Coolant bleeding

[172Nathan]

I need to bleed my coolant after replacing the radiator, is this the correct procedure (I found it on Google)?:

Undo 10mm nut at the top of the thermostat housing,
Fill coolant tank until a steady stream comes out of said 10mm nut and do it back up,
Leave coolant tank lid off and start car and idle at 2.5k for 4 minutes whilst keeping an eye on the coolant level and keep topping up to the max mark until it bubbles/decreases no more (how does one do this step, idling at 2.5k and keeping topping up coolant, if they're on their own?)
Put coolant tank lid on,
Idle at 2.5k for 10 or 20 (which one is it?) minutes until the fan kicks in,
Turn car off and leave to cool for an hour, recheck and top up if necessary.

Thanks in advance.

 

[LeeRS]

Bleed radiator. Fill tank back up?

 

[clioben182]

That sounds right, there is also a plastic bleed screw in the hose to the matrix going into the bulkhead. You don't have to rev the engine it will do it on idle. Also put the heater on hot and number 1 fan speed.

 

[172Nathan]

That sounds right, there is also a plastic bleed screw in the hose to the matrix going into the bulkhead. You don't have to rev the engine it will do it on idle. Also put the heater on hot and number 1 fan speed.

What's the process for the matrix mate, same as the thermostat housing bleed screw? Or is it one to do with the engine running/idling?
Should I have the heater on hot on fan speed 1 the whole time?
Cheers.

 

[Dan@SJM]

That sounds right, there is also a plastic bleed screw in the hose to the matrix going into the bulkhead. You don't have to rev the engine it will do it on idle. Also put the heater on hot and number 1 fan speed.

No there isn't.
And you don't need the heater on hot either as its not on a valve regulated circuit.

 

[172Nathan]

Right I'm having a bit of a mare with this.
I've done the above bleeding procedure, but the fan just will not kick in?
It never had a fan in the first place (don't ask, it had a smaller lower spec rad and no fan when I bought it) so I've replaced it with a 172 rad and fan, clipped in the 2 clips from the wiring loom (that was still in the engine bay thank god) to the fan, but it just is not kicking in to cool the car.
I waited for a good 50 minutes idling and all that happened was this:

Aaaand this:

At which point I thought I had better just turn the car off...

Any ideas?!
If it's any help or relevant, the car is a ph1 1.4 to 172 conversion carried out by KTEC years ago, in 2008 I believe.

 

[Steven103]

Does the (second hand?) fan that you've bought actually work?

 

[172Nathan]

Does the (second hand?) fan that you've bought actually work?

I wouldn't know tbh, the kiddy that sold the car to me gave me the fan and said it just needs the rad, so I assumed it did... Any way to check if it works?
P.S. yes it looks secondhand.

 

[Budgie]

Fan takes ages to kick in tbh.


If you're sure there is still air to come out:
I'd check the thermostat works.

Manually pump all the hoses with your hand and give it a few revs to try and get air moving about if it is.

Not difficult to bleed these really.

 

[172Nathan]

Fan takes ages to kick in tbh.


If you're sure there is still air to come out:
I'd check the thermostat works.

Manually pump all the hoses with your hand and give it a few revs to try and get air moving about if it is.

Not difficult to bleed these really.

Thermostat works (I think), the upper hose was cold until the car hit half temp and then the upper hose got hot.

Well when I did the above bleeding steps, when I did the step that involved idling it for 4 minutes with the cap off and topping it up, it barely bubbled/went down at all..? :/

 

[Budgie]

As long as it's not overheating, then consider that job done.

Once it's on the road, keep a 2 litre nbottle of coolant in the car, take it for a thrash and check
The level after.

Bob's your uncle

 

[clioben182]

No there isn't.
And you don't need the heater on hot either as its not on a valve regulated circuit.

Must be my megane im thinking of then with the bleed screw.
Thats the process i always use anyway whatever vehicle im doing, works for me!

 

[172Nathan]

As long as it's not overheating, then consider that job done.

Once it's on the road, keep a 2 litre nbottle of coolant in the car, take it for a thrash and check
The level after.

Bob's your uncle

The temp gauge never went above halfway, but the coolant just kept rising and rising in the bottle, what if when out and about it rose to the top? Would it burst the lid off/piss everywhere? Or not a likely scenario?

 

[Dan@SJM]

Air locked still

 

[172Nathan]

Air locked still

How do I go about sorting it if the above bleeding method didn't work despite following it step by step?

 

[Dan@SJM]

Have you reopened the bleed point?

 

[RS Charlie]

I did mine as you said but without revving it as much. I topped the car up to the Max and then saw the water level go beyond the Max as the car warmed up. I did think it may overflow TBH! It took a good 30 minutes for the fan to cut in, or possibly even longer! Once the 'stat opened up the level dropped below the minimum but with water still being present in the header tank. After I topped it back up again it has stayed at the Max and settled down again to the same place once cold. That was also using Type D coolant

I bled mine as well just before I fired the engine up. It seemed to have alot of air in after thermostat swap! Despite the header tank being full alot of air came out of the bleed screw!

As @Dan@SJM said there was no bleed screw on the heater hoses for mine either.

Mine sits slightly above halfway (a whisker above) which my previous 1.4 also did and it is whre Fred said it should sit ; it is how he knew my thermostat was shot when I dropped it in for a cambelt!

From what I can tell the Clio does have a bleed off hose on the radiator side of the thermstat but of course this arguably will not come into play until the 'stat opens.

 

[172Nathan]

Have you reopened the bleed point?

The one on top of the thermostat?
Not since the above step about opening it and waiting for the steady flow of coolant to stream out and screwing it back in.
There's also a plastic bleed screw on the top left of the radiator, that have anything to do with it?

 

[172Nathan]

I did mine as you said but without revving it as much. I topped the car up to the Max and then saw the water level go beyond the Max as the car warmed up. I did think it may overflow TBH! It took a good 30 minutes for the fan to cut in, or possibly even longer! Once the 'stat opened up the level dropped below the minimum but with water still being present in the header tank. After I topped it back up again it has stayed at the Max and settled down again to the same place once cold. That was also using Type D coolant

I bled mine as well just before I fired the engine up. It seemed to have alot of air in after thermostat swap! Despite the header tank being full alot of air came out of the bleed screw!

As @Dan@SJM said there was no bleed screw on the heater hoses for mine either.

Mine sits slightly above halfway (a whisker above) which my previous 1.4 also did and it is whre Fred said it should sit ; it is how he knew my thermostat was shot when I dropped it in for a cambelt!

From what I can tell the Clio does have a bleed off hose on the radiator side of the thermstat but of course this arguably will not come into play until the 'stat opens.

I waited for about 50 minutes and the fan just never kicked in, the temp got to halfway, the thermostat opened (the top rad hose went from cold to hot) but no fan came on. The coolant tank level just kept rising and rising ever so slowly until it got to the level in the above picture.

Are you saying I shouldn't have my coolant level at the MAX mark and that it should be sitting in between MAX and MIN?

And are you referring to the bleed screw on the thermostat housing? Because I've done that and it's just a stream of coolant coming out now, no air or bubbly coolant.

 

[Dan@SJM]

The one on top of the thermostat?
Not since the above step about opening it and waiting for the steady flow of coolant to stream out and screwing it back in.
There's also a plastic bleed screw on the top left of the radiator, that have anything to do with it?

I personally have a vacuum coolant filler/bleeder so don't do the method. But when I didn't I used to do as you have, then fire it up and open it again. As it will have pumped a bit of air to the top.

 

[172Nathan]

I personally have a vacuum coolant filler/bleeder so don't do the method. But when I didn't I used to do as you have, then fire it up and open it again. As it will have pumped a bit of air to the top.

I'll try it later, I'll start the car and open the bleed valve again and keep an eye on the coolant level, see if anything better happens!
Thanks for all your help Dan.

 

[172Nathan]

PS is it safe/ok to start it and leave it idle with the air filter taken off? As I can't get to the thermostat bleed point with it on..!

 

[Dan@SJM]

Yeh just don't put anything near it

 

[RS Charlie]

The coolant level will rise a little as things warm up, moreso if an airlock is present.

I am probably talking crap here but bear with me . IMHO most Clios will form an airlock behind the thermostat (on the rad side, not the engine) since there is nowhere really for the air to go until the thermostat opens Sure there will be air escaping from the bleed off hose but IMO it still could use assistance via a pressure bleeder.

I know when I checked mine after the thermostat swap the heater hoses and bottom hose were warm but the top hose took an age to warm up.

Another thing I would check to see is that your thermostat bleed off hose is clear. I am sure it is but if it is blocked the system will never bleed itself correctly IMO.

 

[172Nathan]

Figured out the fan issue.
Going by a fuse box and relay diagram off of this forum, my Clio doesn't have the fuse nor the relay for the standard fan... Nor does it have any wiring going to into the blocks to fit a fuse or relay, they'd just be slotted into the plastic block holder thing...
Could explain why there's an on and off switch mounted by the headlight level wheel thing on the dash, just no wires attached to it, looks like I'll have to wire the switch in for a manual fan...