Block heater question
 

I got the block heater changed out today on the 1984 190 D 2.2. I got the coolant refilled, burped, started the engine and continued to top the coolant up until it remained level. The temp gauge began to climb and I put the cabin heat on high and it wasn't puttin out any warm or hot air. The engine temp gauge continued to climb until it just started to hit the red line at which point I shut it down to come ask for suggestions about what I may have missed or what may be amiss. It's acting as though the coolant system thermostat isn't opening up to begin circulating. Is there anything else that could be going on? Suggestions and help are much appreciated...thanks guys.

Jim

Just a thought... is the thermostat in backwards?

Air bubble. Park on a steep hill with front up. Remove radiator cap. Run engine at high idle with heater on until it burps it out.

Appreciate the thoughts. The thermostat I doubt is in backwards. I wasnt' having a problem with the engine heat or the cabin heat prior to tearing into the block heater. So nothing has changed the orientation of the thermostat in this process.
I've currently got the front end blocked up at about a 10% grade, fired it up with the radiator cap off, with the heater set to high and ran it until the engine temp gauge hit about 105 C and still wasn't kickin out any heat and the coolant system wasn't burping any air. After the way the temp spiked on me previously I'm a bit leery of lettin it get to high up. It normally operates around 95-100 C. Any further thoughts I'm open too.


Jim

Well, I've got the outfit jacked up on the passenger side corner and am going to pop out the freeze plug highest up on the block see if I can get some air burped out of the water jacket. I'll post back what the outcome of this is.

Jim

Well I ended up blocking the front passenger corner quite a ways up and started following my heater core hose down to where it finally had some coolant in it, opended the surge tank and jsut kept adding coolant until it quit bubbling and the heater hose was pretty well full of coolant from the the water jacket. I held the hose pulled as close to straight up as I could to get as much elevation on it as I could. It took a while but I was able to get the bubble burped out of the water jacket and needless to say it works jsut fine. Thaks again guys.

Jim