had a coolant leak that nearly drained out all coolant. I understand there are bleed screws, but don't have the map of where they are nor the expertise to use them.

Question 1) will the following steps work instead of finding the bleed screws?
Question 2) if the sequence is right, when to turn off the vehicle** before or after the reservoir cap gets closed?
- Using Zerex Dex-Cool

- fill up reservoir and leave cap open
- let level drop and keep filling to the max fill line and occasionally agitate the radiator top hose to get bubbles moving
- start engine
- turn on cabin heat to full
- let engine idle
- keep topping reservoir up to the max line until it stops dropping lower
- keep an eye on the temperature gauge in the vehicle
- keep checking that hot air is coming out of cabin vent
- finshed when 1) coolant level stabilized at max oil line 2) engine fan comes on 3) top radiator hose is hot
- shut vehicle off **
- keep topping up over the next few days

 

A little coolant trick to get the air out of the system. You can top it off as you had mentioned. Then go take the vehicle, and Park it with the nose of the vehicle pointed uphill at a decent angle, let it idle for a minute or two, then park it with the nose down for a minute or two, repeating with one side hi the other side hi. This kind of allows the bubbles to move around and get to the top of the system faster. It’s an old trick from the VW Vanagon Syncro which had probably the worst designed cooling system I’ve ever touched.

You can top the system off after you’ve done this, repeat a couple of times and you will get all the air out.

 

You should locate and use the bleed screws to do it properly.

 

@Dogpilot , i'll definitely perform that. @sarek i'll have to limp by with those steps then take it to someone who knows where all the screws are and how to bleed prolly then. i just dont have that expertise

 

I had the low coolant light come on at around 1500 miles on my 23 P400x. Added coolant and the same thing happened again in one week. Took it to dealer A and they ran a pressure test and said all is ok, and said new engine probably had air in the system and should go away. That did not happen and I kept getting the low coolant warning and adding more coolant. Took it to dealer B, and they found out the water pump had a tiny leak. Let your dealer check it out completely if your problem persists.

 

I’d drop it off at the dealer

But, no one has mentioned this - Drain coolant, pull a vacuum and fill via vacuum filler. (the proper way to do it on a modern vehicle)

Nose uphill was for the old stuff !

 

thanks all. trip to the dealer in the near future then

 

@Dogpilot : "Then go take the vehicle, and Park it with the nose of the vehicle pointed uphill at a decent angle...." I think we should all go out and find a proper uphill with a decent angle just to make a "radiator check" on our Defenders! I'm ALWAYS looking for a reason to do that with mine...