General Bleed screws

[Celt]

Help needed!

I have an over heating Marea 1.8 (same engine as the Bravo 1.8). I think I have an air lock in the cooling system.

Simple question.

Besides the two bleed screws on the radiator, are there any other bleed screws?

Thanks

 

[jug]

there are usually bleeds screws placed higher in the cooling system because air travels upwards so you need to bleed from the top. i cant say for definate where they are because my haynes is at home and im at work, but i think there is a small black plastic bleed screw on one of the coolant hoses on the right side of the engine (when looking in engine bay). check along the length of all coolant hoses and i'm sure you'll find at least one somewhere, i'd be very surprised if you only had them on the radiator because its impossible to bleed the full system from that low down.

 

[Celt]

Thanks Jug,

I've had a look and still cant see anything, probably blind.:bang:

 

[jug]

i meant to check my haynes manual for you last night but i forgot, i'll try and check tonight.

 

[Celt]

:bang:

It no use! Can't find any bleed points.

Drained the system again, and refilled very slowly, no use.

 

[Celt]

If anything it seams worse,

I think I'm going to have to give in and take it to the garage! (although they can't fit me in til next thursday, so anyone has any other ideas before then - most appreciated):worship:

 

[Celt]

Hi all,

Well I took the car to the garage today.

Guess what? They couldn't sort out the problem either!:bang: :bang: :bang:

They think it may be an electrics fault. The car runs okay initially, the pumps working, it gets up to temp, the fan comes on (and stays on non stop), the temp gauge starts to rise above normal but the engine is not running too hot (ie radiator, pipes, engine cover, etc cool enough to touch).

Not the temp sender, as they replaced that - no difference.

Not an air lock as they vacuum filled the coolant - no difference.

I doesn't appear to be the head gasket as the car is not boiling and it doesn't appear to be using water (although I am going to keep a very close eye on this over the next week)

There is some smoke/steam from the exhaust and it does run poorly when hot (jumps/judders a bit).

This is making me sick:yuck:

I may have to take it to a fiat garage (miles away) to get an ECU diagnosis.

If anyone has any ideas at all now is the time to tell me.....please:worship:

 

[Celt]

Hi all,

I have almost given up.

Have booked the car into the fiat garage for next Thursday, strangely they have not been forthcoming with any advice (save for the fact that it will be £49.50/hr ) "I need to bring it in before they would have any idea".

One question that someone may be able to answer. Have run the car today, the temp gauge was nearly at the top. Radiator was warm (not hot) the hose from the thermostat housing to the rad was hot, the hose from the rad (top right as you look at the engine) back to the engine block was cool. Is this correct or could there be a blockage in the radiator?

 

[jug]

oh no dont go to fiat!! they wont fix it they'll just tell you to spend money on something and then shrug their shoulders when it doesnt work. the previous owner of my car spend over a grand for a faulty injector that fiat couldnt even find and never managed to fix. they said a new head was needed. if they say that to you slap them hard.

the cold pipe most likely means you still have an airlock or there is a blockage.
did they vacuum fill by connecting to the header tank (or expansion tank if you prefer)? or even worse did they do it the old fashioned way by removing header hoses or radiator hoses? either way there is no guarantee that they have removed all the air from the system because a blockage would prevent the vacuum method from working properly, and i've seen the vacuum method fail more than once due to incompetent use of the drain and fill.

i checked my haynes it says there are two bleed screws on coolant pipes, it shows a pic of one but does not describe where they are exactly. if you have not used the 2 bleed screws on the hoses then you could still have a dangerous amount of air trapped in the system. the picture in haynes shows a black plastic bleed screw on a fairly thin pipe which is beneath two larger ones. i think it is connected to the heater matrix by the look of the pic? you really need to find them and try to bleed the system properly. did you flush the full system from the top with the thermostat removed? that would help you spot a blockage. if it was me i'd remove the pipe thats cold and look inside it for blockages, and then look at the bits it was connected to at both ends for blockages as well. alternatively you can squeeze a pipe and tell if its full of air or water by how hard it is. air will make it soft, noticably softer than other pipes of a similar diameter.

 

[Celt]

Hi All,

Thanks to all of you who have spent time to reply to my posts.:slayer:

Took the car to the fiat garage, they had a look......

Cylinder head damage

The overheating caused by the cooling system over pressurising.

Surprisingly, they did not want to carry out any futher work!! Suggested I take it back to the garage who did the repairs following the cam belt failure, as it would seem to be their responsability.

even more surprisingly the fiat garage did not charge me a thing for their time

Two questions for everyone.

1 has anyone any experience of this sort of failure 5-6 months following cam failure and sucessfully had the work done free or reduced price?

2 How much am I looking at? £400? Are there any other factors I should be aware of?

Thanks everyone

 

[jug]

cooling system over pressurising? thats a new one. the only way you can get excess pressure in the cooling sysem is if the head gasket is leaking exhaust gas into coolant system. if that hapens you find it impossible to bleed the cooling system, everytime you try there is just more air inside the pipes. did you find that? i guess the garage who carried out the cam repairs didnt fix it properly and gave your car back with a leaking head gasket, their work should be guaranteed for more that 5-6 months.

i think head damage from heat is likely. you may be better off getting the head skimmed and pressure tested before you go replacing it, although a 2nd hand head from a scrappy wont cost much, i've paid £60-70 in the past, less if you remove it yourself.

you may get away with just a new head gasket, its possible the garage simply didnt do it properly the first time, but the overheating you've done since the last repairs has probably made things worse so you really need to get the head checked.