Flatulent pooper moment - V6 cooling system/bleeding?

[dangermousecav]

Took the mrs to work this morning and on the way back one of my coolant hoses decided to remove itself from my radiator and empty the cooling system!

Diagnosed it to be a loose clip thank god which I replaced with a new jubilee clip(hindsight is a wonderful thing, put a couple of spare clips in car yesterday).

Its a Vectra B V6 thank god and the coolant level warning flashed up on the display just before steam started pouring from under the bonnet(this is when my arse dropped).

Bit unsure though on bleeding the cooling system and what sort of temperature the engine should be running at when bled correctly.

Topped up the system with water/coolant mix and filled to mark on header tank, turned all the heaters on in the car and ran it for 20 minutes, water was pushed out of header tank a couple of times then I topped it back up twice and replaced the cap.

Drove the car home and in town its around 86-89 degrees on temp gauge. Brought it down one junction on the motorway and it sat at a whisker over 80 degree's, then rose back to 86-89 degree's again.

Have I bled the system correctly? Is there anything I should watch out for?
Whats the ideal running temperature on a V6?

[Astra Dan]

Just top up, run till the fan comes on and check/ top up as needed. If the cap is off then it'll boil over.

[DarrenH]

heater on full, now thats old school !!

i dont think heat controls are penny valves in hoses anymore