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​How to refill coolant and bleed the coolant circuit

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  • OVERALL DIFFICULTY INDEX: 2/10
  • IF YOU HAVE NO TOOLS YOU SPEND $5 TO GET THEM FOR THIS JOB
  • IF YOU HAVE NO EXPERIENCE YOU SPEND 45 MINUTES TO CARRY OUT THIS JOB
  • NO SAFETY ISSUES 
BEFORE YOU START
  • Never add water alone, always use a ready-made coolant or make your own mix from concentrate.
DISCLAIMER:
Our pictorials are of informative nature and do illustrate works carried out by ourselves at our own premises for our own use and satisfaction.
Readers who envisage to carry out similar works inspired by the below method shall do this at their own risks and liability.

Mixing the coolant from a concentrate

Buy 1 liter of any coolant concentrate of any color (left) and at least 3 liters of distilled water (middle).
Use an empty container or jerrycan of 5 liters at least and pour the concentrate in it.
Add as much volumes of distilled water as recommended on the concentrate dilution chart.
The more you dilute and the more you reduce the coolant capabilities to withstand temperatures below zero.
In general dilutions of 1:3 are recommended for countries with heavy winters and 1:5 for countries with hot climate.
Always follow the instructions of the coolant concentrate you purchased.

Refilling and bleeding the coolant circuit.

If you had to drain your coolant for a mechanical intervention, the below pictorial shows how to proceed for refilling and bleeding the coolant circuit with no special tools.

Disconnect the coolant level sensor if your vehicle is equipped with such a device (middle).
Unscrew and remove the coolant expansion tank holding bolt (right).
Pull up the coolant expansion tank s much as you can with no excessive force however and let it hold as high as you can then fix it with a cable tie (right).
Fill the tank with excess coolant.
The picture to the right shows how the tank has been raised and fixed higher than the highest coolant hose in the engine.
Now find the bleeding nipples of your engine:
  • You will usually find one of them nearby the thermostat (left) and another at the coolant hoses entry point to the cabin compartment (right).
  • You might need to remove air hoses to reach them.
  • Most nipples will be like the one shown to the right, i.e. a plastic teethed nut that can be loosened and tightened by hand.
  • In some cases, the bleeder is a bolt or a sensor as shown in the left image (an EP6 engine in this case).
  • Loosen the lowest bleeding nipple first and let the coolant flow until no air comes out anymore.
  • Repeat the same with the higher nipple.
  • Fix back the coolant expansion tank in its original location and adjust the coolant level to the "max" mark.
  • Drive your vehicle normally but at least until the engine becomes hot and the fan starts.
  • Check and readjust the coolant level if needed the next day before starting the vehicle.
The bleeding nipples are much more visible on this Peugeot 208, near the intake throttle body to the left, and the other one always located at the upper hose of the cabin heater (picture to the right).

Filling and bleeding coolant in case you cannot move your expansion tank:

In this case, you can only use a funnel to create pressure, see below available kits with multiple adapters, which you can buy from our partners' stores (click on the image). Procedure for bleeding the coolant remains identical to our method.

See also...