All I did was flush the coolant... and now she's runnin hot. Thoughts?

[Chrisw]

So I got the car this spring and have been driving it a decent amount. I have records from the previous owner but there is no record of when, if ever the coolant was flushed. The car has been running a bit hot in the last month (about 2/3 on the gauge at some points) so I thought I'd flush it quick.

Well I screwed out the plug, and jacked up the back of the car to let it drain. Put the plug back in, dropped the back, and poured coolant into the integrated reservoir. Fired her up and tossed the heat on to check it....

The cars temp continues to rise... The reservoir is warm, the upper AND lower hoses are hot, engine is warm... and the temps just keep rising. WTF am I missing. I have done plenty of coolant flushes in the past but not on an integrated res before. Usually I just fill the rad, top up the res, run for a bit and top up the res again...


I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here... Anyone know something I don't?

[fresh_TD]

M42s are a pain in the ass when it comes to bleeding the cooling system. Make sure you have the front end jacked up as high as possible. You still have air in the system. You should first fill coolant through the top radiator hose first until it's starts coming out the hose, then connect it to the radiator.

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[e30davie]

You've got to bleed the air out.

[Chrisw]

http://www.esatclear.ie/~bpurcell/318ismaintenance.html#bleed

Will follow this but that sounds like a PITA like TD is saying... you literally need 2 people to bleed it? Brutal.

Thanks for the help guys. Much appreciated.

[roguetoaster]

Nope, solo is just fine. Sometime M42s take a few bleeding sessions to get all of the bubbles out.

Sometimes I just drive a very short distance (up/down a hill is possible) with the bleed screw cracked open. You should know, this is environmentally irresponsible as you will be leaking coolant wherever you travel, so YMMV based on where you live.

[Chrisw]

yeah, I have been figuring that out. Did a few reps of the bleed and will take it on a few short spins, bleeding it during/after them.

[Gkwan]

Any chance it could be your radiator fan clutch?