Bleeding coolant - Griff

[alexcurtis]

Hi all

So I am now very very very close to getting the car back on the road in fact I had booked a MOT for today….

But unfortunately I have an issue really struggling to get water into the engine, I have 2 issues that are making this much harder

The heater controls inside the car (see previous post) are broken so I cannot set the heater to hot
The filler on the swirl pot ( allen key plug) will not move at all it is stuck in there and when tried to open it all we succeeded in doing was deforming the top of the pot instead

SO I am up against it, I think I can circumvent the second issue by filling from the top connection to the water hose instead and put a towel over the distributor? Not ideal but at £200 for a replacement not that much of an issue…

Is the heater control vital in order to bleed the engine correctly I assume so but wanted to check, looking at the bible it seems so as the way the water runs it is linked by the heater matrix so have to have this set to hot work?

Thanks for all of your help as ever, so close but yet so far.

Al

PS the car is a 1999 Griff 500 and I am starting from scratch getting water/coolant back in the engine as engine has been out of the car

[spikep]

I would not have thought that not getting water into the heater matrix at this stage would be a problem for the MOT.

[alexcurtis]

Sorry because of this I have an airlock in the system and think this is why the fans don't kick in, as the thermostat may not be immersed in water. So would not get to the mot station before the engine overheated!

[spikep]

The thermostate is at the bottom of the swirl pot so should be in the water. You could make the fans run permenantly to get through the MOT by disconnecting the 2 connector at the bottom of the swirl pot and shorting them together with wire. They can't fail a car for the fans running.

[alexcurtis]

Thanks for reply i have a later serpentine so the thermostat is on the block and is only a single connector so can't "jump" it short term? I don't think anyway.... Cheers al

[WinstonWolf]

The HCV is a modified VW Golf part, under £15 from GSF. You could fit a new one and operate by hand...

[SMB]

This technique worked for me on a Chimaera, and is easy to follow

Get the front end of the car up in the air, either jack it up, on some ramps or up a steep slope.

remove the expansion tank cap and swirl pot screw. I found that a pry bar side on sat in the groove best and allowed easier removal of the brass, a large screwdriver will likely just dig into the head. once the rubber seal breaks it should come off, but you really need to fix

engine off, half fill the expansion tank, then fill via the swirl pot. I assume you could fill both engine and swirl pot if you removed the top hose, but it might be slower to fill the engine. keep filling until you reach the top then squeeze all the rubber hoses a few times each to move as much air as possible. I suggest you rotate the temperature dials both ways a few times aswell to give it every chance to move any trapped air whilst doing this. Bleed the screw on the radiator. Keep squeezing the rubber hoses as if pumping water around. I kept filling the swirl pot and squeezing hoses until both swirl pot and expansion tank are full and no air appears to bubble through when squeezing the hoses.

put the swirl pot screw back in or reconnect , and syphon out half of the liquid in the expansion tank, replace cap making sure any bleed screws are refitted and tight enough.

Have you considered removing one of the heater hoses where it connects to the engine and trying to fill that way aswell? would be slower but may help

Edited by SMB on Monday 13th June 14:09

[cinquecento]

Dont get the two confused..the fan thermostat is at the bottom of the swirl pot..and shorting the two makes the fans run. The guage thermostat has a single wire and is in the block.

[alexcurtis]

Thanks cinquecento that's useful ! And explains why temp gauge was working but not the fans, issue is that I have a latter car with out the thermostat switch on the swirl pot it is somewhere else Steve Heath bible says " the switch at the top front of the engine near the rear of the alternator" the issue is that we have taken the alternator off again to check and there is no missing connection.... To the right of it is the temp sender you describe! Will have another look!

Does anyone know what type of connection it is got a pic to highlight it as very confused there is a connection same as used for the lambada sensors big white cylinder not connected currently but can not see the other half at all! Argggghhhh

All help really appreciated thanks al

[alexcurtis]

So after lots of piston heads searching found where my otter... Switch is and it is on the rad, it is connected already but will do the quick test and see if the fans work if not will check fuses.... Cheers al