I use a coolant system pressure tester to the same effect as the vacuum kit. I can fully bleed my cars in under two minutes. It costs around $100 and you can get them at any NAPA store. It is one of the best tools I have ever bought for working on my 944's.

Regards,

 

Do anything, Vacuum pump, Angle the car when filling etc, but do not fit any sort of bleed to the head. The head and Block have different pressures to the system pressure, or should. Adding a bleed will most probably lower the Head pressure to the sytem pressure. What should really happen is a water feed line there, not a bleed. adding a restrictor to the head out will raise the head pressure, pushing water out into the head cavities.

The only way the bleed should be run at all is if its used during water filling. After the water is "clean" coming out of the bleed, it should closed. Never attached to the header tank. A good idea, but only half thought out in my opinion.

 

does anybody have photos of this install? thanks.

 

Is this what we are talking about???

http://www.mityvac.com/pages/products_cse.asp

This will work on all my cars, I'm getting one, looks like you can flush your system with water then refill. Added bonus, no messy drain pans!

This will work right?

Jason

 

This is what they are referring to:

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog

 

Here's the pictures that Dave sent me. My big valve head is off for skimming at the moment to bring the compression back up and we'll fit the seteam vent kit at the same time.

I'll post full detail pictures and maybe video on my site when it's done next week.

HTH

Rick

 

How much is that in the metric world? Is it one full inch from the edges?

 

has anybody already installed this? i'm wondering if you can actually see steam/bubbles/coolant circulating through the visible hose or not.

 

I have it on my car, it does bubble thru the clear silicon line from the head to the expansion tank. When the car is warm it is solid fluid. Hope it works, PO put it on after he blew the headgasket at Road Atlanta along with a cometic MLS head gasket. Hope to never have a blown gasket again!

 

I'm getting my head/parts boxed up to go off to the machine shop for a rebuild and I'm going to have them drill and tap for the steam vent kit. Has there been any updated pics posted to show the install since this thread?

 

i've done the install, but don't have photos handy. i'll try and take some later and post them up for you.

and yes, you can actually see the bubbles when the motor gets hot, even if you've vented the coolant properly, so it does work.

 

I thought I'd share some info on this topic, and let you guys draw your own conclusiuons here. At one one, I did have the LR Steam Vent Kit on my old 3.0L 8V, and you could see the bubbles going back into the tank. Anyway, for more infomation on the kit itself click below. Also, I remember Mike Lindsey conducting a survey that was pretty extensive, trying to understand why head gasket failures were happening. So below too, please find "his" original post on this topic. Anyway, I was just trying to add value to this thread, that's all.




Lindsey Racing Steam Vent Kit

Possible Reason For HG Failure

 

This definitely seems like a worthwhile product IMO. Actually, problems similar to this are fairly common on inline engine's in general. Off the top of my head I can think of a handful of other non 944 i4's and i6's that have similar problems and similar fixes. Actually, Nissan Motorsports and reputable builders of dedicated race rb26's would sometimes do something very similar to this on their high rpm and high hp race motors. Apples to oranges of course, but the same general concept still applies. I'd be curious to know what material their hose is made from though. It seems like some sort of plastic tubing and like it might be brittle or become brittle with age. Personally, I'd prefer an AN fitting and some high quality high temp resistant hose from someone like Goodridge or Aeroquip.

 

Email them and ask. And tell them your suggestions too, can't hurt right?

 

the clear hose idea is ideal, as you can easily check on the condition of the system just by looking at it.