Instructions.....Who Needs Them?

Day three Jeep radiator install: Thursday night I tried in vain to purge the air from the system. Numerous attempts to add water, engine kept spitting it right back out when the thermostat opened. Friday: Same scenario. Except around 10pm last night I finally took the thermostat out and put the housing back on without it. Started the engine and when it warmed up, same thing. It wasn't even circulating. By now I'm mad, pissed, cussing like a sailor and can't think straight. I end up going to bed no further along than the last two nights. I had to work today so I knew I would have to work on it more when I got off work. While at work I called a coworker that used to mechanic, and he had a tool that would pull a vacuum on the system, thereby eliminating the air block. I met him on location and got the tool. I was very anxious to get home and try it out. I got home and hooked it all up. It wouldn't pull the required amount to fill the system. After numerous tries and more calls to my coworker it still wasn't right.
So what do I do? I use the Papa Harold theory. I go back and start a square one. First I drained the radiator again. Then I reached over and took the clamp off the bottom hose and removed it. When I did, no water came out. What?????? Wait a damn minute!!! I stick my finger up in the end of the hose and something is in there. By now it's getting dark and I can't see it. I get a flashlight and there is something in the hose about 2 inches up in there. It looks rubber. I can't move it. WTH???? I go get my drill with a small bit and drill a hole in it. SQUIRT....water starts draining out. I catch all the fluids and then I improvise. W-spouse goes in and brings out a corkscrew (like this) that we open a wine bottle with. I screw it into the hole that I drilled. This is where it gets funny....TO YOU, NOT ME. As I'm laying there on my back with antifreeze/water running down my arms I glance up to see a sticker on the bottom of the radiator. I put on my glasses and it reads "Read instructions before installing radiator". Something else that I couldn't quite make out said something about a plug. I then pulled the plug in the picture out.

I then made my way out to the building where I had left the packaging and box that the new radiator had been shipped in and found an instruction booklet. In that book it says "Remove inner and outer plugs on bottom neck of radiator before installation". Funny as that reads, I didn't see the humor in it at the time and might have said a few things that my peeps down at Central Fellowship wouldn't be to proud of. 

After re-installing the hose and clamp. I checked all my connections, filled the radiator up with a 50/50 mix of water and antifreeze, started the engine and watched when the thermostat opened. Water flowed freely through the radiator and temperature came up to normal. I let it idle in the driveway and checked for leaks for about 15 minutes and then took it to the car wash and washed all the antifreeze off of everything. W-spouse and I then took it over to Chico to have supper and it's back to normal once again. Finally.

Moral to this story: If you change a radiator out on a Jeep, check to make sure all the plugs have been removed.

You thought I was going to say to read the instructions, right? Nah, I'm a male. We don't do things like that!