Big Al Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 At the weekend I noticed one of my coolant hoses (the one going from the engine to the heater) does not look too good. I would like to replace it ASAP. In order to do this I will have to drain & replace the coolant. Normally I would expect this to be a straight forward job. However after doing some searches from other posts I can see that replacing the coolant can be problematic and prone to air locks particularly on a K-Series engine. Is this as big a problem on a BDR engined car ? Looking at it the heater looks to be slightly higher than the engine so I guess this is where an air lock could occur. Any tips on making sure this does not happen. Also the car has had the original radiator replaced with an Aluminium one, not sure if this complicates things. Big Al (I'm not big and I'm not clever) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simos Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 Hi Al, the prescribed method is to fill as far as possible and then raise the nose so that the bleed screw on the rad is highest point in the system and then run the engine till hot (water flowing) and give all the pipes a squeeze etc. I've driven mine up a bank by the side of the road before now... never had any particular problems. If you have a sealed system then you can blow the water through quite easily. Cheers, Simon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted February 25, 2003 Author Share Posted February 25, 2003 Hi Simos, thanks for the tip. On the top of the rad there is what looks like a small plastic filling cap, I guess this is the bleed screw you refer to. Picked up a replacement hose today and ordered some Comma Coldstream which I should pick up in the morning. As the weather forecast is good going to have a go at this tomorrow. Big Al (I'm not big and I'm not clever) Edited by - Big Al on 25 Feb 2003 22:23:32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don_g Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 I'd agree; no problem at all. Have you considered replacing the hoses at the same time? Use Samco silicone hoses (keep the originals as spares) but I'd suggest using Mikalor hose clamps if you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted February 26, 2003 Author Share Posted February 26, 2003 I took skypilot's advice and checked all the coolant hoses closely and none of them looked that great so decided to replace them all. Could not justify the expense of the Samco ones but decide to go with Caterhams own Silicone for the top & bottom and standard hose for the heater etc. Drained the system down and fitted new hoses. Thought I would flush the system with plain water as this would remove traces of the unknown previous coolant plus find any leaks before putting the coldstream in. The manual says the system takes 10 litres. I drained as much water as I could but it did not look like I had drained 10 litres and when I refilled I could only get in about 5 litres of water. When I drained this it just looked like diluted coolant. Any tips on how I completely drain the system. I guess there should be a drain plug on the block. How do Identify it and if I remove it does it need any sealant when I put it back 🤔 Big Al (I'm not big and I'm not clever) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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