E46 cooling issues airlock ?

[6POTVEC]

HI my nephew has a 2.2 E46 which poped a hole in the header tank .
I have replaced the tank ran faor a while on tickover untill all the air was out , he drove ebout a mile when the gauge whent into the red . brought the car back and i have changed the stat but i have noticed no hot or even warm air coming from the heaters .
any clues as to the problem
cheers
Paul

[phelix]

Could be the pump not working right or a thermostat jammed shut - both are known weaknesses.

[6POTVEC]

OOHHH ok stat is changed for a new one how do i tell if the pump is fubared ?
running with cap off it seems to be flowing ok

[stew69]

Hi are you sure you have bled the cooling system correctly

[6POTVEC]

nope not sure its bled properly at all .......
what is the correct method please

[phelix]

Easiest way to bleed is to park the car on a slope rad upper most and use the bleed screw by the header tank till fluid comes out rather than air. Have the heat set to full and you might need to do it more than once. That said I've never had airlock issues on my 99 E46 328i; the system seems to self-bleed quite well. If the pump is original and the car has more than 60K miles it probably ought to be replaced.

[6POTVEC]

will look into replacing the pump cheers.
any idea what would have blown the expansion tank in the first place ?
surely a worn pump wouldn`t build anywhere near enough pressure to do this ?
Head gasket failure perhaps ?
thanks for your help so far fellas not arguing or disagreing (sp)just trying to get to the cause of the problem
many thanks again

[phelix]

6POTVEC said:

any idea what would have blown the expansion tank in the first place ?

They're another known weak point in the E46 cooling system and cracks are common. Bought a spare years ago but still haven't had to use it - clearly good insurance!