[kaw900r]

Does the pump start pumping pushing fluid as soon as it starts up or does it need to get up to pressure/temp 1st? Trying to get this last air bubble out has been a hassle. Cars starts putting out heat try for a quick ride heat cools off and amber thermostat warning pops up. Just replaced the pump & thermostat.

[upshift_downshift]

Originally Posted by kaw900r

Does the pump start pumping pushing fluid as soon as it starts up or does it need to get up to pressure/temp 1st? Trying to get this last air bubble out has been a hassle. Cars starts putting out heat try for a quick ride heat cools off and amber thermostat warning pops up. Just replaced the pump & thermostat.

Did you run the bleed cycle after refilling coolant? It shouldn't have any bubbles after a few cycles

[kaw900r]

But never seems like anything was going on, hence why I was asking if it has to get up to temp when car is running.

[opjose]

With the engine off and the car in a quiet place you should definitely hear the pump during your bleed cycle.

[e90yyc]

Someone once said it sounds like a washing machine, which I thought was fairly apt.

You should hear a whooshing noise. It's quiet but you'll know it's running.

[OTO335i]

I don't understand why people have so many issues with these... When I replaced my pump and thermostat I just sat the cap of my expansion tank on top of it so that the fluid wouldn't spray everywhere and I just ran my car and let it warm up for 10 to 15 minutes while it flowed the coolant around to let the bubbles out on its own.

I never did the bleeding procedure and I've never had any issues or lights, this was done in November so something would have happened by now...

[Efthreeoh]

I don't understand why anyone just can't follow the BMW bleeding procedure. This is one of the best features of the E9X, cold bleeding the cooling system. Fill the system with coolant with bleed screw open, close the cap, close the bleed screw, set car to accessory power, turn heat to max temp, fan to low, hold throttle pedal for 10 seconds, let the water pump run the 12-minute cycle. Then open the cap and top off fluid level.

Wrote that all from memory...

[Jashan90]

Here's a video for you illiterates:

[david in germany]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I don't understand why anyone just can't follow the BMW bleeding procedure. This is one of the best features of the E9X, cold bleeding the cooling system. Fill the system with coolant with bleed screw open, close the cap, close the bleed screw, set car to accessory power, turn heat to max temp, fan to low, hold throttle pedal for 10 seconds, let the water pump run the 12-minute cycle. Then open the cap and top off fluid level.

Wrote that all from memory...

Easy as pie when I put in my new pump and thermostat. Top off again or verify level after a few days too though.

[e90yyc]

Originally Posted by david in germany

Easy as pie when I put in my new pump and thermostat. Top off again or verify level after a few days too though.

Yes, my coolant level did drop a bit and topping off was necessary.

I didn't observe the part in manual about filling until bubble-free coolant emerges from bleed screw prior to closing it...

I simply stopped filling and closed it as soon as coolant started coming out and all has been well.

[ryan stewart]

Throw me in the "why is this hard?" camp.

Mine was super simple. Hooked up a charger just to be safe and ran it. With the hood open and car off you should you should immediately know its happening, you can hear the fluid gushing around in there. Come back 15 minutes, check the levels and seal it all up.

[gbalthrop]

Originally Posted by kaw900r

Does the pump start pumping pushing fluid as soon as it starts up or does it need to get up to pressure/temp 1st? Trying to get this last air bubble out has been a hassle. Cars starts putting out heat try for a quick ride heat cools off and amber thermostat warning pops up. Just replaced the pump & thermostat.

Originally Posted by upshift_downshift

Did you run the bleed cycle after refilling coolant? It shouldn't have any bubbles after a few cycles

Originally Posted by kaw900r

But never seems like anything was going on, hence why I was asking if it has to get up to temp when car is running.

The Bleed Procedure is ONLY easy IF you do it correctly.

Here is the bleed procedure per TIS. Note that you need to connect a battery charger (at the Jumpstart Terminals under the hood), and also need to turn light on low beam. Without doing those two things, the Power Management System may shut the pump off after several minutes, preventing it from running the full ~12 minutes necessary to properly bleed all air.

See this link for procedure, and ignore all the junk about filling with a vacuum filling unit in the first ~ 8 pages -- just go to LAST PAGE:
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...check/CNCeB76L

George

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by gbalthrop

The Bleed Procedure is ONLY easy IF you do it correctly.

Here is the bleed procedure per TIS. Note that you need to connect a battery charger (at the Jumpstart Terminals under the hood), and also need to turn light on low beam. Without doing those two things, the Power Management System may shut the pump off after several minutes, preventing it from running the full ~12 minutes necessary to properly bleed all air.

See this link for procedure, and ignore all the junk about filling with a vacuum filling unit in the first ~ 8 pages -- just go to LAST PAGE:
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...check/CNCeB76L

George

The link you posted is the general cooling fill procedure for multiple BMW models using vacuum coolant system servicing equipment. If you read that TIS procedure closely, the bleeding procedure that requires turning on the low beam lights is not required for the E90.

The TIS procedure for the E90 does not require turning on any lights. The procedure recommends attaching a battery charger to the underhood terminals, but through my direct experience, it is not necessary. I think the TIS recommends using a battery charger as a preventative method to compensate for a car that may have a weak battery. I have bled my car numerous times and have not connected a charger or secondary battery. The early model E90s have the REST heat function that runs the heating system (water pump and blower motor) for more than 12 minutes and it does not drain a healthy battery.

The E90 method is as described several times in this thread: fill the system and close it up, turn on the ignition, press the throttle pedal, and let the system bleed for 12 minutes.

[gbalthrop]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

The link you posted is the general cooling fill procedure for multiple BMW models using vacuum coolant system servicing equipment. [1] If you read that TIS procedure closely, the bleeding procedure that requires turning on the low beam lights is not required for the E90.

[2] The TIS procedure for the E90 does not require turning on any lights. ...

Thanks for sharing your experience. I would appreciate your:

(1) identifying where the TIS procedure I linked says turning on low beam is NOT required for the E90;

(2) providing a link to "the TIS procedure for the E90" if there is a different or specific procedure provided by TIS for the E90.

I would agree that turning on the headlights MAY NOT be necessary, as that part of the procedure is omitted in Bentley, and I was able to properly bleed my system (N52KP) without doing that, but BOTH TIS & Bentley provide for using a battery charger. TIS indicates that Terminal 15 (ignition) may be switched off (before bleed is completed) if low beam lights are NOT on (which obviously stops pump).

Rather than baby-sit the procedure with a stopwatch to make sure the pump runs for 12 minutes, and hoping the battery SOC & SOH is sufficient to run the pump that long, if one has a battery charger, it appears to be somewhat of a no-brainer.

Thanks,
George

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by gbalthrop

Thanks for sharing your experience. I would appreciate your:

(1) identifying where the TIS procedure I linked says turning on low beam is NOT required for the E90;

(2) providing a link to "the TIS procedure for the E90" if there is a different or specific procedure provided by TIS for the E90.

I would agree that turning on the headlights MAY NOT be necessary, as that part of the procedure is omitted in Bentley, and I was able to properly bleed my system (N52KP) without doing that, but BOTH TIS & Bentley provide for using a battery charger. TIS indicates that Terminal 15 (ignition) may be switched off (before bleed is completed) if low beam lights are NOT on (which obviously stops pump).

Rather than baby-sit the procedure with a stopwatch to make sure the pump runs for 12 minutes, and hoping the battery SOC & SOH is sufficient to run the pump that long, if one has a battery charger, it appears to be somewhat of a no-brainer.

Thanks,
George

Answer to (1) is attached .pdf file, which is the original E90 TIS procedure for changing the coolant that I Hoovered off the TIS sometime in April 2009 when you had to pay to get a session on the TIS, and before Bentley published the E90 Service Manual. I also published a DIY in 2009 for changing the coolant. I was the one who said it sounds like a mini washing machine

Answer (2) is the list of BMW models that the secondary bleed procedure is required for. The E90/E9X is not on the list, which indicates the secondary bleed procedure is not required for the E90. All anyone has to do is follow the E90 TIS procedure.

[gbalthrop]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Answer to (1) is attached .pdf file, which is the original E90 TIS procedure for changing the coolant...
Answer (2) is the list of BMW models that the secondary bleed procedure is required for. The E90/E9X is not on the list, which indicates the secondary bleed procedure is not required for the E90.

(1) Thanks for the pdf. BTW, any chance you have a Coolant Flow Diagram for the N52 -- all I've got is for the N54.

(2) Not to make a Federal Case of a simple procedure, but the way I read the TIS article, you do NOT have to perform the 2nd bleed procedure beginning with "1. Connect Battery Charger" IF you did the 8-page Vacuum Filling Unit procedure.

I don't have one of those little gems, and I doubt many other BMW owners do either, so as I read BOTH Bentley and TIS, I need to do the Bleed procedure we've all been talking about since I did NOT Vacuum Fill. I don't know how else to interpret:
"After the cooling system has been filled with the vacuum filling unit, another bleeding procedure must be performed for the following vehicles:"

I WOULD agree that if one uses the $Vacuum Filling Unit$ on his E9x, TIS suggests he does NOT need to do the second procedure. Now as far as whether or not the "switch on the low-beam headlights" instruction is NOT applicable to E9x models, I have no idea, and if that was what TIS was trying to suggest, it appears they could have chosen different language (like German ;-)

Of course I may be deeper into senility than I realize, so please enlighten me if I've missed something.

George

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by gbalthrop

(1) Thanks for the pdf. BTW, any chance you have a Coolant Flow Diagram for the N52 -- all I've got is for the N54.

(2) Not to make a Federal Case of a simple procedure, but the way I read the TIS article, you do NOT have to perform the 2nd bleed procedure beginning with "1. Connect Battery Charger" IF you did the 8-page Vacuum Filling Unit procedure.

I don't have one of those little gems, and I doubt many other BMW owners do either, so as I read BOTH Bentley and TIS, I need to do the Bleed procedure we've all been talking about since I did NOT Vacuum Fill. I don't know how else to interpret:
"After the cooling system has been filled with the vacuum filling unit, another bleeding procedure must be performed for the following vehicles:"

I WOULD agree that if one uses the $Vacuum Filling Unit$ on his E9x, TIS suggests he does NOT need to do the second procedure. Now as far as whether or not the "switch on the low-beam headlights" instruction is NOT applicable to E9x models, I have no idea, and if that was what TIS was trying to suggest, it appears they could have chosen different language (like German ;-)

Of course I may be deeper into senility than I realize, so please enlighten me if I've missed something.

George

The E90 TIS coolant procedure I posted describes the manual (i.e. without any equipment) drain and refill procedure. It requires the cooling system bleeding procedure using the water pump to remove any air pockets that may be trapped in the engine block or cylinderhead.

The TIS procedure you posted uses a vacuum process with equipment that forces the coolant in and thus forces any trapped air out. Looking at the list of cars needing the secondary bleed procedure using the water pump (after the vacuum process is followed) look to be cars that all use N-series turbo engines. The E90 is not in the list of cars that require a secondary bleed procedure IF vacuum equipment is used to fill the cooling system. If you fill the cooling system in the E90 not using vacuum equipment, you must follow the water pump bleed process.

The secondary bleed procedure in the TIS procedure you posted requires the headlights to be turned on. Since the E90 is not on the list of cars requiring the second bleed procedure, the E90's water pump bleed procedure DOES NOT require the headlights to be on. The E90 cooling system service TIS procedure I posted does not require the headlights be turned on.