P38A Coolant

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O Bife said:
Apart from flushing the system, how do you know when you've got an air blockage and how do you go about clearing it?
Click to expand...
Park nose up
Get domestic radiator bleed valves to fit into thermostat housing and radiator filler points.
Fill expansion tank to level. Fill it slowly so water has time to filter down into system.
Fit cap on to expansion tank
Remove radiator filler point and fill till it overflows do it slowly so water has time to filter down into system.
When full, Fit domestic radiator bleed valve to radiator filler point.
Remove thermostat housing filler point and slowly fill it till it overflows. Gently squeeze top radiator hose to expel air and repeat until it is overflowing and no air can be removed.
Fit domestic radiator bleed valve to thermostat housing filler point.
Fill expansion tank to above filler mark.
Run engine till warm.
whilst engine is running, bleed thermostat housing and radiator filler points using radiator bleed valves,

Engine heater must be set to hot in all positions.
Expansion tank must have cap fitted.
 
The Mad Hat Man said:
Park nose up
Get domestic radiator bleed valves to fit into thermostat housing and radiator filler points.
Remove radiator filler point and fill till it overflows do it slowly so water has time to filter down into system.
When full, Fit domestic radiator bleed valve to radiator filler point.
Remove thermostat housing filler point and slowly fill it till it overflows. Gently squeeze top radiator hose to expel air and repeat until it is overflowing and no air can be removed.
Fit domestic radiator bleed valve to thermostat housing filler point.
Fill expansion tank to above filler mark.
Run engine till warm.
whilst engine is running, bleed thermostat housing and radiator filler points using radiator bleed valves,

Engine heater must be set to hot in all positions.
Click to expand...
Ooops, me bad! I should have pointed out that my P38 is a 2.5DSE. With that in mind, will what you said do for it?
 
To bleed mine I removed the small hose to the top rad to expansion tank.
Filled kept above max until it came out the top of the rad small pipe. Then refitted it.
Then ran it on a fast idle with cap off.
Heater on hot slow speed.
Ran on a fast idle toped up as it needed when gauge hit 12 and coolant in exp tank was hot fitted cap
Heater pipe split this morning Same procedure and it's been spot on.

The expansion tank unclips so you can lift it a bit.

After going down with a trailer and coming home 160mile with a car if it was going to boil im sure it would have then
 
Yesterday I seen a P38 with a black BMW X5 on the trailer pulling off the A9 southbound, was that you on your epic voyage?
I don't recall where exactly but near the River Gary perhaps.
 
myfirstl322 said:
Yesterday I seen a P38 with a black BMW X5 on the trailer pulling off the A9 southbound, was that you on your epic voyage?
I don't recall where exactly but near the River Gary perhaps.
Click to expand...
No wasnt me haha st andrews I was by, upto tay bridge n dundee and up the a90
 
stustrong said:
To bleed mine I removed the small hose to the top rad to expansion tank.
Filled kept above max until it came out the top of the rad small pipe. Then refitted it.
Then ran it on a fast idle with cap off.
Heater on hot slow speed.
Ran on a fast idle toped up as it needed when gauge hit 12 and coolant in exp tank was hot fitted cap
Heater pipe split this morning Same procedure and it's been spot on.

The expansion tank unclips so you can lift it a bit.

After going down with a trailer and coming home 160mile with a car if it was going to boil im sure it would have then
Click to expand...

Pretty much what I do except I don't bother unclipping the little hose of put the heater on hot. Think the heater is always on and all temp stuff is done by the blend motors?
 
Is true. The cabin heater is supplied with coolant no matter what the temp setting is set too, so that won't make any difference.
I just follow the proceedure in RAVE and it's never failed me. No need for parking on hills, revving the engine, or squeezing hoses, just fill her up, blow through the little hose, start the car, wait until it warms up topping up continually, turn it off and top it up again once it's cold. Replace the cap.
Mines a V8, not sure if it's the same for the diesel.
 
Pretty much but if it gets an airlock giving the throttle a tickle can sometimes shift it. Just squint through the gap when the bonnet is up to make sure it doesn't slosh out the expansion tank.
 
myfirstl322 said:
No worries, I knew someone on here was on the road with a trailer yesterday.
Was heading North on my way home from Old Smelly.;)
Click to expand...

Its very distinctive normal lights now unlike my profile pic belger black. Black as anything tints and wind deflectors. jail grills on the lights. debadged. Left from prev owner Check it out twin side oval tips. Check it out chrome light bar and two spots.

I took it off grrr and blew through it as its small and looks like a blockage point if any debris in the system.

Heating is always supplied coolant regardless of temp but you can feel the vent if its on slow and make sure its working (bmw habit for me)
 
Considering the coolant system takes just over 11lt of liquid, would a lack of around 2.5lt be enough to send her into the red zone?
I'm saying 2.5lt as that is what I used to top her up once she had cooled down enough. She overheated with less than 2.5lt missing as she chucked quite a drop out when I loosened the cap.
 
@O Bife is the rest of the coolant system in good nick?
Viscous fan doing its job?
All hoses getting warm?
Rad flowing okay?
Coolant cap in good nick?
Water pump circulating?
Thermostat opening?

Is it boiling up under load or tick over?

How longs it take to boil up?

Any previous work on the coolant system?
 
@stustrong

All seems to be in good nick. I had some work on the head ( the two tubes for the in and out hoses) and since then she has been needing topping up rather often.

I have been wondering if there is an air block within the system. With the way the mechs are over here, finding certain things out isn't always that straightforward )0:
 
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