as the title says, where is the coolant drain plug on the engine block on my 97 M3. if anybody has perhaps a picture from their ETK, that would be helpful. thanks
Cannot guarantee the 97 is the same as my 95M3, but, the block drain plug is on the passenger (right) side of the block, located under the exhaust manifold, approximately even with the #5 cylinder. A 13mm wrench fits it. It is on a protrusion from the block, sticks out about 1.25 inches.
-Tom
There are good pictures here
one warning... when you take this plug out, you WILL get soaked in coolant, as it comes out of the block at a pretty alarming rate... prepare by spreading a bunch of old towels around the floor, etc., of your garage, in addition to having a large catch pan. it's pretty much impossible not to make a mess, because the coolant will hit other parts of the lower engine compartment and randomly spray everywhere. just a heads up, in case you've never removed it before.
E53 X5
E30/S52
E90 325i
damn, now you guys tell me. This could have been of great use when I replaced my water pump. I'm sure you guys know what i'm talking about...
For the '99 M3, I used a 19 inch open-end wrench as the Oxygen sensor directly in front of it makes it a tight area. A ratcheting wrench may be a good tool for this(See link: http://www.sears.com/sr/craftsman/wh...OOL&Tool_Id=21) . I remember my car was up on Blitz ramps and I was trying to stay clear of the coolant during the removal of the plug and the wrench kept slipping. BTW, this tool can be purchased individually. There are other kinds from Craftsman but the longer the wrench the easier it is to remove the plug.
To direct the gushing coolant into a flat pan (#11897 in this link http://www.blitzusa.com/auto_products_oilpans.html), I simply used aluminum foil molding it accordingly. No mess here at all.
Reinstalling the plug with a torque wrench can be done using a Craftsman crowfoot wrench instead of a socket but you need to calculate and adjust your Tq wrench to get to the specified torque. The link for the formula is here on page 4: http://www.zediker.com/articles/torque.pdf
Last edited by marzen; 11-17-2003 at 10:50 AM.
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