Do this at your own risk and discretion. This is not a mod for everybody.
By doing this mod, you will essencially eliminate the "easy" oem way to check and refill coolant level. You also run a significant risk to overheating. Be aware of all the risks you are taking, if still you want to do it, if still you want to proceed, keep on reading.
First off, lets understand the OEM water cooling system:
The bottle or bubble, is a KEY part on the system. It works as an overflow bottle, refill station and its the pressure keeper of the system as well.
Through the top, on the 1/4" feed is the overflow "in".
on the bottom its the "out". From here its where it draws any extra/.needed coolant.
reference pic:
Deleting
To delete the bottle, and the OEM system you need to, in a nutshell, to cap off all the overflow locations (2), and create a new fill point.
the over flow locations are two: One on top of the upper rad hose, and one on the heater core.
On the pic you can see the upper rad hose (big line) with upper overflow (the smaller line)
the overflow line then goes to the side timing cover (hard line) and as you can see here, it also goes to the heater core (near the fire wall)
So, find something suitable and cap it off. Make sure it creates a perfect and durable seal, as it will be under pressure.
Then follow the line from the bottom of the bottle, and cap it off on the metal hard line. It will be under the manifold.
To reach it, i had to remove my manifold, you may have to do so as well.
On the pic, the hose was still attached to the hard line.
once everything is capped off, you will need to create a fill location.
For it and with the techical help of TylerO23 i bought an inline filler, and proper cap: 19-21 lbs.
Measure on the upper rad hose, and properly cut.
Getting the lines attached will be a tad hard. They are 1.25" in ID. I washed the lines with water, used some force and WD-40 to slip em in, and clamped them. Then rinse again to remove all traces of WD-40
At this point, this is how things might look like (i have some wires relocated/tucked and battery on trunk)
All you have left to do is to buy/make a coolant overflow bottle. IT HAS TO BE OPEN, not a pressurized bottle.
this is my temporary bottle:
How it works:
Contrary to vw, many other automakers prefer this style (inline fill). its cheaper, and simpler... BUT it isnt fool proof.
This is standard on JEEP and TOYOTA, to the very least.
Once you fill the coolant on the lines, and you add a little on the bottle you will be ready to go. The way it works, as mentined is simple: if the system is hot, it will send the overflow to the bottle. Since its "pushed" and there is no pressure on the recieving bottle, it works fine. IF THERE IS PRESSURE ON THE BOTTLE, THE FLUID WONT MOVE EITHER WAY!!!
so, it pushes extra coolant to the bottle, and if it were to need any extra coolant it would just suck it.
The location of the bottle is irrelevant because its not a gravity dependent system, but the hose has to be submerged on the water in order to be able to suck the coolant.
pic of toyota's corolla oem cooling:
I opened the cap, and it has a little hose touching the floor of the reservoir to suk the coolant.
----------------
Again, i am not responsible if you fuck your car, if you overheat it, etc.
By doing this mod, you will essencially eliminate the "easy" oem way to check and refill coolant level. You also run a significant risk to overheating. Be aware of all the risks you are taking, if still you want to do it, if still you want to proceed, keep on reading.
First off, lets understand the OEM water cooling system:
The bottle or bubble, is a KEY part on the system. It works as an overflow bottle, refill station and its the pressure keeper of the system as well.
Through the top, on the 1/4" feed is the overflow "in".
on the bottom its the "out". From here its where it draws any extra/.needed coolant.
reference pic:
Deleting
To delete the bottle, and the OEM system you need to, in a nutshell, to cap off all the overflow locations (2), and create a new fill point.
the over flow locations are two: One on top of the upper rad hose, and one on the heater core.
On the pic you can see the upper rad hose (big line) with upper overflow (the smaller line)
the overflow line then goes to the side timing cover (hard line) and as you can see here, it also goes to the heater core (near the fire wall)
So, find something suitable and cap it off. Make sure it creates a perfect and durable seal, as it will be under pressure.
Then follow the line from the bottom of the bottle, and cap it off on the metal hard line. It will be under the manifold.
To reach it, i had to remove my manifold, you may have to do so as well.
On the pic, the hose was still attached to the hard line.
once everything is capped off, you will need to create a fill location.
For it and with the techical help of TylerO23 i bought an inline filler, and proper cap: 19-21 lbs.
Measure on the upper rad hose, and properly cut.
Getting the lines attached will be a tad hard. They are 1.25" in ID. I washed the lines with water, used some force and WD-40 to slip em in, and clamped them. Then rinse again to remove all traces of WD-40
At this point, this is how things might look like (i have some wires relocated/tucked and battery on trunk)
All you have left to do is to buy/make a coolant overflow bottle. IT HAS TO BE OPEN, not a pressurized bottle.
this is my temporary bottle:
How it works:
Contrary to vw, many other automakers prefer this style (inline fill). its cheaper, and simpler... BUT it isnt fool proof.
This is standard on JEEP and TOYOTA, to the very least.
Once you fill the coolant on the lines, and you add a little on the bottle you will be ready to go. The way it works, as mentined is simple: if the system is hot, it will send the overflow to the bottle. Since its "pushed" and there is no pressure on the recieving bottle, it works fine. IF THERE IS PRESSURE ON THE BOTTLE, THE FLUID WONT MOVE EITHER WAY!!!
so, it pushes extra coolant to the bottle, and if it were to need any extra coolant it would just suck it.
The location of the bottle is irrelevant because its not a gravity dependent system, but the hose has to be submerged on the water in order to be able to suck the coolant.
pic of toyota's corolla oem cooling:
I opened the cap, and it has a little hose touching the floor of the reservoir to suk the coolant.
----------------
Again, i am not responsible if you fuck your car, if you overheat it, etc.
