Just changed my inlet manifold gasket, and now need to refill my cooling system. The Haynes manual shows a picture of a filler cap which you are supposed to use, but I can't find it. Have got about 1 litre of coolant into the system, before it came out of the bleed screw opening, but have no hot air in the car. I know the system should take 5.8 litres, but only about 1 ltr came out when i drained it. I removed the bottom hose, as I couldn't find the drain tap on the radiator. Could it be that I haven't drained it all, and just have an airlock. Can I drive it like this?

Rover 214SLi 16v MPi 1995

You fill the system from the expansion bottle as the radiators do not have rad caps. The system should be filled and then run with the heater controls set to hot to allow water to circulate around the heater matrix. As the system starts to warm the bleed screw should be loosened to allow air to escape. Some systems have an extra bleed screw on the one of the two pipes that go to the heater matrix.
It its not safe to run these cars with airlocks in the system as they will overheat quickly causing possible head gasket failure and warping of the cylinder head.
As you drained the system from the bottom hose the chances are that quite a lot of the coolant still remains in the system (block,heater matrix etc.)

hope this helps

Thanks Crashed, a great reply.

The K Series engine as in your SEi is known for its fast warm-up...this is because the engine only holds 2 litres of coolant; the rest is contained in the radiator. When you drain the system, you don't get a lot out!

The bleeding of all air out of the system is really important - as Crashed says - otherwise HGF will result! Not good....

Thanks all. Now how do I bleed the system, have tried Crashed's idea, but only seem to get water out of the bleed valve. Put about another litre in, as the header tank was empty after it had cooled down, but my heater still keeps going cold. I don't seem to have a bleed valve up by the heater pipes, and it's now getting dark! Help!

Have you got the heater dial turned to the HOT position?

It's important to do this otherwise the coolant cannot circulate.

The K is a fiddly engine to bleed; it does take some patience and know-how..

You have filled the system via the header tank and loosened the bleed 'bolt' ont he metal coolant rail near to the dizzy cap?

After the stream which comes out of that bleed hole, slowly fill the system to the correct level.

Run the engine up and top up as required, all should be well......unless you have other problems....:err:

Thanks for all the advice. I have now successfully refilled and bled the system, and driven about 10 miles with no problems (other than some steam from the exhaust, but that could be normal, i'm just looking for problems now).
Hopefully I've cured my problem now (Starting Problem).
Would also like to thank Central Garages (Rover) in Torquay for their advice on the inlet manifold gasket, would never have considered it.

Good Stuff! They're good guys down there :D