I installed a bunch of mods today,one of them was 160 hypertech stat.It was new but came with no instructions in the box.

I know these lt1s can be tricky with their reverse cooling I had a 97 ws6 before traded it for my 99.Anyway here is what I did.I didn't drain the rad.I just took off therm and put rags around it to absorb spilled coolant and then put in new therm.I read the owners manual and filled rad until coolant started coming out bleed screw but it only came out lower one.I think shut lower one and tried to get it to come out top higher bleeder screw but it wouldn't and rad was full right to top.I ran car and lots of coolant leaked out of the rad as left cap off.
Car didn't seem to overheat fact temp gauge barely moved it is in metric around 80C.
I don't have a fan controller like hypertech tuner yet.

Anyway there was so much coolant under car thought had a leaking or blown rad hose ,hole in rad or something but guess not.

I talked to lt1 buddy and he said to run car for at least 20 minutes with open rad cap and then it should go down and be good.
So I tried that tonight.Bleeders closed and ran car for twenty minutes just idling it seemed the top hose was cold.so started revving it to 2000 and then coolant started running out the rad again like before.I put the cap back on and a bit after that the top rad hose was hot.I also got my temp gauge to move to past first notch I think it was and then took car for drive and coolant showed just above lowest point of gauge again.
I used heater as it is cool here..llike around 32 F or 0 degrees maybe a bit cooler.I had lots of heat happening.

So do you still think I have air lock and if so what should I do to get rid of it.The owners manual is useless and I have no hypertech instructions.I went to their website but they
have none for the stat install.

I think things are ok as if had air lock wouldn't car be screaming up in temp.Also don't think fans have even come on yet.Maybe its too cold they are of course at factory setting for factory stat.

Appreciate any help advice you guys can give. I am not sure why it seemd to take so long for the top hose to get hot..doesn't top hose only get hot when therm opens or when it closes..this cooling system stuff is confusing especially in the lt1.

 

I dunno what that stuff is about leaving the cap off, the system is supposed to be pressurized so the waterpump can push/pull the coolant through.

Both bleeder screws should be opened until coolant comes out, sometimes it can take awhile if you have a lot of air in the system. I've made the mistake of waiting for coolant, then opening up the screw even more thinking it wasn't open enough, wait some more and coolant comes flying out of there.

You may have to refill your reservoir if you had a significant coolant loss.

And yes, your temp gauge should be rising fairly quickly if the coolant is not circulating, of course if it's cold it will take longer. However, if the heat's working, the coolant is circulating- I had that happen to me this winter. Engine is too hot, I am too cold.