Im a newb at this, but i think it would help you to raise the front of the vehicle, or park on a steep incline with the radiator cap off. The bubbles should work their way up quicker.

 

So I have drained/refilled the coolant a few different times on my 4.7L and have never really had a problem with this bleed procedure:

1. Remove bleed plug and radiator cap.
2. Fill radiator.
3. Fill bleeder.
4. Fill coolant reservoir.
5. Replace bleed plug and radiator cap.
6. Top off coolant reservoir as needed.

It just really has never been an issue for me. Usually I hear the waterfall noise that would indicate an air bubble in the system, but it goes away after a few heat cycles. Upon cooling, the system basically burps itself, drawing in more coolant from the reservoir to fill the vacated bubbles. I believe that is standard operating procedure. You should not worry about a few tiny bubbles in the system.

 

I never bleed any coolant system. The vented cap does that automatically.

 

You have been lucky my friend, very lucky.....

 

in 60 yrs with 36 cars,never had a problem, but one of my jeeps has lots of bubbles on overflow, probably cracked head..

 

As noted above, your process was good but the system will continue to bleed off air. Fmradio and gman have the right method as well.
If you don't do anything other than fill as described, it will self-bleed after 5-6 heat cycles of normal operation.
If you still see bubbles and hear the waterfall occur in the dash after a handful of heat cycles, as indicated, it is time to look for the root cause.

The dissolved hydrocarbon test will reveal the source of the air being from the combustion chambers (bad head gasket is first suspect) or not.

What was the original symptom encountered prompting the WP swap?

 

What was the original symptom encountered prompting the WP swap?

My original WP, which lasted 20 years and 194k miles, finally started to give up, and was spraying everywhere.

 

Well the consensus seems to be don't worry about it. So I'll go ahead and drive it and keep and eye on things. Thanks for the help as always!

 

That's reason enough but also begs the question of what made that WP seal let go.
Sure, 20 years is one reason and isn't uncommon but a compounding reason is that exhaust gasses are pressurizing the system and the issue was accelerated.

I don't think not worrying about it is the consensus. Getting peace of mind for what it could be or is not is more the recommended path forward.

The dissolved hydrocarbon test is super cheap and will tell you for certain what's happening with the head gasket. Is it compromised ...or is it good?
The head gasket "fix in a bottle" solutions are generally not good on the WJ's 4.7 so if you get the test done and the HG is bad, at least you can begin planning for the repair financially.

The other issue with waiting is that coolant in the exhaust is not good for the cat and the O2 sensors and if coolant is also going into the oil, it is not good for the bottom end-bearings.

 

In answer to the original question - about a day & a half, doing it by the book:-
"CAUTION: Failure to purge air from the cooling system can result in an overheating condition and severe engine damage.

1. Remove the cooling system bleed plug from the radiator upper hose inlet housing (see photo below for plug location). Fill system using a 50/50 mixture of ethylene-glycol antifreeze and low mineral content water, until coolant begins coming out of the cooling system bleed hole. Install the cooling system bleed plug. Fill radiator to top and install radiator cap. Add sufficient coolant to the reserve/overflow tank to raise level to FULL mark.

2. With heater control unit in the HEAT position, operate engine with radiator cap in place.

3. After engine has reached normal operating temperature, shut engine off and allow it to cool. When engine is cooling down, coolant will be drawn into the radiator from the reserve/overflow tank.

4. Add coolant to reserve/overflow tank as necessary. Only add coolant to the reserve/overflow tank when the engine is cold. Coolant level in a warm engine will be higher due to thermal expansion. To purge the cooling system of all air, this heat up/cool down cycle (adding coolant to cold engine) must be performed three times. Add necessary coolant to raise tank level to the FULL mark after each cool down period."

 

Changed my water pump, refilled the radiator, unscrewed the bleeder screw and ran the engine with heat on full blast

FWIW, there's no point turning the heater up. WJs (and ZJs and KJs) do not use heater valves, there's always 100% coolant flow through the heater core at all times.

Yes, the FSM mentions turning the heater on, but it literally does nothing to help the bleeding. I suspect it's essentially a copy-paste from a much older manual on a Jeep that *did* have a heater valve, that wasn't picked up during proofreading.

 

I didnt even remove the bleed plug. mostly because i dont know where it is

 

I have posted this many times here lately, but you need to idle the engine with the bleeder plug removed while watching the bubbles. Easiest way to do this is have a funnel attached to a brass fitting that will screw into the bleed hole. Jam the funnel down into the fitting and fill the funnel halfway with coolant. Idle the Jeep while watching the coolant level in the funnel go down. This has taken me as much as 45 mins to complete. Once the coolant level stops dropping in the funnel, and bubbles are not apparent, plug the bleed hole with the factory plug and shut the engine off. Double check the radiator level and then test drive, making sure to get the engine completely up to operating temp. Then allow the engine to completely cool down, and double check the radiator level. Top off radiator right up to the bottom of the cap, and test drive once again. allow the engine to cool again, and repeat the refill process. Keep doing this for the next couple days until you no longer need to add to the radiator when cold. Then, and ONLY then, can you start to use the overflow bottle as a sight glass gauge to keep the level up. When you get to the point that the radiator no longer needs coolant, and the overflow bottle stays at the level you want. then you have it properly bled. Dont cut corners on this on these 4.7's, or you will be sad when the valve seats drop....

 

2 WJ's (99 & 01) w/ 4.7's; 1 WK w/ 5.7, 2 heater core swaps, 1 radiator swap, and 2 coolant flushes over the years...
...and I've never pulled the bleeder plug when filling/burping the coolant systems.

Park the Jeep with the nose up (on ramps, sloping driveway, curb...) then fill, install radiator cap, and drive it thru multiple heat cycles. If it still has sounds/signs of air in the system after that, then follow @Double E's advice above.

 

Where the heck is this plug?! I just did the radiator, water pump and thermostat(as most of you know) and I ran it through a bunch of drive cycles, and thought i was done. I just wanna pull the plug to see if i have any more air trapped.

 

At the end of the upper radiator hose, where the hose connects to the block, there is a hex bit screw. That's it.

 

Its only on the 4.7L V8's

 

ah that explains it

 

It sounds like you can check it a couple more mornings and it should quit, but it's not hard to find something to drive your front wheels up on.

My WK is harder to bleed air out of than anything I've owned before, but not hard. I had the waterfall sound in the heater core which didn't go away after a couple cooldowns, so I used RV leveling blocks and my inclined driveway to get my front tires up about 1/1/2 feet higher than the back. It looked stupid, and I had to use a stepladder to check the radiator, but I warmed it up that way with the cap off, ready to top off as soon as I saw the thermostat open, then I topped it off until it quit asking. The sound was gone, and I've checked a number of times but the radiator stays full and the overflow bottle acts as my level gauge.