Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral Coolant bleeding:how?

right,got pissed off with my temp guage doin what it want so decided to bleed the rad again,using the technique ive heard about,i let the car warm up,then put the heaters on FULL-HOT-WINDSCREEN,then took the cap off the expansion,the gauge still read cold when i done this (after a 15 min drive) but then it began to move,after a while water began to enter the expansion tank from the hose that connects to the top of the thermostat,with some twisting of the throttle this flow got greater,and the car got warmer,i thought i'd wait and see if the fan comes on while i was there (cos as of yet its never come on) and as i was waiting,i noticed the water level rising above MAX,2 seconds later i was turnin the engine off as water was flooding out of the expansion tank.So i gave up and came in,i guess itll still need bleeding as that boiling part has prob let lots of air in right?

What do i need to do to get this bled CORRECTLY and when can u tell it is finished?

OKay, your nearly there mate.

Put the interior heators onto Hot and onto the windscreen but only put the blower on the first position only. Run the car from cold with the expansion cap removed, this will take slightly longer than normal to warm up as the interior heaters are cooling the engine. Let the engine warm up with occasional revving to help move any air locks along. When the temp gauge gets to approx 75% of the normal operating temperature put the cap back on. The blowers should be blowing warm now, run the engine at approx 2500 rpm and the temp gauge should rise and after 10 mins or so the engine coolant fan(s) should come on. If the temp gauge goes into the red then DONT SWITCH THE ENGINE OFF, Put the interior blower fan on full and let the engine idle. This will cool the engine slightly. Once the temp gauge is below the red then you can stop the engine. DO NOT REMOVE THE CAP. Let the engine cool fully and then remove the cap, the coolant may require topping up as it has probably settled.

Jobs done

cheers mate,will try it again in a bit

I just put it into the expansion tank slowly, and kept squeezing the hoses.

Do yourself a favour and get a garden hoses into all of the hoses before you bleed. You will be surprised how much orange crap comes out of them, esp the radiator and heater matrix. Feels good to have clean water coming out.