Coolant Bleeding Required-88TC?

Last year RC-II kept running almost to the red zone on coolant temp in the NE Ohio winter and then would come down and be fine the rest of the trip. I guessed my t-stat was sticking and figured I would replace it when it finally stuck for good. This appeared to happen last week. I was running on the OH Tpike and she died. I pulled over and noticed the engine compartment was very hot. I let her cool down and fired her back up. I had noticed a gurgling sound the day before from the heater core and also the upper radiator hose. Since I changed out the t-stat she is running cool most of the time, no higher than the middle of the norm range, but I am still hearing the gurgling noise. She did get hot on two occasions to the top of the normal range. I also noticed a bit of coolant on the bottom of the cross memeber and have had to top of the radiator. I have not seen any signs of a coolant leak since changing the t-stat, but I am not sure either way. I am guessing that I have air trapped in the system and intend to try to bleed it with my Mightyvac. Though it seems to me that after 100+ miles of driving it should be bled out unless air is continually getting introduced into the system. Any thoughts?

The system does need to burp itself on a refill. It will usually do that when the T-stat opens, you can see the level in the radiator fall. Reving the engine can help work the air out. After the coolant level falls, you can then top off the coolant.

After 100 miles the air should have bled out.

I would get the external coolant flushed off, top off the radiator and see what happens. If you have the equipment to do it, pressurize the system to look for leaks.

Possible bad radiator cap?

Passenger floor wet at all?

Hose connections at the waterpump clean & tight?

Take the cap in to any parts store that rents tools and ask to borrow the pressure tester for a minute or two...

It appears to have finally bled all the air out. The radiator was down about three inches the other night and I topped it off. Since then I have not heard any more gurgling noises. I have to believe the coolant I noticed on the cross member was a function of the fluid boiling that was trapped in the block, but I am not sure where it would have leaked from and then stopped. The reservoir never seems to get any overflow and is always empty.

The reservoir itself may be cracked and leaking. It's happened more than once