Bleeding Water System With Silicone Hoses

[kyepan 291]

Just fitted a set of BBM hoses to my MI-16, but i'll be replacing the thermostat housing (because it has two outlets -modine cooler deleted) where one of the bleed nipples is, and the top heater matrix hoses where the other is.

 

How.. does the system bleed? does it just run round bleeding into the header tank? or should i slacken the top rad hose off a little to let the air out that way?

 

cheers

 

J

[welshpug 1,626]

they will self bleed through the small hose from the top of the radiator, though will take much longer without the bleed points.

 

one thing I found in the rally build books was to drill a 3mm hole in the top edge of the thermostat just in from the seal, to allow any air to bleed through, many aftermarket thermostats have a small ball valve much like this.

 

seems to aid bleeding significantly.

[Tom Fenton 1,526]

I have never had any issue whatsoever in bleeding any XU engine in a 205. So long as the system has the two returns to the top of the header tank the system will self bleed.

[kyepan 291]

thanks guys!

[Anthony 1,000]

As mentioned above, one of the beauties of the 205 XU cooling setup is that it self-bleeds to a point.

 

• Fill system with coolant mix, ideally a little on the strong side if you just top up with plain water.
  
• Leave expansion tank cap off and start engine
  
• Coolant level will likely drop down quite quickly, so top up
  
• Leave engine idling with cap off, squeezing the pipes to help force any trapped air out
  
• Once it reaches operating temperature and the 'stat opens, top up the coolant, re-fit cap and go for a short drive
  
• Top up system if required, and jobs a good 'un

 

Having the bleed screw on the matrix hose of course makes things a little easier/quicker, but it's only a fairly recent addition that Stew has made to his hoses - the majority of BBM hoses out there are like yours and don't have a bleed screw on them.

[kyepan 291]

awesome!! thanks anthony.

[Baz 421]

Another here that's never had an issue. Sometimes i leave the stat housing hose off, top up with coolant until it comes out of here, attach hose. Or just top up tank and check periodically.