overheating. radiator hose blew loose

[scrapz]

i was driving home yesterday and notice the needle 3/4 of the way to red so i pull over, added more coolant and wait 15 mins for it to cool down. drive for a couple hours last night and everythings fine. today I drove 2 blocks and smell coolant leaking so i pull over immediately and notice the radiator hose blew loose( too much pressure?). luckily needle never past the 3/4 mark but now my right headlight is filled with coolant!! now i really need my new headlights from jeremy if hell ever f*ckign send them.

any thoughts on what could have caused this?


ATM waiting for my car to cool down so i can drive it home

[DeanP]

Stuck thermostat or clogged radiator. The 6 cyls also have a history of waterpump failure. Have you done the update?

[scrapz]

waterpump was changed not too long ago, ordered another one today and gettin the fan delete kit

update: i tightened all the hoses and refilled the coolant. drove home no problem

update 2: let the car run idle for about 3 mins and the temp started to go up .. suggestions!!!!

[djkiko]

you got a blown radiator due to the fact that bmw uses plastic for the piece that connects to the hose instead of aluminum. This happened to me about 2 months ago and just to let you know it ran about $700 to fix at the shop. :mad:

[scrapz]

noooooooooooo :help

[scrapz]

you got a blown radiator due to the fact that bmw uses plastic for the piece that connects to the hose instead of aluminum. This happened to me about 2 months ago and just to let you know it ran about $700 to fix at the shop. :mad:

what exactly did they change? probaly do a DIY and save a couple hundred

[Quiksilver7]

what exactly did they change? probaly do a DIY and save a couple hundred

Yeah... yikes.

the radiator isn't too hard to change. I'm debating changing it in my car since the broken water neck is a very common issue apparently.

So... the following things need to replaced if you haven't already:

1) Water pump
2) Thermostat
3) Replace thermostat housing with upgraded metal piece
4) Radiator.

That's practically the entire cooling system... stupid BMW...

Does anyone know where to get an entire metal radiator? I was under the impression that the Pelican Parts one was just a factory replacement with the same plastic water neck.

[G. P. Burdell]

The OE and OEM radiators have aluminum cores crimped to plastic side tanks with plastic water necks. Zionsville Autosport sells an all-aluminum radiator, but from what I understand, they're not indestructible and will also eventually need to be replaced.

Add new radiator hoses (upper and lower), radiator rubber mounts, and hose clamps to your list of parts. If your expansion tank is cracked, replace it too. It isn't included with the radiator. It's also a good idea to have extra radiator retaining clips on hand, because they'll crack if you look at them funny. If you need to flush the cooling system at the same time, get a new aluminum crush washer for the engine block drain plug.

There have been scattered stories of premature failure of the aftermarket Graf/Geba pumps with the cast metal impellers. I pulled the aftermarket Graf pump out of my car and installed a BMW pump this past weekend. The Graf pump didn't show any obvious signs of trouble after ~40k miles, so it was really more for peace of mind.

[scrapz]

should my car be running fine??? i let it idle for about 5 mins then left the rev at 3000rpm for another couple mins seemed fine no overheating although there is coolant leak on the underside black piece of the radiator

ill still be getting a new radiator but j/w

any other recommedations for aluminum radiators? I'm waiting for Spearco radiator but seems like itll never be done

[Volcanix92]

My radiator hose and neck blew off today!!

soo pissed. I drove the car for about 2 miles with the temperature gauge in the red before the hose and neck blew off. did i do any serious damage!?

is there some way to reattach the hose without replacing the entire radiator.

after reading a lot of posts here i think my water pump might be broken?

It took time for the engine to get hotter and hotter and then the hose blew loose. Anyone have some insight for me.

thanks guys~!

[tomas3314]

you got a blown radiator due to the fact that bmw uses plastic for the piece that connects to the hose instead of aluminum. This happened to me about 2 months ago and just to let you know it ran about $700 to fix at the shop. :mad:

Wow, $700??? I got a new radiator w/ lifetime warranty for $150. Took about 1 hr or less to swap. Simple DIY.

SCRAPZ, I recommend radiators.com ...... will deliver same day (they will give you a lifetime warranty which no one else will) and are very cheap. Sorry to hear about what happened. I've gone through too many horror stories w/ my cooling system too. I've already swapped every component (most w/ upgrades) and it's been pretty simple to do. I would be VERY careful not to get confident and drive. Sometimes after an incident like that and a quick fix will make you feel like its okay again. Then it will catch you again at the worst time (overheating again). Been there, done that...luckily I still have my engine,lol.

[scrapz]

Wow, $700??? I got a new radiator w/ lifetime warranty for $150. Took about 1 hr or less to swap. Simple DIY.

SCRAPZ, I recommend radiators.com ...... will deliver same day (they will give you a lifetime warranty which no one else will) and are very cheap. Sorry to hear about what happened. I've gone through too many horror stories w/ my cooling system too. I've already swapped every component (most w/ upgrades) and it's been pretty simple to do. I would be VERY careful not to get confident and drive. Sometimes after an incident like that and a quick fix will make you feel like its okay again. Then it will catch you again at the worst time (overheating again). Been there, done that...luckily I still have my engine,lol.

haha thanks for the info. i dont drive my car around i just left it on in my driveway
j/w is there any difference between a m3 or 325 radiator?

[Volcanix92]

can anyone tell me what kind of damage i could have done driving for those couple miles with an over heating engine and if i need to get that diagnosed and checked for more serious problems?

[Wayne@PelicanParts]

If you drive an overheated car, you will most likely kill your head gasket.

As for the waterpump, radiator replacement, and cooling system maintenance, see here:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/tech_main.htm

-Wayne

[widebody_bimmer]

the zionsville aluminum radiator comes with a lifetime warenty also....but you have to use BMW coolant and you have to have proof that you are using that coolant...they run about 450 bucks I believe but you don't have to worry about the plastic breaking off....as for when the car was over heating after you put the hose back on...it was most likely air in the system that happened to me also

[BMWg84]

ya, you need a new radiator bro.. bad news - but good preventative maintanence for the future :D

If you need any help let me know! We could just go ahead and do the fan delete while we're at it

Chris

[djkiko]

i took a look at my reciept and I paid a little less then 600 for the whole deal which included a brand new radiator from the dealership (350!!!) and the labor fluids hoses and clamps. my car also broke down 40 miles from my house on market street in san francisco so I took it to the closest shop I could find which was probably the most expensive. what did everyone else pay? I know Im not the only one as this happens all the time.

[scrapz]

ya, you need a new radiator bro.. bad news - but good preventative maintanence for the future :D

If you need any help let me know! We could just go ahead and do the fan delete while we're at it

Chris

of course im going for the fan delete=). just looking for a decent priced full aluminum radiator. Got a 2nd job yesterday so m3 eng and tranny swap soon :devillook thanks for the help chris :buttrock

[Hank]

Yeah, I'm a member of that too. Driving on the Fwy at around 70 my left front fender is spitting steam. Being 50 miles or so from home I opted to utilize my 7-miles free tow from AAA and had it taken to the nearest stealer. Yep, $700. Upgraded to AAAplus which gives me 100mi free tow, and if it ever happened again, would definately want to DIY the Zionsville.

Plastic. WTF!!!???

Hank

P.S. if your oil didn't turn into a chocolate malt, you didn't blow your headgasket and should be o.k. I've had no issues and did touch red for a few minutes.

[woodzusa]

I know this is an old post, but I had the same thing happen to me yesterday. Part of my upper radiator neck broke off when it blew. Just wondering if I have to replace the radiator? The hose will still fit around the neck (somewhat) . And was wondering how much did it cost all of you bimmer owners to replace the water pump and thermo ?
Also, what about the head gasket. I drove for another 6 miles stopping twice to let it cool down. Don't see any water in the oil, but just wondering?

Thanks

[Wayne@PelicanParts]

I know this is an old post, but I had the same thing happen to me yesterday. Part of my upper radiator neck broke off when it blew. Just wondering if I have to replace the radiator? The hose will still fit around the neck (somewhat) . And was wondering how much did it cost all of you bimmer owners to replace the water pump and thermo ?
Also, what about the head gasket. I drove for another 6 miles stopping twice to let it cool down. Don't see any water in the oil, but just wondering?

Thanks

Unfortunately, if your cylinder head overheated, there is a good chance the head gasket got toasted as well. I would replace the radiator if the neck blew off - having only half-a-neck will make it more prone to failures in the future. Do you have the proper radiator cap on there too? The caps are supposed to blow off before anything else does...

-Wayne

[beatniks325]

wayne, hey much thanks for your online guides. looking forward to your book coming out.

back on topic, yes like wayne said you should replace your radiator with a new one. thankfully they are pretty cheap and it really isn't that hard to DIY. Maybe you'll want to do the fan delete at the same time, and check your belts because you'll have them exposed with the fan and radiator off, which makes changing them even easier.

[Wayne@PelicanParts]

Here's a link to our E36 Cooling Section:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/catalog/shopcart/BE36/POR_BE36_waterc_pg1.htm

While other vendors may only carry the radiator and hoses, we carry just about everything else that you may want to replace while you're in there (many parts that are supposedly "dealer-only").

Check it out...

-Wayne

[LinearX]

I replaced my radiator as a DIY project. It was probably about $200 all said and done.

[WildStorm]

I feel for you guys. I've had my 328is about 5 months now. The guy i bought it from just replaced the water pump not too long before i got it, but my radiator started leaking out the driver side end tank about 2 weeks ago. I ordered a OEM Behr replacement, putting it on sometime this week.

Wes

Oh, and btw do any of you use Redline water wetter, or something similar? I love the stuff.

[pezking4]

My radiator went a few months ago.. all I can say is Bimmerparts.com (http://www.bimmerparts.com) is your friend..

[WildStorm]

hell yeah, thats where i got my radiator from :D