Here's my question: is there a manual valve somewhere in the cooling system on a '95 Cummins 8.3C in a Beaver Pat with which to bleed off any entrapped air in the coolant hoses/pipes/galleries?
The reason for my question is this. Early last summer, I changed out my coolant and filter and filled the system with fresh including the overflow bottle, filling it to the "minimum cold" line. I've driven about 3000 miles since then with no overheating, and the bottle liquid level came up to the "normal" level (or a bit higher) line during/after running, so no problem, eh?
Well, maybe and maybe not. We've had some pretty cold weather recently, so yesterday I visited the coach to ensure all was well. When I looked at the overflow bottle it was empty with no signs af antifreeze on the ground or elsewhere. It was up to the "minimum cold" line when last I looked at it a couple of months ago.
I'm wondering if there's air entrapped in the sytem which contracted in the extra cold temps and pulled the bottle contents back into the engine system. Air expands and contracts a lot more than liquid and I can imagine a scenario where this air contraction could pull antifreeze back out of the bottle through the (one way) radiator cap.
There doesen't appear to be a leak within the engine system because when I undid the header tank (radiator) pressure cap, it was full, and there was slight pressure within, forcing a little coolant out. Since the ambient temp yesterday was much higher than recently, the air could have expanded and caused this pressure build-up. If the antifreeze was leaking internal to the engine, I don't think there would have been pressure in the system after not having been run for several months.
Waddya think? Am I being too "anal" (not terribly unusual for me!!).
What other problem might I have?
Thanks
Andy