With recent repairs, system won't bleed.

[Kbwalker23]

I've recently just swapped out the Degas Bottle, Thermostat housing, the water inlet connection (connects with thermo housing) as well as some unrelated parts (coils/brakes/belt).
I flushed the system from some cheap generic green coolant and am using the Motorcraft gold (I made sure to completely flush thensystem, heater core and all).
But now when I try to bleed the system of air, absolutely nothing will come out of the heater air bleed, I removed the hose and made sure it was clogged, and even if I squeeze on the upper radiator hose, only a drop will come out.
- I've successfully bled this system a handful a times before this.
Any suggestions or fixes? Or other ways to bleed?

 

[joegr]

It would help to know the year and the engine that you have.
Motorcraft/Jaguar or aftermarket parts?

Almost always (maybe always) the cause is that the system isn't pressurizing. Is it pressurizing? If not, it's because a part that you didn't replace has microcracks, aftermarket degas bottle, and/or you messed up a seal somewhere on something that you did replace.

 

[Kbwalker23]

05 Lincoln ls v8 3.9l Sport.
Everything is acting normal, the degas bottle is draining into the system when the car is running, other then that how do I know if it's pressurizing right?
And Motorcraft on everything except the thermostat housing.

 

[Kbwalker23]

These are what I replaced

 

[Kbwalker23]

Well, now that you said that, I had hell trying to get the water inlet center price to seal properly, and come to find out they had sold me the wrong gasket, so I had to pull it apart for a 3rd time to put that in, and used Red RTV (by recommendation) allowed it to sit the full 12 hours, and it's no longer leaking fluids (it was pouring out).

-where my finger is in the picture, the part it connects to holds the gasket.

Other then that everything else went in flawlessly

 

[joegr]

People have had bad luck with the aftermarket thermostat housing.
If you didn't replace the outlet tube that the crossover and thermostat attaches to, there's a really good chance that your problem is there.

Close the degas cap, engine fill cap, and bleed. Run the engine till it is warmed up. Feel the radiator hose. It should not be possible to squeeze it. If it still squeezes in, then it's not pressurized.

I don't think the RTV will work there. The 15PSI without a proper o-ring is enough to blow it out.

 

[Kbwalker23]

Ok, I'm assuming the upper radiator hose?
And my system has been drawing in air since I bought the car, but the heater air bleed always worked properly, I just had to do it once every week or two.

 

[joegr]

Are you sure it was the wrong one? It can be very hard to seat correctly, and impossible if the outlet tube is rotting away (I promise yours is).

 

[joegr]

It's also possible that chunks of the RTV have clogged the DCCV.

 

[Kbwalker23]

Are you sure it was the wrong one? It can be very hard to seat correctly, and impossible if the outlet tube is rotting away (I promise yours is).

Yes, its supposed to be a rounded ring (looks like a rubber hair tie) and they had given me a flat circle one like the thermostat housing.
And it had to have been replaced recently, it was in really good shape, and didn't have the stock bolts the rest of the parts I've seen that were stock have.

- on the RTV clogging the DCCV, that's what I was thinking, but I never started the car when I was doing all of this until after that RTV had cured. - we were pouring water directly into the Thermostat housing and watching for the leak.
But how would I check this? Just pull the hoses or..?

 

[Kbwalker23]

And anytime I squeeze this hose (car off) air bubbles into the resevoir.
If that helps any

 

[joegr]

The bubbles are from the engine air bleed. They're supposed to go there, but there shouldn't still be air in the engine circuit to bleed after the 2nd warmup after filling.
I can't see how you can get the outlet pipe to crossover pipe connection to seal without the correct o-ring (I did try once). I am also doubtful that the outlet pipe is newish considering the shape that the much-easier-parts-to-change were in. Lastly, the Dorman thermostat assembly might not correctly fit to the outlet pipe. We know that it does not allow as much coolant flow as the factory parts.

 

[Kbwalker23]

The assembly is motorcraft, the thermostat housing is dorman. And I had to take off both of those to put the correct gasket on to seal the connection between the assembly and water outlet pipe behind them.
It didn't seal at all at first, that's when I realized it was wrong and swapped them out, which then allowed it to seal.

 

[Kbwalker23]

I have the Motorcraft thermostat housing as well, Ill just have to order the thermostat that you build into it, in order to use it. I had to order the thermostat or I would of used it in the first place, and ford won't take it back because I "opened the box".
And I had taken the throttle body off and cleaned it, I had easy access to that outlet neck, and im positive it wasn't factory like assembly was (thermostat housing had been replaced before)
But if I need to swap it out too I will.

But before that, is there a way to check or anything I can put into the system to try and knock any possible RTV clogs loose?