ax bleeding the cooling system- job done

gardenpeas · Unread post by **gardenpeas** » 16 Jun 2005, 01:35

lots of steam in tesco car park the hose from the thermostat to bulkhead on my ax mk11 1.0 spree had split same thing happened to previous ax stupid design of pipe, just bodged that repair cut pipe short. but have brought new pipe not cheap and need to know how to bleed any air from the system when i fit it tomo.[:D]
any help much welcomed
cheers

Unread post by **martyhopkirk** » 16 Jun 2005, 03:07

Get yerself a big headder tank - a 5L bleach bottle with the bottom cut out is ideal.
Then play hunt the bleed screws!
Usual suspects are:
Cylinder block drain point (make sure its bolted up tight)
Heater return hose 9make sure heater turned to "HOT" when filling / bleeding
Heater hose connector (Nr. Bulkhead)
Heater matrix
Top Left hand Rad tank
Thermostat housing I would also conider unscreing the temp sender on top of the thermostat housing.
Fill via expasion tank till it appears full - keep headder tank in place with coolant in it. Switch on & idle engine.
Tighten bleed screws as and when air free water appears - in this order:
Radiatior bleed
thermostat bleed
heater bleed
remove headder tank, mop up spill (dont scald yourself). Top up once cool.

Ian Fearn · Unread post by **Ian Fearn** » 17 Jun 2005, 00:44

Isnt this the same system as the 1.1i Ax i've just been working on?
As far as i'm aware there is only one bleed screw just behind the cam cover towards the left hand side of the engine as you look at it.
The BX can be a right pain to really get all the air out. I normally do it by bleeding all the screws through a couple of times without the rad cap on then pressurise the system with the rad on and do it again a few more times, each time running the engine until the fan comes on and obviously switching it off before opening the screws!

citronut · Unread post by **citronut** » 17 Jun 2005, 01:41

why mess around with tanks when all you need to do is remove rad cap and plug from other end of rad,pour coolant in till it comes out plug hole and stops sinking,replace plug,now remove bleed valve cap to rear of cam cover if you dont get coolant out of this point start engine,you might have to bring revs up a little untill coolant comes out of bleed point,then replace bleed valve cap continue to run engine for aprox 5 minns,replace rad cap now run engine untill fan cuts in,when it cuts back out gingerly open rad cap if coolant calm sorted regards malcolm

gardenpeas · Unread post by **gardenpeas** » 17 Jun 2005, 18:50

cheers for all the help guys just off to make a mess on the drive now