Hi, my car was overheating, so I bled the coolant and it is fine now. When I finished bleeding it the coolant was just under the line. Now after driving it a day it has dropped (I think that is normal as some coolant probably went into places that were empty?). I want to now top it back up to just under the line, but do i have to bleed it again? Does topping up the coolant introduce air again? Thanks.

I have a slow valley pan leak where I have to top off my coolant every 3 weeks or so and I have never had to bleed off the coolant. I think you'll be fine but if it keeps overheating than you should troubleshoot and have the problem fixed before it gets worse.

I have a slow valley pan leak where I have to top off my coolant every 3 weeks or so and I have never had to bleed off the coolant. I think you'll be fine but if it keeps overheating than you should troubleshoot and have the problem fixed before it gets worse.

Okay thank you :)

I have a slow valley pan leak where I have to top off my coolant every 3 weeks or so and I have never had to bleed off the coolant. I think you'll be fine but if it keeps overheating than you should troubleshoot and have the problem fixed before it gets worse.


how many miles on your car just out of curiosity?

how many miles on your car just out of curiosity?

38,500 or so. It was hardly driven for the last 3 or so years (I just got it). So that could explain the air in the coolant.

how many miles on your car just out of curiosity?

I have 88500 now and have had the leak since I bought the car wiht 58k miles on it.

Hi, my car was overheating, so I bled the coolant and it is fine now. When I finished bleeding it the coolant was just under the line. Now after driving it a day it has dropped (I think that is normal as some coolant probably went into places that were empty?). I want to now top it back up to just under the line, but do i have to bleed it again? Does topping up the coolant introduce air again? Thanks.
Every time you top off the coolant, you should warm up the engine and bleed the system until nothing but coolant bleeds out. Obviously, you shouldn't have to keep topping off unless you are losing coolant somewhere?
I don't believe that topping off the coolant introduces air into the system.
Hope this answers your questions.

Every time you top off the coolant, you should bleed the system when the engine is warmed up until nothing but coolant bleeds out. Obviously, you shouldn't have to keep topping off unless you are losing coolant somewhere?
Hope this answers your question.

Okay. I bled the car when it was cold basically. Once I was done bleeding it, the coolant was just under the line. I drove it for 40 mins with no overheating. Two days later I go to drive again and check the coolant and it has dropped quite a bit. Is this normal (after i top it up again to the line should it stay around there?) I don't see anything leaking anywhere.

You may have a bad valley pan gasket. It leaks slowly while driving and you usually will not see a puddle of antifreeze where you park. There is very little sign of a leak with this condition. This is a common known problem with our Bimmers.
Is it cold there now? In my case, it seems to leak more in cold weather than during warmer months (expansion of the rubber sealing up the cracks). I just top off and continue driving....I'll probably have it replaced around my 100,000 mile maintenance when I do all the other 100k stuff.

You may have a bad valley pan gasket. It leaks slowly while driving and you usually will not see a puddle of antifreeze where you park. There is very little sign of a leak with this condition. This is a common known problem with our Bimmers.
Is it cold there now? In my case, it seems to leak more in cold weather than during warmer months (expansion of the rubber sealing up the cracks). I just top off and continue driving....I'll probably have it replaced around my 100,000 mile maintenance when I do all the other 100k stuff.

It's never really super cold in Aus but the weather certainly has not been hot. Is a valley pan gasket an expensive thing to replace? Is there any way to find out for sure if that is causing the problem? Thanks.

Okay. I bled the car when it was cold basically. Once I was done bleeding it, the coolant was just under the line. I drove it for 40 mins with no overheating. Two days later I go to drive again and check the coolant and it has dropped quite a bit. Is this normal (after i top it up again to the line should it stay around there?) I don't see anything leaking anywhere.
The engine has to be at temp (warm) to be bled.

I don't think the 6 cylinder engines have valley pans to change gaskets on-you may want to take the car to an indy and have them pressurize the coolent system and see where you might have a leak forming.

In the meantime, check out this link. Very detailed and if you are good with fixing stuff, you might try doing it yourself. IF not, I know here the stealer charges about $1,000 for the repair.

http://members.cox.net/rlacm/IntakeIndex.htm

In the meantime, check out this link. Very detailed and if you are good with fixing stuff, you might try doing it yourself. IF not, I know here the stealer charges about $1,000 for the repair.

http://members.cox.net/rlacm/IntakeIndex.htm
He has an I6. No valley pan.