Coolant replacement on a 93' Chrysler Vision 3.5 - DodgeIntrepid.Net Forums - Dodge Intrepid, Concorde, 300m and Eagle Vision chat

CylXP · 11-18-2012, 04:48 PM

Hello everyone !

I am a new user of this forum, and I am French, so you will see that my english is not good at all...

So, I have a 93' (manufacture date is October 1993) Chrysler Vision 3.5L (called Eagle Vision in the USA) which only have less than 65 000 miles. It is in very very good condition, my father and I really take care of it, beacause we really love it.

So, here is my issue : I wanted to replace my old coolant and thermostat, but I still not have finished yet beacause of some problems.
First, I was searching the drain plugs of the block : in my official Chrysler repair manual, it is written that the plugs are located behing each exhaust manifold, but I was not able to find them. Is there someone who have a photo of those plugs?
Then, I have rinsed the circuit with a garden hose that I have plugged into every hole of the circuit (including both of the heater hoses).
Finally, after changing the thermostat and its gasket, I started filling the circuit. In my repair manual, it is written that we need to open the bleeder valve of the thermostat housing, and then fill the circuit until a flow of coolant goes out from the bleeder valve. My problem is that I don't have any coolant going out from this bleeder valve. Anyone has ever had this problem?

Many thanks in advance for you replies !

**cdmccul** · 11-18-2012, 04:51 PM

Did you open the bleeder valve?

There are no valves in the block, only frost plugs - do not worry about these.

CylXP · 11-18-2012, 04:56 PM

Of course I opened it. ;)
There are no drain (I am not talking of any other bleeder plugs, I really mean drain plugs) plugs on the block? It is written in my official Chrysler workshop manual. Is that a mistake?
Thank you for your help. ;)

**cdmccul** · 11-18-2012, 05:02 PM

There are no drain plugs on the block that I have ever found or opened. I'll go out and look at my spare block in the garage shortly.

With the car flat on the ground, or with the front wheels elevated, and everything hooked up, you open the bleeder valve, and then add coolant to the pressure tank on the passenger front fender. As you add coolant, you should get air first, then coolant from the bleeder valve.

Do you ever get fluid out the bleeder, or does it just overflow where you are adding it?

CylXP · 11-19-2012, 03:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdmccul

There are no drain plugs on the block that I have ever found or opened. I'll go out and look at my spare block in the garage shortly.

Ok, thank you very much.
You can also see that in this dodgeintrepid.net/manuals/LH/ELH_7.PDF repair manual for the 2nd gen , it is page 19.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdmccul

With the car flat on the ground, or with the front wheels elevated, and everything hooked up, you open the bleeder valve, and then add coolant to the pressure tank on the passenger front fender. As you add coolant, you should get air first, then coolant from the bleeder valve.

Do you ever get fluid out the bleeder, or does it just overflow where you are adding it?

Well, first when I have add coolant to the pressure tank, it overflowed and nothing was coming out from the bleeder valve. I have waited for 10 minutes, and still nothing, the level in the tank was not droping and still nothing in the bleeder valve.
Then, I closed the valve and had a lunch. So I tried again 1 hour later or so, and the tank was empty. I opened the bleeder valve, and I filled the tank, still nothing on the bleeder. But if I squeeze the uper hose of the radiator, then coolant is going to finally flow on the bleeder, but very very slowly.

I think the best for me is to empty the system and start again the filling procedure. That's why I would really like to find the 2 drain plugs of the block.

**cdmccul** · 11-19-2012, 09:08 AM

If you say that the level went down while you were at lunch, did you find that it leaked out to the ground? If so, fix the leak...but I'm guessing that you have a blockage in the coolant pipes going across the back of the engine. draining the block won't help that I'm afraid.
Second Gen blocks are different than first Gen... Probably why you are seeing the drains in the book, but not on the car.

Look for a pinched or collapsed hose from the back of the engine, around to the thermostat. I'm guessing that is where your issue is.

CylXP · 11-19-2012, 09:34 AM

Well, today I've seen some water on the ground, and it is indeed leaking. I think that the leak is because of the drain plug of the radiator, may be I have not screwed it correctly. I'll check that, and so the leak will be fixed.

But, I'm sure I haven't any hose pinched or anything else, everything is fine.

In the 1995 Chrysler factory repair manual I have, it is also written that we have to drain the block thanks to 2 plugs located behind each exhaust manifold. So, it looks like that this is also true for the first gen 3.5.

Another question : I changed the thermostat and its gasket, is there a particular way to mount it? Did i have to rotate it to align with something else, or no matters?

Here are some photos of my baby, if someone could be interested.

**cdmccul** · 11-19-2012, 11:23 AM

Very nice looking car.

We would be interested to hear from you how the headlights function... we'd like to know about how the self leveling system works.

CylXP · 11-19-2012, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdmccul

Very nice looking car.

Thank you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdmccul

We would be interested to hear from you how the headlights function... we'd like to know about how the self leveling system works.

I am sorry, but I don't know what do you mean by 'self leveling', I don't know what it is in french.

**cdmccul** · 11-19-2012, 12:22 PM

Do the headlights self adjust or self level themselves? Or do you have to aim the headlights manually?

CylXP · 11-19-2012, 12:35 PM

We have to set up the headlights level manually.

Some Vision/Intrepid/Concorde have a self adjust in the USA?

**cdmccul** · 11-19-2012, 01:04 PM

The US is all manual adjust - We were under the impression that the Euro-Spec Intrepids/Visions/Concord was all electric automatic adjust. Does your car have two light bulbs per side inside the headlight housing?

CylXP · 11-19-2012, 01:07 PM

Well, I don't know, I'll look that tomorow ! (it's 7:05 PM here

)

I've seen that you've done a motor swap on you Intrepid, could you please explain me all the steps to follow for the coolant system? And how to bleed that, to be completly sure that there is no more air bubbles in the system?

Thank you in advance.

**cdmccul** · 11-19-2012, 02:23 PM

Well, here is how I always do these sorts of things...

I drain the coolant from the radiator at the drain plug.

I then service the engine however it is needed (thermostat, lower intake manifold, heater core, radiator, hoses, etc), and then button it all back up.

I then install a flushing tee.

I install it in the hose going to the heater core. I generally install it into the driver's side hose on the Intrepid, because you can get to it to install the hose or install the cap.

I leave the fill cap off the pressure tank, and leave the drain plug open too. I then turn on the water for the hose and then start the car. I let it run till the engine is fully warmed up and the thermostat opens, then run it a bit longer. When the water runs clear out the openings, I shut the engine off and then quickly turn the water off too.

Let the system drain as much as possible, and then install the radiator drain plug.

THEN you fill the engine with 1/2 of the total capacity of the cooling system with 100% full strength antifreeze. So, if the system is a total of 1.5 gallons, I pour in .75 gallons of antifreeze. If the system is 3 gallons, I pour in 1.5 gallons of antifreeze.

In the LH cars, I pour in 1 gallon of antifreeze. I ONLY run Zerex G-05 coolant - but any antifreeze that fits the G-05 standard is acceptable. I do not run universal fluids, I do NOT run DexCool.

You should be able to pour in just about all of the coolant, if not all of it. If you can't get at least 75% of the gallon of coolant into the car, I'm guessing you have a blockage.

After adding this much full strength antifreeze, I then attach a small clear vinyl hose to the bleeder valve, and run the other end of the hose down into the now hopefully empty antifreeze jug. I then add plain water to the overflow tank and watch the fluid flowing through the vinyl hose. I pour water into the coolant tank a little at a time, till I have a reasonable amount of liquid in the jug with the hose in it, then swap jugs and pour the recovered fluid into the coolant tank. I continue to alternate jugs till the fluid coming out of the hose has no bubbles in it. Generally, this doesn't take very long at all.

Every so often I have had to coax the bleed to start, and I've done that by opening the valve, squeezing the upper radiator hose, then closing (or blocking with my finger) the bleed valve and letting go of the hose - then do that again a few times till you end up pumping coolant out of the valve. But it should flow fine after that.

GTXKen · 11-19-2012, 03:24 PM

What a great looking Vision, I imagine it is huge compared to most cars in France and very roomy. From the pictures the headlamp assembly looks very different than the US counterpart. There is only a single drain valve on my Vision located on the passenger side of the radiator, its awkward to get to and is accessed from the backside of the radiator. My car happens to be on stands at this very moment and I just confirmed that there are no block drains, at least on my US version of the car. I'm curious, what manual are you using?