Coolant flush on o Oldsmobile Silhouette

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Anyone on here ever flush coolant on a 98ish Oldsmobile Silhouette, aka Chevy Venture? I attempted to do so on my sisters van and was the most difficult coolant flush I've ever done. You can't fill the radiator via the radiator it has to be done through the reservoir. Although I found the bleeder screw in the thermo housing after the fact so could be possible after all. Finally resorted to filling the reservoir and applying vaccum to the bleeder screw. Took forever and a day. I'm I missing something there has to be better process.

On top of that I couldn't use the radiator petcock. It looked like the radiator was cracking around and didn't want to chance it. Pulling the lower radiator hose is only fun twice. And it did have the intake gasket problem but didn't look bad considering. Has 208k on the odo.
 
How do you normally do it? For any car I usually take the thermostat out, disconnect the upper radiator hose at the radiator and reverse flush. What prevents you from following this procedure with the Silhouette?
 
You need this special funnel to fill the cooling system in that van. It will get the level higher than the engine. Just put the funnel onto the radiator, fill it, crack open the bleeder untill only water/coolant comes out then shut the bleeder.

As for draining it. Stick a small hose down the radiator cap hole and siphon it out. Thats how we do it at the shop.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MATCO-RAD...sspagenameZWDVW
 
The thermostat on a GM 3.1/3.4 is a pita to change, you have to remove the exhaust crossover. They don't have a cap on the radiator either, so you can't use that funnel.(though they work well when you can use them)
Usually you can bleed the system out by filling the system, crack the bleeder, and start the engine. That will help burp the air.
Once coolant starts running out the bleeder, you can close it.
Then let it run and monitor the temp and coolant level, once the thermostat opens it may burp more air out.
It may keep burping air bubbles for a while, just keep an eye on it and once it stops burping you should be fine.
Unfortunately most mini vans are more difficult to bleed the coolant on than your average car, the radiator sits low and creates air traps.
 
Interesting funnel.. learn something new everyday. Cronk that sounds exactly like how it worked out. You could tell when it would burp the temp gauge would drop. Starting the engine didn't seem to help though. This is the first mini-van I've worked and hopefully it's the last what a pain in the hindquarters. Although the brakes will need to done soon and just filling the MC takes ingenuity.
 
Those work like a charm on Honda motors and any Japanese motor with PITA to access air bleeds like Nissans.

I'm contemplating on getting a Air Lift from Matco when I need to change coolant on the Sienna or the Prius.
 
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