Coolant bleeding m42 lump of........

[BHadley]

Hey,
Struggling to bleed the cooling system on my 318is, tried following the wiki m40 guide to no avail, read up on google and Andrew everrits book and am confused as all are slightly different!
Is there a fool proof tried and tested way that works?

I have changed water pump and thermostat (all circoli parts) done a full coolant flush
New hose clips and 7 litres of 60/40 coolant.
Car is parked with nose slightly higher than rear.
I have had fan and heater on full with car running at idle for 10min
Opened and removed bleed screw and have left running untill gauge was a line away from red.

To I need to do it longer or am I missing something?
Unable to use on road as am just starting to get bits sorted as has been off road for a while

Thanks

[Speedtouch]

You could try letting it run until it goes to a fairly high temperature (not necessarily into the red!), letting it cool down for half an hour or so then repeating, topping it up in between.

[Brianmoooore]

Is there any coolant coming out from the bleed screws when they are open? The hole into the cooling system behind the screw is often blocked and needs cleaning with a fine piece of wire.
The heater fan is run when first starting an engine that has had a coolant change to see if the heater is producing heat - the fan has nothing to do with the bleeding process itself. If no heat is produced within a minute, then switch off and bleed again.
E30s normally bleed without much difficulty, but with the odd one that decides to be awkward, removing the top heater hose on the bulkhead, and pushing it back on with coolant flowing from both sides, always does the job.

[BHadley]

Is there any coolant coming out from the bleed screws when they are open? The hole into the cooling system behind the screw is often blocked and needs cleaning with a fine piece of wire.
The heater fan is run when first starting an engine that has had a coolant change to see if the heater is producing heat - the fan has nothing to do with the bleeding process itself. If no heat is produced within a minute, then switch off and bleed again.
E30s normally bleed without much difficulty, but with the odd one that decides to be awkward, removing the top heater hose on the bulkhead, and pushing it back on with coolant flowing from both sides, always does the job.

Yes coolant is coming out of the bleed screw hole in the top of the radiator.
When the top hose is squeezed I can see it coming through the waterway with the cap off.

Did try another bleed this evening. Ran at idle for 10 min and temp needle was in between quarter and halfway opened screw and bubbles of coolant came out followed eventually by a stream of coolant. A quick rev confirmed this so I did the bleed screw back up..... But there is still no heat in the cabin. Temp gauge read at between halfway and 3/4 towards "red".

Coolant Level was lower than "cold" marker on the radiator level (after bleed just done, was fine bleed before)so once cooled I topped up the level ...... Where Do i go from here? Is the bulkhead heater top hose option you mentioned Brian the only thing left to do now?
Never bled a system on previous e30s as the dash SI batteries were duff so false readings but this one has reliable information ....

[BHadley]

Thanks for all the tips and advise.... The bugger is now bled and blowing hot air continually from the heater!

No heater valve, blower or wet footwell issues either!

Four bleeds and two removals of the bulkhead top heater hose sorted it eventually.

Coolant system overhaul ......check.
.
.... And on to the next item/ issue/ headache......

Thanks all .....