Lude Generation

Well ive fitted my radiator and fan but just cannot seem to get it bled....

Maybe im missing something so heres what ive done:

Drained old rad and removed it.
Installed new rad and fan
Filled with coolant
left rad cap off
started engine
set heater to max
let it run for about 1 1/2 hours
top hose hot
bottom hose cold
no fan kick in


any thoughts - im running out of patience - thsi should have been a 30 minute job now its turning into a pain in the arse

Have you open the coolant bleed valve on the block?

^^This^^

+ gently squeeze the rad hoses to force the air/coolant to circulate.

yeah i tried gently squeezing hoses
when i open the bleed valve do i need to have the rad cap on?

i did open it and nothing came out so i closed it again

Image from teh Wiki - Coolant bleed valve location

http://www.ludegeneration.co.uk/post14248.html#p14248

The engine must be warm and there must be pressure in the system for it to push the air out of this valve ie. Get the engine warm then open this valve. You need the rad cap on and closed for this to work.

When I bled my sytem last (a few weeks ago) it took a while for enough pressure to build up for the bleed valve to work.

ok so warm it up with rad cap off and then put rad cap on and open bleed valve

Leave the rad cap on so the pressure builds.

ok going out to give it a go - thanks for the advice

The manual suggests rad cap off when bleeding.

Have you put some coolant into the reservoir up to the MAX mark?
Have you reconnected the fan electricals?

When I was attempting a bleed from an empty system I could not get the bleed valve to give any water, much like Vazep describes. It was only after running the car with the rad cap on that I could get water/air out of the valve