic pipes that run the length of the van.
The van was cold, and I was squeezing the hoses to see if they were
serviceable. However, it seemed like there was no liquid in the hoses as
there was no resistance when I squeezed them.
Is this a valid indicator that there is air trapped in the system?

Has anyone ever tried placing a small length of clear plastic
heat-resistant tubing midstream of the hose as a window to see if there
is any air in the system?
If I remove my bleed bolt on the radiator with the motor running, there
is plenty of coolant to leak out.

Todd
'88 westy

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