Hey yall,
My 2004 Montana, 3.4 appeared to have blown the lower intake manifold gasket. Temp. gauge would red line after short trip. I'd bleed the cooling system and it would be OK for as long as the engine was warm.
No coolant in oil, no smoke, nothing. Just air in the cooling system. It's an old van, rusting and abused. Stopping every now and then along hte highway and bleeding the cooling system was becoming a pain in the ass.
So I got an idea. I had just bought a 1950s truck airhorn. It had a cable attached to a valve that the driver would pull to sound the horn. I removed the valve, and it fit EXACTLY in the opening for the bleeder valve on the passenger side of the cooling system. I extended the cable through the firewall and... when my van over heats, I pull the cable, releasing the air from the system and the temp. gauge drops back to normal!! Wish I'd thought of that before my girlfriend scrapped her Montana witht he same problem.