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I dropped the coolant the other day to take the heater box out, would like to use it this weekend, so I was going to join the two heater pipes together, and run it with no heater.

Anyone know how much coolant I'll need (as in how many litres), minus the heater box?

It's a '77 316.

Cheers.

7 litres normally, I'd estimate half a litre or so for the heater box and pipes, so 6.5 should see you right

Perfect, thankyou.

Can I use any type? Or is there a specific type that needs to go in?

I've been using the cheap blue stuff from poundland lately as the decent stuff is expensive and I know I'm going to have the rad in and out a few times yet. BMW do standard blue coolant for about £15 iirc.

It was blue stuff that came out of it, so I'll be fine putting blue back in.

Okay, nice one

Yup, stick to the blue or green stuff, not sure if all components are ok with the more modern red stuff.

Change qty for M10 is 7.2 litres, it's all in the specs pages mate http://www.bmwe21.net/?page_id=282

How do I know when there is enough in there then?

There's no measuring markers to use? So what, mix up 7 litres and whack it in?!

The 4 cil versions are all filled directly at the rad I believe. Level should be just below rad top, any excess will be expelled through the cap (overpressure).

Perform the work with the interior heating fully opened.

Getting rid of the air in the system: run the engine warm, squeeze the two large rad hoses tight several times, at the same time. Better use gloves and watch out for the fan blade. Keep watching the temp gauge for extreme overheating if there's no flow at all.

There's no heater box.

I was going to attach the two ends of pipe to eachother that went into the heater box. Then fill the system?

Will this be okay or should I not use the car until the heater is back in place?

Oops misread, but should be no prob for the time being if you connect the hoses indeed.

Okay thanks,

And you say to bleed the system, run it and squeeze the rad pipes?

How does this work? Is there no bleed nipple/screw on the system???

correct!

Thanks very much

Much easier to bleed if you jack the front up or do it on a hill, any air pockets then want to head for the highest point - the rad cap. Make sure you bleed while it's at operating temperature too (stat will be open).