Almost on the road...Air in water pump?

[adam_knox]

Almost back on the road. After replacing the exhaust gasket 3 times, found out there's a gap in the welding on the the exhaust pipe itself. Need to drive to the place to get it fixed, but either my fan wheel is making a squeak or my water pump. Looked for the lubrication point on the wheel, can't seem to find it. Manual says its there, but my eyes say it ain't. (I think I need glasses!)

My thought is that I might have air in the radiator lines, as when fluid emptied out when I took the manifold off I just topped off by filling up the radiator. Do I need to do something different or will the air just work itself out? I flushed the radiator last spring, so I'm not worried about blockage. Would just sort of like to make sure I'm not going to burn out my water pump...

[BobT-47P15]

Are the four bolts holding the fan blade and pulley onto the pump tight?

Is the belt snug around its pulleys so it won't be slipping and squeaking?

(originally said "hose"....meant belt)

If there are bubbles in the radiator, that might mean a leaking head gasket....I

think. Usually not much problem when refilling the radiator. As you may know,

if you fill these old radiators clear to the top, they will usually burp out some of

it til it gets down to a bit lower level desired by the system. Shouldn't be any

bubbles or waves regarding that. It just happens when you are driving.

Edited June 11, 2009 by BobT-47P15

[Merle Coggins]

If you're still running an original generator you may also want to put a couple drops of oil in the oil cups to lube the generator bushings. They can also squeek when dry.

Merle

[greg g]

air in an old non pressurized system is not loke todays cars where everythig is sealed up and there is no place for trapped air to go. Any air will either works its way our or find the top of some cavity and park there. Many later replacement water pumps, (is this what you are refering to the fanwheel??) were built without grease fittings. So thoughthe book calls for one it may to be there on later stuff.

[chopt50wgn]

In most cases where an air bubble is either trapped in the pump or the block, the best way to get it freed up is to cycle the motor. That is,get it hot, let it cool down. If you keep doing this over time the bubble will free itself up.

[knuckleharley]

This is normally not a real problem. Start the car and let it warm up at a idle with the radiator cap off. Once the thermostat opens and it starts flowing water rev the engine up a few times to stir things up a little,and then let it idle again for a while. This will generally "burp" the system. If your radiator was full when you started and is still full when done,you may need to turn the engine off and allow it to get cold and repeat the process.

Make sure your heater is on while doing this in order to flush any air out of there,too.

You know you have done it when the water level in the radiator has dropped and you need to add water