Today one of my hoses cracked right before the heater core I think

this is the hose I replaced
http://www.autozone.com/cooling-heating-and-climate-control/hose-heater/dayco-hose-heater-/130230_577932_0

after replacing the hose we drove it around and the service light came on. We didnt know why until we saw the temp gauge was in the red. We promptly shut off the car and put water into the radiator reservoir as that was all I had. We did this until eventually we got it home where I decided to do a flush and refill it with fresh fluid and this is where the trouble begins. I was informed its a self burping system and that it should clear the air itself however im thinking this isnt true because the temp gauge fluctuates quite frequently when off/on which causes me to think either air is trapped or the coolant is not getting into the system like it should be.

I was told to start with removing the thermostat which I will be doing tomorrow but would like other suggestions - perhaps im not burping it right?

I found a screw that was described as the "vent" to let the air out. I took it off and there was a hissing sound but after losing some coolant trying to burp the system through the radiator (it was gurgling coolant from the top so I assumed it was releasing trapped air) and so now I am confident there is not enough coolant in the system.

Can someone explain to me what im doing wrong?

pics for those that like them.
also I like pictures too so if you can find a picture of the engine bay and circle all the components that would help me a lot as this is only my hobby and I am still learning.

when you put coolant in. start the car and leave the cap off the rad or overflow tank i cant remember what these have. but let it warm up. find the rad hose and squeeze it. if you see the antifreeze (burping) its still got air in it and is filling up. i would also get a new thermostat for it also. its a cheap start and easy fix. i just did this on a 96 or so 3.8 mustang . replaced rad and everything along with it. hoses and thermostat. doesn't come close to over heating now.

Coyote swap it.

jack up the front of the car about 6 inches

that will set the hoses to an incline/decline however you look at it. the air should come to the top of the radiator/over flow easier.
these should have a over flow tank that you top up and it pulls fluid into the radiator.
the only place for an air pocket would be the heater core at that point, and because the car is tilted up, air should be easier to get out.

if you pull the old thermostat out, might as well replace it.

dont forget to use either a 50/50 or 70coolent/30water
distilled works best, as there are less minerals.

if it still over heats do a good look around for leaks/seepage

when you start it, let it warm up dont shut the hood until the fans kick on. when the fans kick on thats when the thermostat should release and let the hotter coolent swap out with the cooler coolent play with the heater/ac while its warming up

Thank you all for the replies!

Basically I woke up this morning with a fresh mentality and decided to try burping it again. We noticed some gurgling coming from circle 3
I think the hardest part for me was that people use the names of 1 and 3 interchangeably online even though im pretty sure they are distinctively different (reservoir cap/radiator cap)
Yesterday I did release #4 and that is the vent I think people were talking about. That was the bolt that made the pressurized hissing sound of air.
#2 is how I drained most of the system (the hose with the clamp, not the long hose for those that arent sure what they are seeing). I took out most hoses on one end and drained them by aiming them down into a canister.
#5 is the hose that caused this mess.

When the gurgling stopped I put the cap back on and the car slowly but surely started overheating again - I decided to take the radiator cap off and as soon as the pressure released the reservoir started gurgling and the system sucked all the coolant from the reservoir into the radiator where it then started to smoke. I started the car up and my heat was blowing hot - gave it a test drive and it was all set

thought it would be worth posting the update in case someone else has a hard time trying to understand how to "burp" the car

If I missed something please let me know. Pics added for those who are more visual






This post was edited by Darnderin on Aug 22 2017 07:18am

#1 is your resevoir #3 is your radiator. the radiator cap lets excess coolant flow through the rubber hose to the resevoir.

that actually makes sense. Thanks for that description it really helped

Yikes. How long was temp in the red?

we never let it truly red line other than the initial overheating (when we first noticed it) so hopefully no long term damage was done. It hasnt shown any signs of a bad head gasket or cylinder damage yet.

This post was edited by Darnderin on Aug 23 2017 07:02am