Radiator bleed screw

[gideonr]

Had a nice day out in the car yesterday, but went back into the garage later in the evening to be greeted with a pool of coolant. Turns out that it was coming from the radiator bleed screw. I was only finger tight and the seal/washer seems to have disintigrated.
Can any sort of seal be used on the bleed screw or is there something special I need?

Chimaera 400HC

[tvrtim]

You need a brown coloured FIBRE washer.Halfords do a box of assorted sizes quite cheaply.Best to use the proper washer.

[Ballistic Banana]

what washer,mine Griffith(sorry to intrude but i luv u guys) doesnt have one but it doesnt leak(at the moment).

I take it that it should have one and it would be wise to put one on, as in ok now but might play up later


BB

[scruff400]

PTFE tape works. And a lot easier to fettle, now that it's empty

Don't overtighten it, you'll strip the thread - then it will leak.

[Ballistic Banana]

Cheers Scruff, good to hear from ya.

Think I'll just keep an eye on it incase.
Only know it aint got one as Re cored the Rad and Put ACT pipes on, so have had to bleed it ohh just acouple of times.

BB

[Qube]

Had a nice day out in the car yesterday, but went back into the garage later in the evening to be greeted with a pool of coolant. Turns out that it was coming from the radiator bleed screw. I was only finger tight and the seal/washer seems to have disintigrated.
Can any sort of seal be used on the bleed screw or is there something special I need?

Chimaera 400HC

A fibre or plastic washer will work fine the idea being as it is being tightened it crushes to form a waterproof seal, probably around 20p each, i wouldn't waste my time with ptfe tape that is usually used on compression or tapered thread fittings.

[Qube]

Ballistic Banana said: Cheers Scruff, good to hear from ya.

Think I'll just keep an eye on it incase.
Only know it aint got one as Re cored the Rad and Put ACT pipes on, so have had to bleed it ohh just acouple of times.

BB

as long as the expansion bottle and rad is full of coolant you can bleed the system thru the expansion bottle, run the car put the heater to hot and the blower on full and take the car for a spin or leave it tick over to get the temp up to open the thermostat, run for a few mins and leave to cool, when cool enough
open the top of the expansion bottle slowly and you can hear all the trapped air escaping, you may have to do this a couple of times to get rid of all the air but it does work.
I do it with mine after replacing rad or water leaks!.

[gideonr]

Cheers all,

New fibre washer and topping up the cooling system as described in the bible seems to have done the trick.