coolant why she only taken 3 litres?

Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:17 pm

have drained all the old stuff out, flushed it through thoroughly and mixed 50:50 coolant/water and slowly filled her up, so far she's taken a little over 3 litres and stopped... anything I've done wrong?

Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:20 pm

Probably a big air lock.

Try massaging some pipes, loosening the bleed screw on the thermostat housing and / or perhaps undoing one of the upper hoses to help release any trapped air.

Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:22 pm

How did you drain the old stuff out (/where from)? Any chance it wasn't totally empty?

Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:24 pm

both the bottom blue plug on the rad (think it was a drain plug) and also the bottom drivers side hose from the bottom of the rad, flushed it through for 5 mins with the hose gently and she stood for an hr draining after the hose went off... have massaged the hoses a bit so will try loosening a couple of upper ones
cheers people

Mon Apr 30, 2007 6:10 pm

You have to remove the block drain plug too. It is situated on the right hand side of the block, behind the exhaust manifold. Leave the heater control set to hot with the ignition on whilst draining.

Mon Apr 30, 2007 6:19 pm

ahhhhh, that wasnt wrote down in the manual i followed!

I started her up and ran her, heaters on hot on full blow for 10 mins and bled the bleed nipple on the stat housing, temp gauge climbed to just over 3/4 then i guess the fan coupling kicked in, didnt sound any different but then the temp slowly dropped to half way again...
got called in for dinner

so will start her up again in half hr time, the header tank level had gone right down so i guess bleeding and massaging is slowly clearing out the air lock

The block drain plug, shall i leave it off when i run her to bleed out the air?

Mon Apr 30, 2007 6:26 pm

glenbat wrote:The block drain plug, shall i leave it off when i run her to bleed out the air?

NO. You won't be able to fill any coolant into system, cause everything will pour on the floor...

Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:09 pm

cheers tankas! well i went out and got another litre in her, so shes now got close to 4.5 litres of coolant mix and had her on tick over for 30 mins, the highest the temp gauge read this time was a fraction over half way, which I know is about right. No more air comes out the bleed nipple, just coolant so i guess shes all done!

Will i hear a change when the fan coupling kicks in? She climbed above half way on temp gauge and then slowly dropped to half way and sat there, done the old roled up newspaper but the fan still stopped, i was told once coupleing kicks in it'll shred your newspaper to bits

Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:21 pm

glenbat wrote:cheers tankas! well i went out and got another litre in her, so shes now got close to 4.5 litres of coolant mix and had her on tick over for 30 mins, the highest the temp gauge read this time was a fraction over half way, which I know is about right. No more air comes out the bleed nipple, just coolant so i guess shes all done!

Will i hear a change when the fan coupling kicks in? She climbed above half way on temp gauge and then slowly dropped to half way and sat there, done the old roled up newspaper but the fan still stopped, i was told once coupleing kicks in it'll shred your newspaper to bits

If you flush all the coolang, you'll need about 10.5l of it to refill the system, plus some of it comes through bleeding nimple.

In the morning check the coolant level, you will have to add up some.

If you stoped the fan while the engine is hot, your fan coupling is problable "dead". Thing about replacing it, especialy then the hot season is comming

http://bmwfans.info/original/E30/4-T/32 ... l-11_0613/

Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:37 pm

tankas wrote:If you stoped the fan while the engine is hot, your fan coupling is problable "dead". Thing about replacing it, especialy then the hot season is comming

Could just be the rad wasn't hot enough for it to cut in. If the gauge was reading normal, then there may not be a problem!
Easy way to change coolant, and still retain skin on your knuckles, is to drain the radiator and coolant tank, then thoroughly flush the engine and heater with clean water.
Reassemble everything, and add the total amount of neat antifreeze required for the complete change, then top up with water.
Mix up a little diluted antifreeze for use when bleeding.

Tue May 01, 2007 12:37 pm

Hi-jack, I take it the fan isn't susposed to run 24/7 when the engine is running then. My fan is constantly spinning at varying speeds dependant on rpm.... not that I can complain helps keep it cool.

Tue May 01, 2007 1:37 pm

Cyruz wrote:Hi-jack, I take it the fan isn't susposed to run 24/7 when the engine is running then. My fan is constantly spinning at varying speeds dependant on rpm.... not that I can complain helps keep it cool.

You are talking about the standard viscous fan?
It turns all of the time, but is only freewheeling and absorbing no significant power.
When it locks on, it makes a considerable noise at anything above idle.

Tue May 01, 2007 2:14 pm

park the car with one side on a curb making the reservoir the highest point is quite a handy tip...especially as the bleed nipples can get seized and are easily rounded.