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Thread: Cooling System Bleeding

  1. #126
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Amsterdam, NY
    Posts
    5,629
    My Cars
    97 528i 87 528e 65/74MG
    Quote Originally Posted by BTM5 View Post
    I have a 01 540

    do i use the static bleeding?

    just top up with bleeding screw open?
    Yes and yes

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by CainCustoms View Post
    Hi guys,
    Newb to the site, but i have a 99 528i and i have tried to bleed the system a dozen times and it still overheats. i have done a complete overhaul of the cooling system. It runs fine for ten minutes then starts to go past 12 o'clock. if i stop the car turn it off and turn on heat at full blast it cools back down to normal. no leaks anywhere, any ideas?
    First how exactly have you attempted to bleed the system? Please provide detail. Second does the car actually get hot? The needle may move around center and be perfectly fine. Try using the cluster test to view actual temp. I have seen mine go high for a second just before the thermostat opens.
    >'97 528i, 200000 miles, Hella Xenons, 17" Stilauto wheels, Vogtland Drop Springs, Dynomax Race Muffler, Homelink, 540 brake upgrade, 15mm spacers >'65 & '74 MG Midgets BFC OT Lego Club #48 Manual conversion in process!!!



  2. #127
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Queen City MS
    Posts
    180
    My Cars
    E31, E39, E46
    I have a possibly silly question to ask regarding this. The story: I've been reading a bunch of overheating threads as our 02 540iA had the temp come up to the upper hash on Thursday night right before shutting it down. Then on Friday morning it took a little longer than usual to warm up and eventually got to the red portion of the scale just as I was getting it home (turned around from work). While nursing it home I turned the heater full warm and full speed which immediately brought the needle to center- for a while.

    I checked the coolant level saturday morning and fluid poured out so it appeared to be overfilled. Checked it today to bleed system again and the level was just slightly over-full until after I started the bleeding process, during which the bobber dropped all the way into the expansion tank.

    I drove it after bleeding it for 20+ min with some mixed city/highway driving. I had the AC on to try to tempt it. Test seven showed 107C when the needle hit the middle and then 109-110 while driving (city/highway both) and would spike to 112 after laying into it with one spike to 114 while stopping after a high rev.

    Finally my question: How long can air stay in the system with no effect? I replaced the heater valve in February and bled the system then, possibly overfilling it in the process. I have had no issues until JUN 12th, and now that I've bled it again, the problem seems to be gone. Could I have gotten more air in the system and how? Any help is appreciated.
    Last edited by BlkzhpWoG; 06-15-2014 at 02:14 PM.

  3. #128
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    4
    Hey I just read your post I am have the exact same problem and like you I have replaced every part from BMW that has anything to do with the cooling system but yet it still does the same thing exactly like you posted runs fine runs good 10 minutes maybe it goes to the hot I put the heater on full blast and it starts to cool down please tell me you saw the problem and can let me know what you did

  4. #129
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Illesheim, Germany
    Posts
    1
    My Cars
    1997 BMW 528i Wagon
    This procedure saved my bacon about a month ago!! BIG THANKS!!!

    I bought a 1997 528i E39 wagon shortly after coming back to Germany for work. Within a day of purchasing the car, I sprung a coolant leak from the thermo housing bleed screw. Turns out, the threads were bad in the housing so I bought a new housing. Talking to my landlord, he mentions 'bleeding' the system. I didn't give this enough thought (or respect). I changed the housing (a whopping four bolts and two clamps) and figured I was good. Not so.

    My car overheated and I did what I thought needed to be done to 'get the air out' of the coolant system. Didn't happen. Had the car towed. Took it to a shop (in Germany mind you) to have fresh coolant put in and bled - properly. This (supposedly) happened and I paid for the 'service'. Within a day, my car overheated - AGAIN.

    Angry, I returned to the shop and they said they would 'inspect' the system. They told me that my radiator was cracked. Sure enough, there was a tiny crack in the plastic. Well, my confidence in the shop is gone so I limp my car home and research 'plastic radiator repair'. Confident in my abilities, I decide to tackle it myself. I take it on post (U.S. Army) to the auto hobby shop so I have resources at my fingertips, and I had asked ahead of time if they had 'bleeding' knowledge to help with assisting me.

    Everything goes according to plan, with the plastic repair, and they get me started with the bleeding process. I cannot leave my car there overnight, and I am feeling confident with the repair, so I take it. Within two blocks - it overheats. I park it in an empty spot on base where it should be ok overnight.

    When I get home, I start researching 'coolant system bleed procedures' and come across this one posted by NNY5281. Immediately, I have confidence given where the procedure came from and hey, what do I have to lose??

    Following the steps listed above, my car SWALLOWS 2 and a half LITERS of water!!!!! Taken aback, but hitting me like a ton of bricks, I realize that my car has been low on fluid this WHOLE time, despite 4-6 different, yet competent individuals peering inside the reservoir. The next day, I check the fluid level and put an additional half liter in for a grand total of 3.

    So the moral of my story is this - if I had followed ANY other method or procedure to 'bleed' my coolant system, I would still be out there trying to get the air out of the coolant system. Thanks to the procedure listed above, I was able to take care of business!
    I got pretty hung up on the whole 'bleed the coolant system' and became pretty consumed by it. Even threw out a number of expletives about German engineering and how it was a ridiculous idea/design. I didn't give the bleeding idea enough respect in the beginning, and then overrespected it when I had problems.

    Follow this procedure - it works.

  5. #130
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    Syracuse
    Posts
    5
    My Cars
    1997 BMW 528i
    Does anyone have a diagram for the 1997 528i M52 cooling system, the diagram on the first page of this thread posted by CNN must be for a different engine because it has the for the upper radiator hose on the side with the reservoir, but on my car the lower hose is on that side and the upper hose on the other side.

  6. #131
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Kongsvinger Norway
    Posts
    179
    My Cars
    1999 BMW 528IA
    I just can't seem to make it work with the latent heater system. I've tried everything, bleeding a lot of times. I found a thread on bleeding the hose coming up under the left cabin filter, maybe two seconds of bubbles until a steady stream of !!!!COLD!!!! water started coming out. This was when I had the car at operating temp shut off and the rest function enabled for the pump to circulate. All the houses going to and from the latent system and heater valve is still cold.
    It's been like this for almost two weeks and it's starting to piss me off having to drive it to and from work in below freezing temps��

  7. #132
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Skopje, Macedonia
    Posts
    13
    My Cars
    E39 520i 1998
    Hi guys. Long time since my last post, probably when i had a e34. How ever i have a (maybe stupid) question. The car is e39 520i m52b20 engine. Now i want to put some more antifreeze but i am afraid of making bubbles in the system. So, when the car is cold in the morning, should i just put the liquid to the "KALT"? And after that, should i bleed the air or there is no need? Thanks in advance.

  8. #133
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    Las vegas
    Posts
    2
    My Cars
    528i
    My question is. My heater has never worked since i bought the car but i change out the thermo and waterpump and I was wondering does my heater have to work to bleed the system

  9. #134
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    Charlotte,NC
    Posts
    51
    My Cars
    1999 528i, 2000 528i Spt
    Bleeding the system is really important on these cars, what you have to do is keep the car on ACC and run the AC/blower on high, turn the center AC vent mode setting to red, then there will be two coolant bleeder screws underneath the hood, one is going to be on the hose that attaches to the thermostat, the other on the coolant reserve side, you'd have to continue to fill the coolant until it starts to bleed out from the thermostat bleeder screw first, when that happens tighten that screw up, continue to fill up with coolant when finally the last bleeder screw starts to bleed and tighten that one up and fill until that float rise's up

    Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
    Last edited by 528in; 07-16-2017 at 08:43 PM.
    [IMG][/IMG]

  10. #135
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Location
    Apache Junction, Az
    Posts
    138
    My Cars
    2000 BMW 540i
    2000 540i...Waterpump and thermastat replaced by Indy when he replaced the timing chain guides. Runs fine, temp gauge stays in the middle as it has since I bought it last year. I decided to mount a Scangauge to get more temperature increment history, as well as see my 'actual' speed rather than the speedo indicated. Was surprised to see that the engine seems to run around 225F (~107C) in normal driving with the temp gauge still firmly midrange. That's hotter than I expected, espec at 65F outside temp. Curious what others might have measured. Wondering about how well it was bled, although I know it came back to me with internal heat controls set at 90, which made me think he was following the procedure. No harm in opening bleed screw tomorrow when cold and seeing if I get any air out of it by squeezing hoses I'm thinking.

    BTW, at indicated 80mph, Scangauge says I'm doing 75-76. roy

  11. #136
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Staten Island, NY
    Posts
    1,066
    My Cars
    1998 BMW 528i
    That's not good! When I had a leak (and it was overheating) I was monitoring my temp with Torque Pro and noticed that it started to climbing at 108C. Something is not right. Be careful!
    Last edited by shogun; 04-07-2019 at 10:07 AM. Reason: unnessary quotes removed
    BMW CCA 434493

  12. #137
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Location
    Apache Junction, Az
    Posts
    138
    My Cars
    2000 BMW 540i
    Check coolant level comes on intermittently. So I have an extra expansion tank that I replaced, and ordered another level sensor. Put it in the spare expansion tank just to understand when it triggers....you E39 veterans probably already know this, but here's what I found: The float itself has a total range of right about 5 1/2" from all the way down at the bottom to sticking way out of the top. The ohmeter tells me that the level sensor only trips when the float is within the first 1/2" or so of dead bottom. Anything above that will not trip the level sensor. So, what that tells me on my car is that my coolant flushing technique is not perfect, and enough hot coolant gets sucked out of the expansion tank to give me the error message. I'll replace the sensor just because I can, but I suspect my real problem is not the sensor but my bleeding technique, which I'll redo. roy

  13. #138
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Bullhead City Arizona
    Posts
    2
    My Cars
    2003 BMW 540i
    I have the same issue after replacing my radiator/exp tank. Coolant temp (hot) and cold coolant level are normal when checked but after driving around the coolant level must drop in the tank due to a lingering air pocket. Bleeding again in hopes of getting that low coolant message to clear.

  14. #139
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    La Habra, CA
    Posts
    1,117
    My Cars
    2002 525i
    https://www.amazon.com/GooMeng-Syste...20350017&psc=1

    There are all sorts of similar units in all price ranges. My friend turned me on to these and now I wouldn't want to do it any other way. Basically, you mix up your coolant in a clean bucket. You stick the rubber cone onto the overflow tank, you run shop air through the device. It creates a vacuum and pulls all the air out of the system. You then turn the lever and check the gauge. If there are leaks it won't hold a vacuum and you have more work to do. If it holds, turn the lever some more and it sucks all the coolant into the system. You then run the car, let it cool, and *maybe* have to top it off a tiny bit. No air pockets, no hot spots.
    Current stable:
    2002 525i (Daily Driver)
    1994 SN95 Mustang 'Vert (The Bumblebee)
    2001 325i Convertible (Beach cruiser project)

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