Getting to the radiator drain tap on 214i K16 ??

This is one of those cases where the Haynes manual describes mythical parts and procedures! Actually, to be fair, early models did have a drain plug and a filler neck but they disappeared around the '92/'93 models, Haynes just didn't update the manual accordingly.

To drain the system ensure the heater is set to maximum and remove the expansion tank cap. Release the bottom hose from the radiator and allow the coolant to drain, it may help to release the bleed screw at this point. Once drained, reconnect the bottom hose and *slowly* refill via the expansion tank until coolant can be seen emerging in a steady flow from the bleed screw. Refit bleed screw and continue to refill until up to the level on the expansion tank. Continue forth as per Mr. Haynes.

HTH

I changed the coolant using the same proceedure, especially about filling slowly, but how the hell do you get the water to fill the heater matrix?!! I suspect parking the car pointing uphill would also help here as unfortunately the bleed screw is too low!

--Steve

I've heard a lot of horror stories about problems (airlocks mostly) when refilling the cooling system on 'K' series engines but, TBH, I've never had any trouble myself. Maybe I've just been lucky?

There's usually some air still in the system after refilling no matter how slowly it was refilled. My advice is run the engine up to normal temperature then stop it and *carefully* release the expansion tank cap. The coolant is likely to rise very quickly to the top of the expansion tank when you do this so be ready to tighten the cap before it overflows! You should now hear some lovely gurgling and bubbling noises as the air rushes into the expansion tank and the coolant level will drop to below where it was to start with. Top up the coolant and now release the bleed screw to allow any air trapped there to escape. Check/top up coolant level again, run engine and check that the radiator and heater are getting hot.

This method has always worked for me in the past.

HTH

you are using the bleed screw on the thermostat housing (located underneath the distributor...8mm bolt) open this screw, fill the coolant until it emerges from the bleed hole, refit the screw and run the engine, you will need to run until the engine is warm enough for the thermostat to open and then top up as nesasarry. run the engine at about 2500 rpm for about a minute to ensure the water pump pushes any remaining air in the matrix etc up to the expansion tank. this should be more than sufficient to bleed the whole system, havent come across any problems with these, if you are still getting air or bubbles into your expansion tank after this then suspect head gasket, (air from cylinders entering cooling system)

hope this helps..