Heater core venting

[piecesparts]

Once you have drained the coolant out of a 3.4 engine is there a special way to ensure the heater core is properly vented after refilling the radiator and engine with new coolant? I do not see any vent orifices in the top of the engine or on the heater lines. The heater appears to be slightly above the engine at the firewall, so it could have air trapped in it.

 

[allwheeldrive]

Get a coolant funnel, it's a kit that'll have different adapters to fit your radiator. Then you can just fill with coolant, let her run with some rpms to help bleed the air out. Leave the heater on full hot and when you have good heat at idle, you should be done

 

[piecesparts]

I changed out the T/stat and have already filled it and ran it. I was just looking for any tricks to make sure that there was no air trapped in the higher points of the system. This Runner was in a deer accident a few years back and the radiator was replaced and while they were in it, the engine had some work done on it. The T/stat that I removed was not a factory unit and it did not have the temperature capacity stamped on it. We are about to get some really frigid weather and I do not want to freeze my Cojones off.

 

[TheDurk]

I've drained mine several times; I've owned it since new in '99. Just park it with the front wheels on a curb or somewhere uphill and let it come to temp with the cap off the rad. It will burp out just fine.

 

[LittleCaesar]

The coolant funnel. I will tell ya it is worth $25 and then some:
http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-24680-Spill-Free-Funnel/dp/B00A6AS6LY

 

[piecesparts]

The radiator opening, on the 4 Runner, is like it came off of a Barbie plastic car. The opening is really small. I already had a funnel that fit into it and I filled to the point it was up in the funnel, so after that amount settled down into the core, I ran it and let it sit overnight. The radiator tank filled with some leftover air, so now I think it is fully purged. I really want to invest in one of the radiator vacuum setups, to do a vacuum fill on the vehicles. That is a simple no pain way.