Hey guys, got a technical question for ya'll.

When accelerating in our TR, we sometimes get like a bubbling/sloshing noise from what sounds like its behind the centre of the dash. Only happens when accelerating and generally in the 2500-3500RPM range (not specific to that range, but generally when it occurs).

We already know its water in the heater core, but what we need is a permanent solution. Draining the heater core removes the problem temporarily, but it always comes back, and as you probably know, the heater core isn't the easiest part of the car to get to.

Anyone who's had this problem (I'm presuming some of you may have, I know another person with the same problem so its not just mine) who have managed to fix this, please let me know how, its driving us all batty!

Cheers.

Yeah Pookys TR does the same thing.......... I just turn up the tunes till it gets bored with doin it. :D

Yeah Pookys TR does the same thing.......... I just turn up the tunes till it gets bored with doin it. :D
Well thats what we're doing atm, but a solution would be nice hey.

Come on someones gotta know, its bloody annoying.

lol the only sound my TS makes when accelerating is from the engine and exhaust (oh and the tranny scream:bowrofl:), sorry dude i'm not a very technical person cant help you much there lol

for it to makes those sort of sounds you could assume there's air getting in it (does it have any leaks anywhere..... also within that rev range the water pump is pushing hard which would make the bubbling louder.

are you losing coolant? and if so....
are there bubbles coming through when the car is running and radiator cap off?
have you had the system checked or worked on lately?
is the coolant circulating correctly correctly?
is it pressurising correctly?

and i have a TF which doesnt have a heater tap, does yours have a tap?

sorry bout all the questions

for it to makes those sort of sounds you could assume there's air getting in it (does it have any leaks anywhere..... also within that rev range the water pump is pushing hard which would make the bubbling louder.

are you losing coolant? and if so....
are there bubbles coming through when the car is running and radiator cap off?
have you had the system checked or worked on lately?
is the coolant circulating correctly correctly?
is it pressurising correctly?

and i have a TF which doesnt have a heater tap, does yours have a tap?

sorry bout all the questions

We're not losing coolant no, no leaks as such at all. What exactly is a heater tap? Sorry I'm not that technologically minded under the bonnet of a car, only know the basics. We do know its the heater core, how the water gets in and why it bubbles (boiling point maybe?) is a mystery to us, theres no cracks or lose seals as such, and when the water is drained out it stops, it seems to be a matter of stopping it from getting back in, but when we don't know how its getting in thats a hard thing to fix. Thats why I was hoping someone on here may have known.

It seems to be caused by the heater core pipes being slightly higher than the supply pipes from the engine.
The water tends to run back into the engine leaving air in the system behind the dash.
Some do it, some dont, it seems to be random ............ maybe its how they put in the pipes at the factory, some just slightly higher than others, beats me but I cant get rid of it in mine.

It seems to be caused by the heater core pipes being slightly higher than the supply pipes from the engine.
The water tends to run back into the engine leaving air in the system behind the dash.
Some do it, some dont, it seems to be random ............ maybe its how they put in the pipes at the factory, some just slightly higher than others, beats me but I cant get rid of it in mine.

That seems to make sense, guess its just something we have to live with then, or adjust the height of the heater core pipes, if thats possible.

Cheers mate.

lol the only sound my TS makes when accelerating is from the engine and exhaust (oh and the tranny scream:bowrofl:), sorry dude i'm not a very technical person cant help you much there lol
If you don't have anything constructive to add, don't post.

On topic; I get the same sloshing noise, does it occur to you when the car starts up, and then for a minute or two after that? I've always wondered what it was, I hoped it wasn't something harmful.

If you don't have anything constructive to add, don't post.

On topic; I get the same sloshing noise, does it occur to you when the car starts up, and then for a minute or two after that? I've always wondered what it was, I hoped it wasn't something harmful.

Nope, never on start up or cruising or anything, only when you put your foot down. The main time I notice it is 2nd gear acceleration when the engines in the 2500-3500RPM bracket. Accelerating at speed, say hard acceleration from 80-100 or if you really punch it getting the revs in 2nd up to 4000RPM plus, doesn't really occur.

Seems to vary from Magna to Magna, although one of my mates who drives a TR Exec has the same issue at the same times as mine. I suppose this isn't restricted to the 2.6L engine is it? I mean, if its the heater core, that would be the same with both engines wouldn't it?

if it is air in the system just take the radiator cap off,
start the car and run it at 1500rpm topping up the radiator as the air escapes. the coolant shouldn't boil, if my my memory serves me right its boiling temp is around 114 dgress (but dont quote me on that) and your thermostat should open around 82-88 degrees.

if it is air in the system just take the radiator cap off,
start the car and run it at 1500rpm topping up the radiator as the air escapes. the coolant shouldn't boil, if my my memory serves me right its boiling temp is around 114 dgress (but dont quote me on that) and your thermostat should open around 82-88 degrees.

Will that work even though its in the heater core where the problem is located?

sounds like the old gurgling dash trick ;)

a common thing on the cressidas.... see if this fixes it


from the cressida forum (yep they do exist)


How to 'burp' the cooling system?

Park your car on a hill facing upwards so the top of the radiator is higher than the rest of the cooling system/heater core, take the rad cap off (NOT whilst it is hot!!) and start the car.

After it gets warm and the thermostat opens, the coolant will start flowing, and eventually you should see some air bubbles come out. When you see a bubble come out, top up the coolant again. Keep going until no more bubbles come out!


from what i understand its casue by an air leak in the coolant system, usually a leaky HG but not always

sounds interesting...might just have to give that a go.

sounds interesting...might just have to give that a go.


shouldnt take you more than 20 minutes... might fix it... let us know how it goes

shouldnt take you more than 20 minutes... might fix it... let us know how it goes

Will do, just gotta find a decent hill I can park on, the end of our street theres a decent incline, but theres a traffic island in the middle, so I can't really stop there. Shouldn't be too hard, I'll do it at a mates, live up the top of a big hill.

Will do, just gotta find a decent hill I can park on, the end of our street theres a decent incline, but theres a traffic island in the middle, so I can't really stop there. Shouldn't be too hard, I'll do it at a mates, live up the top of a big hill.
doesnt have to be a big hill, just enough to get the radiator the highest point in the car.. maybe like 30 degrees :P

doesnt have to be a big hill, just enough to get the radiator the highest point in the car.. maybe like 30 degrees :P

Well theres only one point in my direct area where theres a hill and thats where the stupid traffic island is for no real reason.:nuts:

So it'll have to wait till i go into the lakes where all the hills are, because the steepest hill otherwise near home is something around 10 degrees :P

a hill probably will help the process, however the water pump alone should be enough to force the air out

sounds like the old gurgling dash trick ;)

a common thing on the cressidas.... see if this fixes it


from the cressida forum (yep they do exist)



from what i understand its casue by an air leak in the coolant system, usually a leaky HG but not always
I just start the car, open the radiator cap and start squeezing the top radiator hose, that usually gets the bubbles moving :)

You could bypass the heater core altogether, although that's a pretty drastic measure.

Just turn the heater on for a few minutes when ya firt start and that ussually forces the air out. :)

Hi all...Im glad to find out after reading this thread that my tr was'nt the only one
that had this problem...What I did was to undo the two heater hoses,turn on the heater control to hot and stick a garden hose in the inlet hose and turn the water on. This flushed out a heap of sludge out of the heater core which must have been restricting the water flow enough to stop the system from bleeding out the trapped air.Also make sure that there are no air leaks in the cooling system because when the engine cools down it will suck air back into the radiator instead of refilling from the overflow bottle. Hope this works on yours too

Does that mean I can try this on a flat surface? Would look a lot less strange if i can do it in the garage (with the door up so I don't gas myself), rather that outside some strangers house on a hill.

for sure you can haven't seen a radiator shop do it on an incline yet

just make sure you have the heater running while you do it and that the thermostat has opened

Flush the heater core when the engine is cold. The thermostat dosnt need to be open because you ar disconnecting the heater core and flushing it on it's own.

Also only turn on the heater control to on with the ignition on not the motor running.[So you don't gas yourself, cook your motor and burn yourself too].When you reconect everything again fill with coolant and start and run the car with the radiator cap off untill the thermostat opens and top up the coolant untill no more bubbles come thru this might take 5-10 min. The cooling sys car'nt bleed out air when the thermostat is closed.Water boils at
100C [212F] the thermostat opens at 82C so you won't damage the motor. When you put the cap back on the sys pressurises to 90kpa and that raises the boiling point to about
130C [250F]................If you carn't find a hill just lean to one side as you work.

Very interesting! My 1st Gen TP sedan does this too, as did my TN - both with carby engines. My TP wagon (EFI) doesn't. The hose layout is slightly different between carby and EFI. Just wondering whether the TR's that do this are carby or EFI?

Flush the heater core when the engine is cold. The thermostat dosnt need to be open because you ar disconnecting the heater core and flushing it on it's own.

not flushing......getting air out

flushing the system wont get the air out:bowrofl:

Your right..flushing wont get the air out, but it will remove the restriction in coolant flow so it can bleed the air out itself. Let me know if it works in your car like it did on mine.

my bad....appologies didn't read you first post

Well I'll give this a shot at some point today if I get time and I'll get back to you on it :)

I think I've got the idea with what I should be doing, still trying to understand some of the things people have said! :bowrofl:

Well, I went out and tried it this afternoon, to no success really.

The longer I left it the more the water rised in the radiator, until eventually it was just flowing over. Something I did notice though is the overflow bottle is corroded and has a crack in the top, so I'll need to replace that, can't be helping things.

Any ideas now? Should I let it overflow for a bit and see what happens or is that an indication nothings wrong?

When you connected the hose to the heater inlet and turned on the water did the water flow out of the outlet hose. Was it dirty or clear.Did it flow at full pressure or did it just trickle out. When you run the motor after and the water just kept rising had the thermostat opened. Was the top radiator hose hot. Also all the TR's i've seen the overflow bottle is plastic,did you mean cracked not corroded

When you connected the hose to the heater inlet and turned on the water did the water flow out of the outlet hose. Was it dirty or clear.Did it flow at full pressure or did it just trickle out. When you run the motor after and the water just kept rising had the thermostat opened. Was the top radiator hose hot. Also all the TR's i've seen the overflow bottle is plastic,did you mean cracked not corroded

I actually forgot to try that, I'll have to try that tomorrow maybe....

It is plastic, and it is cracked, but its corroded too, the plastic is all worn and flaky, not just cracked.

So people know, I've sealed the overflow bottle temporarily with tape to seal the crack, and believe it or not, after a week of testing, not a single bubble from behind the dash! Can you believe that such an annoying and what we thought was a complicated problem could be fixed with tape! I never would have imagined it....

Of course I'm going to replace the overflow bottle, just gotta find a place that I can get one from...

So people know, I've sealed the overflow bottle temporarily with tape to seal the crack, and believe it or not, after a week of testing, not a single bubble from behind the dash! Can you believe that such an annoying and what we thought was a complicated problem could be fixed with tape! I never would have imagined it....

Of course I'm going to replace the overflow bottle, just gotta find a place that I can get one from...


I believe you can buy some quality sealer that can lock the hole up, or just get new bottle from a wreckers etc, usually they are in ok condition, not hard to find/replace/remove.

Didnt the overflow bottle release any steam when the car was warmed up?

I believe you can buy some quality sealer that can lock the hole up, or just get new bottle from a wreckers etc, usually they are in ok condition, not hard to find/replace/remove.
Well I've gotta go down the wreckers anyway for my rolla so I might as well check out what TR/TS maggies are around, should be able to get a decent overflow bottle off one, maybe even a TR grille too (ours was damaged when it got hit with rocks on the freeway, don't ask).


Didnt the overflow bottle release any steam when the car was warmed up?
None at all, just kept overflowing, I'm presuming air was getting in underneath the cap from the overflow bottles hole or something....doesn't bother me any more anyway, I've tried everything to make her bubble driving along in the past week, nothing I do can get a single noise from it, so I'm happy! :)

Thanks for your help guys, I can only suggest to people with this problem to look around for leaks anywhere in the system that will let air in, could be something that simple!

Got a price for a new overflow bottle, $22 from Mitsubishi new.....what you guys think?

Got a price for a new overflow bottle, $22 from Mitsubishi new.....what you guys think?
Glad to hear that you fixed it. As I mentioned in my first post make sure that you do'nt have any air leaks and it looks like that was the problem.Second hand bottle is probably going to cost about $10 anyway so for an extra $12 buy a new one. Or buy secondhand and shout yourself $12 fuel.

Glad to hear that you fixed it. As I mentioned in my first post make sure that you do'nt have any air leaks and it looks like that was the problem.Second hand bottle is probably going to cost about $10 anyway so for an extra $12 buy a new one. Or buy secondhand and shout yourself $12 fuel.
You know, as soon as we spotted the hole, I was wondering who it was who mentioned the leaks......you deserve a pat on the back, got it in one aye!

We picked up a newie from Mitsubishi today $22.50 it turned out to be (went up overnight?), and I took a couple of comparison shots from the old (with tape repair) to the new :D

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/rhys_fairall/AMC/8e0bda71.jpghttp://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/rhys_fairall/AMC/e40e815b.jpg

Spot the difference aye lol

Edit: Tested it again earlier tonight, short half hour run just to be sure it was all working properly, bit of slow acceleration, bit of hard acceleration, and mainly in between acceleration and didn't get a single bubble, I'm happy now :P