Clementine's Garage
Clementine the Cat
 
Image of flower
Yellow R4
 
Réparateur d'automobiles

Bleeding cooling system (with no heater pipes/bleed nut)

Knights123

Enthusiast
Messages
23
Location
England
Hi everyone,

Replaced the rusty water in my colombian r4 today, all topped up, but then remember I need to bleed the system.

I have no pipes going from the pump to heater matrix and the are blocked off. Seems to be common here in colombia.

Any tips on bleeding the system?

Thanks
 
Loosen the expansion barrel and hang it as high as possible on the bonnet with a piece of string so there is pressure on the system and remove the cap.
Then unscrew the radiator cap and wait until liquid comes out.
All this with the engine off.
Then place the barrel back in its original position and top up to a good height.
Then start the engine and let it run untill cooling fan runs.
Then cap off the radiator to let the last air out, it's done.
 
As i have understand he does not have pipes from waterpump to heatermatrix.
So that bleed pipe in bulkhead has no point.
 
Another thing you can do - once the coolant system is full put the radiator cap on and squeeze the top hose repeatedly. This will push air around the system. When the top hose starts to feel more solid remove the radiator cap and let the water level in the radiator get to the top. Do that a couple of times and most of the air should come out of the cooling system. The system should bleed itself quite well after that. Run the engine for a few minutes then let it cool completely and top up levels and check the level in the radiator.
 
Right then, tried all of these tips and all seems to be okay for now. Will take it for a test run tomorrow and check the levels afterwards.

One other thing, I'm pretty sure the car doesn't have a thermostat, as i can't feel it on any of the pipes. What concerns me is that when I ran it until the fan came on, the top pipe was super hot, but the lower radiator pipe was no where near the same. Think I may have a block somewhere, or there is a thermostat and it's blocked...

Thanks so much for the teplies!
 
Or radiator and fan are doing their job very well! ;)
I think you are right there sir, and it does have a giant fan on it. Asked a mechanic friend today and he said the same. I was just very paranoid about it :)
 
Back
Top