1998 BMW 328i Overheating Problems

[Visceral27]

Hello everyone. I'm brand new to the forums.

I bought my 1998 BMW 328i Convertible last August, so I've had it for about a year. The car previously lived it's life up in Washington, but the owner moved down here and brought the car with him. I live in Phoenix, Arizona. Its common for the temperature to be 115 degrees in the summer.

Since I bought my car, I've been getting periodic coolant leak messages on the center console. I took it in to the BMW dealership and they said it was a malfunction and the coolant system was fine. Anyways, I'm driving my car at the beginning of this month in the heat, and the temperature indicator goes into the red. I stop by the side of the road, wait 10 minutes, then start it again but the temperature is still hot. I ended up having to two the car back to my house. I brought it in the German Auto in Phoenix and had repairs done. The leaking heater valve and hoses had to be replaced. Also the check engine light had been on for a bit, and an oxygen sensor had to be replaced. Along with a faulty cigarette lighter, and the convertible top was having issues.

So I get the car back and it's fine for about a week. The I notice the front driver side tire is having issues. It's like there was water in the tire and with every revolution it clunks and gyrates. I noticed this one day when I was driving to pick up a friend. I decide to drive slow and take it into the shop the next day. But, as soon as I picked up my friend I was at a stop light and I noticed the temperature was in the red. 5 seconds after I noticed this an explosion occurs in the engine and it begins steaming and smoking. I looked under the hood and tube had completely blown off and a plastic part of the gasket had broken off with the tube. I believe it's part of the bottle(?). It's on top of the engine compartment at the very front of the car towards the driver side of the car. It's a plastic piece. I don't know if the tire issue and the coolant issue are related. But it's strange that they would occur at the same time.

I call up German Auto, and they tell me "these things just happen in Phoenix." And he basically tells me that things like this will continue to happen and I'll have to continue bringing it in (which is very convenient for him).

Here are my questions:

Should this new problem be covered under the shop's warranty since I just had the coolant system repaired 2 weeks ago?

Due to money being tight, I have to repair these new problems myself. What are the best resources to use so I can learn how to repair the problems and where to get the parts?

Considering the very hot environment I live in, what preventative maintenance steps can I take to ensure that I don't have coolant system problems in the future?

Any other input on 328i coolant system issues would be very much appreciated!

[lightflyer1]

The cooling system should be completely replaced. They are plastic parts and are prone to cracking/breaking with age, they get brittle. There are group buys in the for sale forums here for $250 or so you will get everything you need. You will also need to test it for damage after the overheat. The head/gasket could be ruined from driving it too hot. The shop probably won't do anything for you as these things do happen. Use the search function here to read up on this problem, lots and lots of posts on this here. Good luck! You can do the work yourself as well if you are handy and have some idea about working on cars.

[TCarlisle]

From your description, it sounds like the upper radiator hose neck on the radiator broke. That is a very common problem, and radiators rarely last more than 5 years 100K miles.

Your car has 150K miles and you don't know the maintenance history. Search here and you will see many peopl asking "I am about to buy an E36, what shoudl I know?" The response is usually first replace the cooling system, then inspect the suspension and plan on replacing some items there too.

For the cooling system, if you had the heater valve and hoses done, that is good but not enough. Change these:

radiator - $150
thermostat - $12
thermostat housing (if it is plastic) - $20
thermostat housing gaskets - $10
Expansion tank - $100
Water pump $75
Upper and lower rad hoses -- $60

I guestimated the prices of the parts, they should be in the ballpark. You might as well hit the collant level sensor while you are in there, anpother $20.

All this is about $500 in parts. If you pay a shop, it will be about 2-3 hours labor, so about another $200. Plus they will probably charge more for the parts.

I would dump your current shop. Especially if they claim to be experts in the German autos. Anyone that knows anything about the E36 would have recommended a full cooling system overhaul the first time you came in, explained why, etc. Instead, they repaired what was broke at the time and let you go only to have another failure and furtehr stress the headgasket. They are probably crossing their fingers hoping you toast the head gasket so they can bang you $2K for that.

A shop that does not give you advice and consultation on the importance of preventive maintenance is doing it either because they are ignorant or they know you will pay more in the long run by skipping preventive maintenance. In either case, time to find another shop or tak ethe DIY route.

[Visceral27]

Thanks for the replies! Like you said, I believe it is the radiator pump. I took some pictures of the engine, but this forum won't let me post them here because I'm a new member. Will I need to replace the entire radiator with this damage, or is there another way? Part of the plastic radiator cracked off into the hose.

Also, RealOEM has a radiator listed at $445.26. Is there a cheaper place to get parts on the internet?

Thanks!!

[Reuffeo]

no offense to PO, but can't we get a "CHECK THESE THINGS FOR OVERHEATING BEFORE ASKING FIRST!" sticked on the main page??

[Visceral27]

This 15 post requirement to post pictures is really quite frustrating!! I'm going to post links below to pictures of my engine. Please copy and paste them and take a look at them. As you can see from the second picture, part of the plastic radiator cracked off into the hose.

My question is: Do I need to replace the entire radiator with this problem?

Here are the pics:

i143.photobucket.com/albums/r126/visceraleye/DSCN0757.jpg

i143.photobucket.com/albums/r126/visceraleye/DSCN0766.jpg

[lightflyer1]

If any plastic part breaks you really should replace the whole system. They get brittle with age. Something else will break next, maybe while you are working on it, and put you out of service again.

This is the group buy and has everything you need:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=683277

Please learn to do a search first as this has been covered thousands of times. Good luck!

[Reuffeo]

if you can spare it, a new radiator would be best. preferably one with the metal hose neck. if not, you could probably use this one again but not for very long if you get it to clamp up snug

[Albertan]

For general info. The date of manufacture of the radiator is on a tag on the passenger side of the plastic tank. My new one is actually molded in with year and month of when it was molded. If you have any doubts about the rad have a look to see when it was made. In this instance it will probably be the original rad.
If you are ordering a rad make sure you order the expansion tank as well. I bought my rad from my local rad shop. They said it wouldn't come with the expansion tank so I ordered one. As it works out the rad did come with the expansion tank so now I have a spare for some day.

[Visceral27]

I just ordered the coolant system kit from the link above. Can anyone verify that this kit includes the expansion tank?

Chris from Bimmer Parts said on the phone that it has everything I need after a radiator blows. So I'm assuming that it does include the expansion tank.

Thanks for the help guys!! Much appreciated!

[lightflyer1]

and get the sensor for the exp. tank as well. They are old too.

In the thread:

part # 17 11 1 723 520
Coolant Expansion Tank add $52 with coolant level sensor made by behr

[Visceral27]

I found out that the kit I ordered does not include the expansion tank. Chris said that he never replaces the tank if it is not needed.

Could you tell me from my pictures if the problem occurred at the expansion tank?

Here are the links again.

i143.photobucket.com/albums/r126/visceraleye/DSCN0757.jpg

i143.photobucket.com/albums/r126/visceraleye/DSCN0766.jpg

[lightflyer1]

Go make 5 posts and repost.

[Visceral27]

I attempted to do that yesterday, but it stopped me after 5 posts in a row.

[Visceral27]

Here are the pics of my problem. I also have a couple more questions:

I found out my thermostat, upper radiator house, and lower radiator house were replaced 16 months ago. How long do the thermostats and hoses last? Is there a good web site that will tell me how long all of the parts in my engine will last? I am asking because the group buy of parts included these items and I don't want to have them replaced if I have perfectly good ones in my car already.





http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r126/visceraleye/DSCN0757.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r126/visceraleye/DSCN0766.jpg

[Reuffeo]

your hoses and thermostat should be fine then. If there's no cracking or drying out of the hose ends then they will be perfectly fine to be reused. Thermostats should also last a minimum of a few years, longer in my experience.

[RNeil]

People are saying you need to replace the expansion tank, but the "bottle" you first replaced sounds like an expansion tank.

[Blitanicle99]

Thermostat housings crack, water pumps go bad and the thermostat itself likes to stick sometimes and then fling open... makes the car overheat.