Where's the heater rail vent screw on a Cooper?
 

I'm about to flush my Cooper's cooling system. The Bentley manual and BMW TIS both state to open the bleed screw in the upper radiator hose and a screw in the heater rail. TIS includes a photograph and points to a hex head screw below the intake manifold on the front driver's side of the engine, but Bentley mentions that the screw is in the "heating distribution pipe located in rear of thermostat housing." :confused:

I can find the upper radiator hose bleed fitting easily enough, but I'm hoping someone here can confirm the location of the heater rail vent screw.

ETK shows a screw plug in a hose running from the heater core to the water pump. I presume this is a return hose. I found and photographed a gold-colored, 8mm hex head screw in a shiny black hose measuring about 5/8" O.D. It is located on the front driver's side of the engine, a few inches below the intake manifold. I'm not sure this is the vent screw, because it would seem to me that the return hose from the heater core should be larger. It's difficult to follow the hoses under there.

On the other hand, if I follow the Bentley instructions, they seem to lead to a black plastic inline fitting for the upper and lower heater hoses. There's a plastic bleed screw in this fitting, much like the bleed screw in the upper radiator hose.

Which one is the heater rail vent screw?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Post the tis direction # and I'll look it over and try to help.

I'll post the TIS document number tonight.

The TIS document number is 17 00 005. This TIS disc was published sometime in 2003.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

I only have access to a slow connection right now. I'll post some info for you this weekend.

The gold bolt is the heating distributor pipe vent screw. Btw, your picture looks exactly like the one in tis.

Thank you very much! :thumbsup: