Manual talks about special coolant change/flush procedure at dealer???
 

Does anybody know of a "special" procedure to flush the coolant on 4.8is? A special way to purge or something? Any insight would help, as I will be flushing it soon......thanks.

drain coolant from the bottom of radiator and from the blocks drain plugs. reinstall with new sealing washers.
Before refilling radiator
switch ignition on(do not start engine)
set temp controls to full warm
set blower control to low

Using 50 50 coolant water mixture fill expansion tank slowly. continue until coolant emerges from bleed screw(bleed screw must be loose when filling exp tank)
once coolant comes through bleeder screw with no air you can tighten. tighten expansion cap and let the x reach full operating temp(10min or so) turn off and let system cool. check levels and add more coolant as needed.
personally I used snap on vacuum test and refill which works like a charm at making sure there is no air in the system...runs about 240.00, but you should be fine with your 4.8.

What manual is this?

Henweigh

Never heard of it. Can you post a scan or something?

henweigh= 2-3lbs. I kill myself LOL

Its actually Bentley repair manual.

That's what I thought....thanks.

There isn't anything out of the ordinary for flushing and coolant changes on these. I just flushed my entire system with Evans NPG+ waterless coolant. I have a BG Products CT2 coolant flush machine that will do everything on the car including the engine block, radiator and heater core.

Hen-Wei?
Sounds like Chinese Knock-off of Bentley manual:rofl:

I just looked back in the service manual, and it mentions in the coolant bleeding procedures that:

"On late-model cars with latent heat pump, do not switch ignition ON. These models require additional cooling system bleeding procedures. See your dealer for more information."

This is what I was talking about. Can anyone shed some light on this? thanks.

thats the procedure jst2878 told you to perform

No, what I am refering to is the coolant system bleeding procedure, which is supposed to be performed at the end of the coolant drain and fill procedure (which was detailed by jst2878 in an earlier post).

Apparently the later models in the 2000-2006 production run had this latent heat pump, or at least as an option, and this requires some additional procedures, as I refered to in my post above.

As mine has the latent heat pump, what is the special procedure it is referencing to see the dealer for?...or this this really not necessasry?

put a/c in defrost, strat to full hot, open radiator cap, remove bleeder and fill coolant and close bleeder and place towel on top. start engine, and rev engine to 5000rpms for 5-6 seconds. close radiator cap.

This is getting pretty frustrating. Searching is giving me about 4 different methods for filling/bleeding the coolant.

Can anyone confirm this 5k rpms method???

killcrap is describing the fast way of how to push all the air bubbles from the hoses etc. to the expansion tank.

I have a choice of URO $41, BEHR $50, or Genuine BMW $88.


Any thoughts?

and he is a tech AFAIK so I tend to usually trust the procedures he posts!

This "latent heat pump" is frustrating me too. Just replaced a thermostat on my X5. Saw the same entry in my Bentley manual. Searching the web has only pulled very little information on anything related to the X5. Most of the discussion seems to revolve around E39's. I wonder if Bentley added the entry by mistake to the X5 manual. I know the X5 has a residual heat function but don't know if that is the same as the latent heat pump. Can't even find anything about a latent heat pump in the manual. Just followed the bleed procedure and hoping for the best. Test drive didn't show any problems and I added a little more fluid than I removed.

I struggled with this too and found a procedure that worked well for my 4.4 2005. After following the procedure mentioned here, I additionally did this other procedure (using a cooling system pressure tester as mentioned in Bentley manual) and much more air came out of the cooling system. Eventually the coolant spewing from the bleeder screw had no more air bubbles.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...procedure.html

Holy thread revival.

Sharing my experiences locating the coolant drains and subsequent bleeding procedures I used over the weekend. I searched multiple threads and found minimal bleeding instructions specific to the N62 in the 4.8is (many had 3.0 and pre-facelift info, and Pelican Parts DIY had generic info that I could not verify directly).

My experiences—

#1 The engine block drainage bolt is tucked away on the driver (left) side. It is in clear view looking at the block from behind the lower control arm (wishbone) and marked with the iconic "C" or "U" (whichever you want to call it) on the bolt.

Optimal access is to drop the metal shield, but with the cost right now of the 6 bolts and nuts to reinstall to spec, I opted for alternate access. A cardboard chute to drain, and long ratchet extensions to access!

Be aware to reinstall with new crush washer and tighten to TIS Spec 25Nm.

#2 The bleeding procedure. I did a hybrid of X5only's pressurize/bleed before starting method and the TIS method for the 645Ci, which also has the N62 motor, here (both pages).

Hope this helps all N62 X5 owners searching for clearer answers. I could not find any additional info on a 'special bleeding method' other than what newer N62 vehicles have with electric water pumps that do the bleeding for you, which apparently our E53s don't have.

Here's some photos of the view from underneath, and one stock photo of the bolt for clarity.