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Pouring antifreeze into a 1992 325i

11K views 42 replies 7 participants last post by  drivinfaster 
#1 ·
What is the proper way of pouring some antifreeze into my car? Becuase when I pour it and the car is off, then when I turn it on it always gets air and then I have to bleed it,
So what would be the best way to.pour it into my car? With the car turned on and the bleeding screw unscrewed just a lil or with the bleeding screw tight on and just the regular radiarder cap off? While the car on?
 
#4 · (Edited)
What? How would you add coolant to the radiator via the radiator in the first place? E36 radiators do not have caps to fill with - only the expansion tank does. Also, it doesn't make a difference if the expansion tank is empty or not. How do you think people fill their cooling systems with coolant after they've replaced everything during a comprehensive overhaul? Hint: they just install everything and pour coolant into the empty expansion tank, which then fills the radiator, etc.

Regardless, you can add coolant with the engine on or off, but I certainly recommend doing it with the engine off and cool so you don't risk burning yourself with hot coolant and/or steam. If you're getting air in your system, it is not due to adding coolant to the expansion tank with the engine off. You must have other issues, which I'm presuming is why you have to add coolant to your car in the first place.
 
#3 ·
Car cold: Top up the reservoir to the full line, run the car to circulate the coolant for a minute and continue adding fluid to maintain fill line. Bleed the system. From now on as long as you don't let the reservoir get completely empty you can open the reservoir any time you need to add coolant.

If you need to bleed every time you fill coolant you're either letting it get completely empty and suck air in or you've never completely bled it to begin with.

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#8 ·
Whaaaa? Doesn't matter what season, you need to have 50/50 distilled water and coolant. Period.

Heater probably isn't working due to air bubbles.

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#9 ·
I only had a lil bit of water in it u ****en idiot I had it becuase a specialist told me to pour water instead of antifreeze so I dnt waste it when I bleed it, my car already had this problem and I fixed it, I.just poured out the water two days ago and put new antifreeze, before this my car was fine and didnt heat up, it just started heating up, Im just gona bleed it again till I get it
 
#10 ·
Cool it, if I'm spending MY time to come on here and help YOU, what business do you have to act like a prick? If you're so smart and I'm a "f*cken" (sic) idiot, you shouldn't be asking for help, eh smart guy?

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#14 ·
Same deal. We're on here to help you, he's extremely knowledgeable. We can be abrasive at times but that's the way it is. You'll do well to be polite to the people that know what they're talking about, or you can kiss your opportunities at getting help goodbye.

How have you been bleeding the system? Front raised up high?

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#15 ·
Well when I talked to the specialist he told me to loosen the little bleeding screw until there was no more bubbles, to turn it on after each time I unscrewed and bibbles would come out, and turn on the °car again for about 5-7 minutes and turn the heater on blast, but now my heater doesnt turn on lol and it was just on haha
 
#16 ·
Was the car on an incline with the front up high?

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#21 ·
Needs to be front up high, and follow the instructions in my first post about adding while the engine is cold and running. And yes, heater should be on full blast during this.

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#23 ·
Define doesn't work. Does air blow but it isn't hot? Or nothing blows at all on any setting? And yes, on ramps.

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#35 ·
Mgood, here's the answers to a few of your questions:
Year is in the thread title ;), and....
Yah it doesnt blow nothing at all nor hot or cold.
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#25 · (Edited)
if no air is blowing at all, odds are you blew a fuse..but if it is sometimes blowing hot or not at all you got air into your system and need to drain it all....including the drain plug on the side of the block which holds a fair amount of coolant....usually people jack up the front, but goodluck with ramps i know i cant drive up onto ramps and i have stock springs.
 
#29 ·
Enough help here already-- I'll only add that these cars are a beotch to bleed. Whenever I work on the cooling system I carry a gallon of water around with me for a week before I get the thing bled fully. And, that's with letting the farfegnugen screw bleed coolant everywhere, squeezing hoses, raising idle, raising front end-- maybe I just have a goofy car. :)

Good luck with the attitude- regardless. You're not defining things well enough for ppl to help without being smart a$$ at the same time. I'm a REAL smart a$$- I'm just in a jolly mood right now on some pain killers from an accident:rofl:
 
#31 ·
Ok i just turned on my car and its still on the ramps, turned it on at 5:32pm & till now I see no increase of heating, but my heater still does not throw air out. In the morning I turned it on and still no air throwing, turmed it off, then I turned it on again like 1 minute later and still no air throwing but then all of a sudden it just starts throwing air again and I turn it off nd try turning it on and again no air throwing. Any ideas?
 
#33 ·
Possibly final stage unit going bad.

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#34 · (Edited)
I'm seriously gonna try to help, but I have problems with assumptions.

1. what is turned on (no jokes please)
2. what is throwing air

I don't know if you have a blower motor problem, or a coolant bleeding problem, so I'm going to suggest the following:

1. Put car in park, ign in position 2.

2. Actuate blower control from lowest to highest fan setting- do you hear or feel ANYTHING? Is it moving air? Is the HVAC blower working? IF not, fuse, resistor etc.

3. I don't know what year your car is (not in profile), so I cant give you advice on the panel control, or whether potentially it's just a resistor, or a fuse. Fuses generally blow for a reason, so don't get too excited if there's one blown.

4. OP referenced where the fuses are-- near firewall driver's side under plastic cover. Table is there-- if yours is gone, reply and I'll bust out my Bentley manual-- not going outside, it's cold. Regardless, a good visual check will reveal if fuses are obviously blown-- but that will not take into account hidden corrosion (which I have seen personally prevent a circuit from closing). As a course of habit, I will remove the fuse, test it, or replace with a known-good fuse after verifying contacts (above AND below) are clean of any corrosion.

5. report back :)

But, my money's on the FSU
 
#36 ·
Ok took my car for a spin, turned it on at 5:32, had it parked on ramps till 5:47pm-still no increase of heating up, 5:48pm took it for a spin till 6:05pm still no increase of heat but as I was driving I can feel heat very slow coming out of the vents, so some air is now starting to come out but not alot , u can feel it if u press ur hand agains the vents, so the air isnt coming out with alot of pressure, but yah now it started to throw lil lil hot air on level 4 of the heating settings, my car is 1992 325i 4 door sedan
 
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