posted this question in - what did you do to your. Uni today thread. But didn’t get any response.
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Finally installed my water temp sender. I was hesitant because of the coolant mess.

so i put some towels under the hose and come to find out after taking the bleeder device out.
Radiator hose is empty. Cars been sitting for awhile.
Kudos for me. No mess. Now the question.

do i have to bleed it again when the car warms up ? I can loosen up the sender and use it as a bleeder.

is this normal not to have coolant in the top hose?

i can take out the sender and put coolant through there to fill up the top hose. Will that help?

there’s coolant in the reservoir. And i didn’t open it when i installed this. Any inputs appreciated

 

On a cold engine, open the expansion tank & fill it.
Open the sender/bleeder, air should come out followed by coolant.
Start the engine, watch the tank level, it should drop as the rest of the top hose fills, keep a little coolant in there. You can squeeze the top hose to help things along.
Once you think it's full, close the bleeder, make sure there's an inch or so in the tank & put the cap back on.
Run the car around for a while, not just idling, & check the tank level again.
(You may need to repeat - MINIs are not easy to bleed!).

 

thank you. ya i did that when i replaced them radiator. Pretty easy with the bleeder.

but you know why the top hose was empty though?

no coolant got drained when i installed the sender though.

so i have to repeat the bleeding process again that i relieves pressure from the hose?

 

...'cause there wasn't enough coolant in there!

If you squeeze the top hose, it should burp into the expansion tank.
If you think the top hose is full now & there's an inch or so of coolant in the tank, you may be all set.
Otherwise, keep an eye on the tank for a few days, don't let it run dry & it will eventually find it's own level.

 

my coolant is full lol. Don’t have leaks. Tank has coolant up high. So weird 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

I think I'd siphon off some of the tank coolant. Other than that, it looks like you're OK.

 

Thanks man. I’ll still try and loosen the sender when i start it and close it when i see coolant dripping just to be safe.