Rad self destructed into fan...help!

[16v of E30]

Hey guys, its been a while, mainly because i sold my 91 318is for my coveted 88 touring i found on CL.  

Heres the story:

I sold her to my friend after i found this e30 wagon. Immediately regretted it.  My 318 was the sickest dialed in car ive ever had and selling it to a clueless chick was the worst mistake ever.  The touring blew the auto tranny, so i swapped it to a 5 speed and dropped in a 373LSD. Radical. Car is sweet, just a bad case of front fender rust. Anyways, Jules loved the car (318is) and fixed what ever broke, and it cost her some money but now i got it back.  The rad that i replaced 3 years ago fell off the rad support and hit the fan shroud.

The fan blade tore thru the shroud, and a broke off piece of blade sliced the lower hose at the bottom of the expansion tank...#4 on Realoem.com.

the car overheated, but still runs and doesnt blow blue.
so i fixed the hose and spliced it together and its still heats up to the red when i drive it round the block.  I get it home in time before it gets too hot.

anyways im trying to bleed the system and next to the cap is two allen screws, one fore and one aft on top of the rad, which is the bleeder screw?

topped up the coolant with the cap off and drove it again with the heater on high and max fan speed. still cold.  upper rad hose is hot.

any suggestions? is the rad done?
thanks m42 guys for any assistance.
RYan

[Wrench]

I think you still have air in the system.

Pour in coolant engine not running, squeeze upper rad hose to purge air, pour in more, repeat til full.

There is a bleeder screw near the rad cap. It's a big plastic screw with a cross in the middle like a phillips screw. Run car with cap on. Allow it to heat up a bit and crack open the bleeder screw slowly. If it's full and all is well, you should see a bit of fluid come out of the bleeder.

[n2motorsports]

The bleeder is neither of those Allen screws, it's the plastic Philips screw next to expansion tank.  Without bleeding the system you're overheating, you should also replace the fan if blades broke off for optimal cooling.

If Rad doesn't leak any coolant, just use a flatheat and straighten out the fins.

[DesktopDave]

Hopefully it's a bubble in the system.  I usually park the car nose up a hill for bleeding.  I typically have to bleed it twice to get all the air out and top off the coolant properly.  I'm worried that you have a cracked head.  It's hard to tell if you have a small crack in the head, since it'll only open when the motor is fully warmed up.

Like the other guys have said, that little bleeder screw looks like a drain plug between the two allen screws.  It's very fragile.  Like a lot of other people I broke one off myself.  Don't use a philips-head driver!  Just a big flat bladed driver will work.  And don't go over-tightening it either!  Just until coolant stops oozing out will do.

[Nelson_40]

Check this link both for the pic of the screw & instructions http://www.m42club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6597

The bleed screw might be brass too. GL

[16v of E30]

Thats exactly what was wrong, turning the hex bolts was not the bleeder like i though. the actual bleeder was covered in gunk and wasnt really looking like anything.

Bled the system and she is all systems go now! Best $1000 purchase ever.

thinkging im going to install the billies i bought for the touring, and change the h&r's for the 318is set instead of the 325i set and put it all into the m42 for the summer, park the touring and keep it for surf trips this summer.

...or... sell the touring. $4000 obo.

check out this sexy interior!
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/271_60458210482_580495482_3567161_4516_n.jpg

[DesktopDave]

Good to hear!  These cars are awesome once you have the little kinks worked out.

[16v of E30]

i missed this car so bad. im glad to have it back. its so much more nimble and poppy than the 325i wagon...

[n2motorsports]

selling the touring?  where you at?  im getting tired to troubleshooting my 318is...been 20 months since i last drove it!!!

[16v of E30]

touring is for sale for $3500
http://bcbimmers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11237