coolant system filling through inlet manifold?

while strolling through several MG related forums and pages I found this thread on MGFcar.de (on the lower half of the page):

Did I mention how easy it is to bleed the system filling it with a water hose through the manifold bleed nipple?



What are your thoughts? Did you try this?

I have to agree that filling via the auto bleed valve is a good way to check it's not blocked.

My inlet manifold was leaking coolant where the brass pipe is moulded into the plastic manifold, the car had been seriously overheated and the previous owner had to have a new cylinder head fitted but the car still had lots of issues when I bought it; the flange face of the inlet manifold was also warped allowing an air vacuum leak.

I had also been having issues with various coolant leaks and bleeding the air from the cooling system, I eventually swapped the manifold for the 2 piece alloy version and when I looked at the old auto bleed valve on the inside face it was blocked solid with some form of Radweld crap, so I made sure that on the new manifold the valve was clear.

When the new manifold was fitted and upon bleeding up the system, coolant was flowing from the small pipe into the expansion tank, I had never seen this before (obviously because of the blockage) and the system bled up no problem.
The images below show the inside of the valve and outside view where I had the leak.