"Elle" <honda.lioness@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:TRfsf.10118$3Z.6850@newsread1.news.atl.earthl ink.net...

> I'm not quite convinced that by /just/ running the water
> pump all the air in a car's cooling system will find its way
> up towards the radiator cap, through the overflow tube, and
> out the reservoir vent. Ya gotta heat the system up, too,
> for one thing, to abet the release of the gases from
> solution. For another, ya gotta provide a vent. With the
> radiator cap on, and so the system pressurized, those gases
> can't really thoroughly bubble out.

I don't see all of the remaining air will make it to the cap. If
the car never heats up the thermostat never opens, you'll
probably have gases running around the heater core instead.
Which is usually the case when there isn't any substantial
amount of liquid to open the thermostat.

> Hence the purging
> procedure has one beginning with a cold engine (and heater
> control on max hot), removing the radiator cap from the fill
> neck, leaving the cap off, then starting the car. Any air
> slowly bubbles out the fill neck.

Again, I doubt all the air is going to make it out thru the cap. That's
what the bleed bolt is designed for. It's one of the highest point
in the cooling system. It must be bled here.

> Ya wait until the fan
> comes on twice, which means the coolant is about as hot as
> it can get, too. Then top off the system, screw on the cap,
> and go. Check reservoir level an hour later, a day later,
> then a few days, then weeks.

If bled properly the reservoir won't change days or weeks later.
Many cars offer different ways of bleeding, but if people check
out this link more likely it'll work for your car.

http://square.cjb.cc/c/?HowToBleedCoolants