is there a way to bleed the cooling system......

[jex]

is there a way to bleed the cooling system without using the bleed screw. Car is a 91 318is.

[Rigmaster]

Re: is there a way to bleed the cooling system......

is there a way to bleed the cooling system without using the bleed screw. Car is a 91 318is.

well, I'm curious as to why you can't or won't use the bleed screw- but......

You should be able to crack the rad cap just a bit to bleed the air out of the system- be VERY careful- I would not wait until the car is really hot- just run the car for a few minutes with the cap slightly loose, then tighten it and run it for another minute or two, crack the cap and keep repeating until you think you've gotten all the air out.


Bret.

[jex]

I had a problem (which i posted in a previous post) with the bleed screw. to make a long story short, I cant fix the bleed srew or the hole that it screws into. So if it is possible to bleed the system without using the bleed screw, I was just going to fill in the hole with some quiksteel or something because I need a quick temporary fix.

[kansas-ix]

The line from the radiator to the coolant resivor can be loosen slightly and let the air out there slowly and retighten had to do that once when car was facing down hill.

[Screaming_bmwe30]

Just grab another housing piece with a functioning bleed screw from a junk yard. Jb-welding crap is the devil. I know, because i used JB on a few thing when i was putting my turbo on, and every part i JB welded failed at some point.

As long as it's cold out, a little air in your system shouldn't hurt anything. Your cooling system should be working that hard when it's cold out anyways.

[sparticus]

Read your previous post and yes this happened to my 91 318is!! I bought from someone else. The bleed screw was epoxied in so when I tried to remove it broke in half!! I was able to bleed using the various methods mentioned but just last month we replaced the radiator and the car runs cooler than b4. Radiator was probably going bad anyway....

[Rigmaster]

Just grab another housing piece with a functioning bleed screw from a junk yard. Jb-welding crap is the devil. I know, because i used JB on a few thing when i was putting my turbo on, and every part i JB welded failed at some point.

As long as it's cold out, a little air in your system shouldn't hurt anything. Your cooling system should be working that hard when it's cold out anyways.

2 problems with your advice:

1- the M42 318i/is bleeder valve is on the radiator, not on the t-stat housing (assuming you're thinking of the M20 325/e/i motor)

2- air in the system can cause all sorts of problems, it needs to be bled out- doesn't matter that it's cold out. You would not want an air pocket trapped in the cyl head coolant passages- the head could overheat and crack. If it's just a little air trapped in there, then it should be ok to drive it, the air should eventually work it's way out and get spit out into the rad, then you can fill it up with coolant.

Anyway, that's my 0.02 cents

Bret

[jex]

i believe I got it all out now. Just kept loosening the radiator cap and letting it out little by little. My heat works now!! thanx