Three weeks and it's dead :(

[JF1980]

Well I have had my e46 for 3 weeks and the thing has died!

I drove back to London from Margate area at about 4am this morning. A really nice drive, great roads when they are empty :) TomTom warned me about all of the roadside saftey cameras and I hope there were no average speed / specs type cameras on the M2 (tomtom didn't tell me there were any but then I don't think he is that accurate?!?!) :rolleyes:

Anyway, I got home at about 5am, went to bed after a nice drive :) I got up this afternoon and the first thing was that some idiot had parked behind me in a 206, and their front bumper was actually touching my back! Wasn't happy about that, I even took some pics incase there was any damage. So, I started the car up to move forward a few intches, rolled it forward and stopped. I notice the coolant level warning on so popped the bonnet and took a look. The little dipper/level indicator was all the wat to the bottom of the tank and I then noticed a puddle forming around the front passenger side wheel. :eek:

Filled it up with water and drove it round to the side of the house and up on to ramps. The radiator is leaking. Nice.

After having a few cigarettes and reading through the Haynes guide, I took the radiator out (not too hard although those coolant hoses don't like coming off).

I hope I can get a replacement from the dealer tomorrow, is it something they are likel to have in stock? I need to have the car running again as I am back to work on Tuesday.

I really don't know what happend to this radiator, I guess it must have been a stone but I don't see how a stone could do this and not have gone through the smaller radiator in front (I am guessing the smaller one is for the a/c?) ?!?!? I have not noticed the car overheating, it always sits right in the middle of the dial and the cooling fan rarely comes on.

Here are a few pics:

http://www.okulyillari.com/~justin/radiator1.jpg
http://www.okulyillari.com/~justin/radiator2.jpg
http://www.okulyillari.com/~justin/radiator3.jpg
http://www.okulyillari.com/~justin/radiator4.jpg


Top 3 are the engine facing side, last is road facing side, there is no noticable point of impact and from the front it really does look like the thing burst! The leaks are from one of the channels, probably pierced by the fins from the channel above (second photo is a close up of area).

When I took the radiator out, the haynes guide (and it really is a guide not a manual, there were quite a few extra clips and screws than they haynes book stated) mentioned a bleed nut on the right of the block. Now I have worked out from other areas of the book that they consider the right to be the drivers side, so actually the left when you are working on it! Anyway I looked for it but to no avail. I hope this doesn't mean I have to strip the whole engine bay down to access it, can anyone describe how to find it? Maybe I can get away without using it? If I can fit the new radiator and fill up the coolant without draining the block, that would be nice, can I do this or do I need to drain the block?

Sorry my forst post is a bit serious, but I really need some advice, I have only had this thing for 3 weeks so don't want to break it!

Justin.

[peppernick]

Bad luck JF. Looks like a long blunt trauma to your radiator. Can't be a stone.

Must admit this is not a common trouble shooting issue. As it's an integral part of the engine, I would take it to a local garage. I would guess fitting a new radiator you would need to drain and refill the block.

Sorry couldn't be of more help.

[JF1980]

You are right, I didn't think it seemed like stone damage. I guess as the car is coming up to 109k miles that the radiator has lasted pretty well really! I would have taken it to the dealer to repair but it's such an easy job. Add to that the fact that they charge £100/h labour, plus I would have needed to have taken the car there in the first place without damaging it. Still I will use the genuine BMW part, I wouldn't like to risk an aftermarket job.

It makes me wonder if there is an underlying problem. Maybe thats just what happens after so many hours of operation, I hope so.

[M5 SC]

Welcome mate!
Cant help much on the rad' issue apart from what your doing/done!!!
Try euro car parts for a new one, should get a genuine one quite cheap.
If you brought the car a few weeks back was it from a garage? if so take it to them!!!

[JF1980]

It was private, much cheaper than from a dealer even with the cost of a new radiator!

I looked on europarts but the problem is I need one tomorrow. I will be away for 2 weeks as of Tuesday so want to get the job done. I guess europarts is mail order only, I have only ever seen their website. That means I won't get it until tuesday.

I just hope that the dealer has one in stock. It must be the same part used in all 6cyl coups I would guess as it is massive. There are 3 dealers in an acceptable radius, so fingers crossed one will have what I want, else I am :mad:

[peppernick]

If your car has a manual transmission and is built before 09/2001, the part no. for the radiator is 17119071518

Hope this help

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/peppernick/5068.png

[M5 SC]

Euro car parts has premise's all over the country.
They do a call and collect service, usually have most things in, would have thought they would have a rad'!?

[M5 SC]

Where do you live mate? or give me the names of some towns/cities and i'll give ya the numbers for euro car parts stores!!!

[M5 SC]

According to euro car parts:
E46 320i - 330i costs £99.75 + vat. 1998 onwards.
Best to call local store with your exact car spec!

[JF1980]

Interesting, there is one within 1 1/2 hours journey (or 15 mins by car, lol)! I will call them in the morning, if they have it and it is much cheaper then the dealer I will get it there. Thanks for that, I didn't know that they had stores, I had the impression they were an online/mail order company!

[M5 SC]

I always use them for routine parts that i change myself, like discs and pads.
Genuine parts at good prices!!!

[Stock323iSaloon]

sounds like your rad was on it's last legs when u bought the car and eventually snapped...

German Swedish French is also good for parts:)

[Stock323iSaloon]

i forgot to mention that your bleed valve should be located right next to the rad cap where u put the coolant in. just max up the heat level, min fan speed, key to position 2, and use a screw driver to bleed bubbles from the system.
bleeding from the block should be done but it's a pain in the a$$ as u need a pivot-hinged extension bar and u need to jack up your car. u can get away by filling up the rad with distilled water, drive it around, circulate water in the system, drain from rad bottom plugs...repeat process until drained fluid is clean. i did it this 4 times before filling up with coolant/water mixture and i was sure that the fluid was new/clean. good luck bro:)

[JF1980]

Pepper, thanks for the part number (different on my original) I checked it out with the dealer and that is the correct part.

£191+vat from the dealer, £99 from ECP and they will have it for me by 2. I would have like to have finished the job by 2 but for half the price I can wait. With the money saved I have also ordered replacement glass for the headlights for £20 each. I'm very impressed with that, it will give the car a new lease of life too having sparkeling new headlights, they are a bit dull after 100k+ :)

Hope I can have the job finished before it gets dark! I'm a bit worried about refilling this thing, I have done it many times before on older cars (Pug 205, Rover 216, Calibra), but I'm paranoid about getting an airbubble trapped in the block and destroying the engine on this one. The front is still on ramps (drive up types) so I will get under and have another go at finding this nut. Once I start filling it with new coolant, I guess I fill, move it around in the hoses a bit with the top bleed screw open, repeat until it doesn't go down anymore, then close the bleed screw, run the engine for a few seconds, repeat until the level doesn't go down anymore? would I use the block bleed nut while refilling too or is that just to drain?

I think I will drive around for a bit once it is filled and choose a route with lots of speed bumps, that should help any trapped air escape I guess!

Guess this is just one of those things, there was no way of knowing that it was about to go, you can hardly see the radiator when the fan shroud is on, so I couldn't have picked up on it and I doubt the previous owner had either.

[JF1980]

Well I'm not happy. Went and picked up the radiator from ECS after checking and double checking that they have the right part number etc. It looked ok until I got back and went to fit the plasticmount which goes on one side. Doesn't fit, the spacing on teh radiator is just a few mm out! I also noticed that there is no blue bleed/drain screw at the bottom, just a blocked off hole which doesn't even have a thread to allow you to drill through and use the plug.

So, basically it's rubbish, I am just waiting for a cab to take me up to the dealers so I can get the genuine part (at twice the price). I'm really angry about it, specially as it cost me £25 for the cab over to collect it!

[JF1980]

Just on another note, I found this on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=18409&item=7984523887&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Is it worth paying £15 for or can I find it to download for free? ;)

[JF1980]

Umm, I'm quite worried now, someone on the e36coupe forums said that happened to my radiator because of a cracked head!?!?!!!

[Stock323iSaloon]

this same thing can be bought for 3 quid on eBay, these are same CDR copies:)

also, don't know about a cracked head = cracked rad [hmm

[JF1980]

Yeah, surely there is a pressure release valve anyway?!?!?

Having a hell of a time trying to refill this. I filled as much as I could, 1.5L of coolant and a bit of water, ran the engine until it was up to opperating temp, coolant level has not dropped. This is a big problem!

[Stock323iSaloon]

empty engine/rad can take around 6 litres to fill up:) have u turned the fan on/temp max/key position 2 to circulate the water? i thought your thermostat/water pump was shagged but if you're reaching normal operating temp then i donno what's wrong...

[JF1980]

Well it indicates normal temp, sits at about half way, left it ticking over for about 20 mins and had a few goes round the block, still indicates half way on the temp gauge. When I disconnected the fan at the front the temp rose to just under the red before I stopped it, so don't know.

The temp sensor is on the bottom radiator hose right? If then the temp does not get high enough to open the thermostat and let circulation go through the radiator, how does it measure the engine temp? How would I know if the thermostat or pump were gone?? Am I hurting it but running it?

[JF1980]

Wish this stupid thing would let me edit my posts!!!

I just though, the coolant is hot, wouldn't be hot really if it was not moving would it?

[JF1980]

Well just took him out for an inspection. Everything checked and heating set to full heat. I drove about 1/2 mile and then pulled over, had a cigarette and let it tick over for 10 mins. Switched it off for 5, then drove a few miles down the road and pulled over again. This time I checked if the fan was operating by holding my lighter in front of the grill and observing the flame. It blew away from the car with the breeze. I now left the car running while I had a cigarette and took a few pics of the exhaust 'mist'. I noted that the air was quite cold (11'c according to BMW) and condensation could be seen from my breath, just incase this helps later.

Here is a pic of the exhaust:

http://www.okulyillari.com/~justin/exhaust.jpg

There was a very slight breeze. The exhaust smelt moist with a hint of burnt petrol. It did not feel greasy.

So after taking all of this in, I checked the heating which was nice and toastie, the temp gauge was still sitting right in the middle where it always does. There were no funny noises and when I checked the grill with my lighter the flame was now being sucked in to the grill, so I presume the fan was going (it doesn't make much noise).

Well it all seemed ok, I drove home a bit faster than I had driven there (40 ish and went over some bumps on purpose to dislodge any air that might be trapped). Parked up and popped the hood, no strange noises. I gave the top hose with the bleed screw on it a bit of a squeeze, it didn't seem too pressurised, infact I was a little worried it was full of air, so I let a little out of the bleed valve and it was smooth fluid, no bubbles. The bottom radiator hose was about the same pressure and feel. I noticed when I squeezed them, I could hear the little dipstick inside the resivoir tap against the cap.

So I don't know what to think, it all seems just fine doesn't it? The radiator top and sides were quite warm, but through the whole thing the lowest fins of the radiator were cool. Maybe this is normal, I mean the same radiator is used in a 330, so my little 2.2l engine should not push it too hard?!? Also the lower pipe is actually in the middle, not at the bottom.

The exhaust bothers me, but then my last car was a calibra, which are not exactly modern cars, the exhaust on that was always sooty. I think newer cars produce much more vapour and less soot?

This morning I got about 250ml of coolant in as a top up to take the level back to max. No leaks evident in the bay or under the car. Drove to work and the temp came up to the usual (dead in the middle) and didn't move at all. When I parked I first checked the exhaust, no mist so I think I will put that down to the cold/moist air last night? I checked the hoses and although there was pressure in them, I don't think it is any more than can be expected while the engine is hot, I mean there should be some pressure in there when hot shouldn't there? The reason I am worried about this is that a guy on the e36coupe forums said that he thinks my radiator problem was caused by a cracked head or gasket, over pressurising the system hence the balooning on the radiator. I would have thought that the cap would blow before the radiator!

Don't know what to do really, I mean it seems ok but I don't want to blow a new radiator and damage the car. If I take it to a dealer to inspect they will rip me off with whatever they think they can get away with anyway, regardless of reality. Are there any BMW techs on these forums at all?