Oh great, thanks, radiator...

[racer2086]

So I just finished replacing my upper control arms and out for a drive to see how it feels. On the way back home smoke/steam everywhere out back. Turns out the upper neck on the radiator snapped, causing all of my precious BMW coolant to blow everywhere and leaving me stranded and walking to Walmart for some distilled water.

So I am left with buying a new radiator I guess.

I had an idea, though. What if I measured the inside of the lumen of the radiator connection and found a machine shop to make a metal sleeve that would slip in there. Then, you could crank down the hose clamp nice and tight so the hose doesn't blow off and not worry about breaking the neck. Also, it will provide added support for the neck so that it may not snap off in the future. Thoughts? Why aren't they made with this metal sleeve? Seems like a very sensible addition that wouldn't cost much more.

Also, this one is a Nissins radiator. It's been in there 4-5 years I would guess. It replaced my Behr one that started leaking. I think I'm going to go back to Behr...

[AR424]

Zionsville and never worry about it again.

[racer2086]

Agree. Just don't have a cool G to drop on a radiator at the moment.

[shenofjo]

oem replacement radiator and low temp mechanical thermosat is my choice. i also thought about zionsville radiator but its investment you will never see return if you sell the car.

[AR424]

^^^thats why you keep it forever!

[mooll]

4-5 yrs for the nissens how many miles

[racer2086]

Just looked up in my records. It will be 4 years this March. It has gone 41k miles.

I can't say the Behr would have done any better, as the car has been through a few of those already. Regardless of the brand, it is a disappointing design. I will be buying a stainless metal tube to slip inside the neck for strength and support, much like the expansion tank has where the hose connects. The radiator should have it also. I will measure the ID of the outlet when I get the new radiator. Found a great source online to get almost any size metal tubing.

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You know, its kinda weird. I had the upper hose blow off last year, and I put it back on and tightened the hose clamp down more. Then this happened today. I was making a U-turn and then accelerating up a hill. I recently replaced my motor mounts after the hose blew off in case the engine was moving too much, but could there have been enough movement or shifting from the u-turn and acceleration to have broken the neck or was it just its time?

[tjpike]

Just looked up in my records. It will be 4 years this March. It has gone 41k miles.

I can't say the Behr would have done any better, as the car has been through a few of those already. Regardless of the brand, it is a disappointing design. I will be buying a stainless metal tube to slip inside the neck for strength and support, much like the expansion tank has where the hose connects. The radiator should have it also. I will measure the ID of the outlet when I get the new radiator. Found a great source online to get almost any size metal tubing.

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You know, its kinda weird. I had the upper hose blow off last year, and I put it back on and tightened the hose clamp down more. Then this happened today. I was making a U-turn and then accelerating up a hill. I recently replaced my motor mounts after the hose blew off in case the engine was moving too much, but could there have been enough movement or shifting from the u-turn and acceleration to have broken the neck or was it just its time?

It could just have been chassis flex that caused it to crack if not the motor mounts.

[mooll]

Well I'm glad I ordered my nissens from fcp so when it fails it gets replaced free. I agree with ur statement about Behr. Also, that's a good point about motor mounts mine are 176k orig they're really bad

[racer2086]

I think either one is a fine choice for what it is. Neither will see the lifetime necessary to "spring a leak" as the old school radiators used to. The plastic will crack way before that. I'll post up what I end up doing with the metal pipe. I think that's a great idea, but that's because I thought of it

[clarkitect]

Do you think the Genuine BMW radiators are actually the exact same radiators as the Behr? FCP lists Nissens and Behr as OEM, but I have heard anecdotally that the Genuine BMW radiators are better. Could be fake news I don't know. I'd probably go middle of the road and take the Behr and lifetime warranty, but interested to see what you do with yours.

[racer2086]

I don't really know to be honest. This car hasn't had a BMW radiator in it since it was under CPO warranty, which was a long time ago lol

According to the records, my gf's 540 had its radiator replaced years ago by the PO and BMW and its still in there, but that's far from good evidence. While working on the car, I did not see anything obvious about it that would be superior, however...

All I know is I bought mine from FCP, so I'll never have to pay for it again. I'm definitely going to put that metal pipe in the upper radiator outlet. I found one that should be the exact OD with a wall that is 0.8mm thick, so it shouldn't affect flow that much. I feel like there is enough flex in the motor mounts and chassis to put strain on that neck when you put the hammer down, which may be why this is such a common failure point. You never hear of the lower outlet breaking.

[jclausen]

We have Done services on an e38. Parked the car after a short time, coolant on the ground. Yes it does happen

[shenofjo]

You'd think that fcpeuro would replace the radiator under warranty?

[jclausen]

I don't know what there warranty is

[racer2086]

You'd think that fcpeuro would replace the radiator under warranty?

Absolutely. Lifetime warranty on parts.

I've already returned lower control arms with bad ball joints and just replaced the thrust arms due to bad joints. The radiator broke during my test drive. My front rotors are causing brake shake, so they are going back too. Their customer service is hands down the best I have dealt with in the auto parts industry. I go out of my way to buy parts from them now.

[mooll]

^ yup he said it best. i agree completely, they are the best and if you order ur e38 parts elsewhere ur throwing money out imo...
they would absolutely replace the radiator with no questions asked. if it failed, it failed-- and they have to abide by their warranty.
i've ordered about 2k in parts from them since i started buying from them a year or so ago and since have returned about $400 worth of failed stuff with absolutely no problems and it's awesome for me cause i get priority mail one day shipping since im only one state away and it only costs $9. everything about them is absolutely great; their shipping rates, shipping time, customer service, prices etc.

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one more point about FCP-- i plan to keep my e38 for the rest of my life lol so the fact that at some point in the near future i won't ever have to pay for another wearable part on my car like the stuff ive already replaced from FCP ( rear suspension, cooling system, trans stuff, d/s stuff...etc. ) is pretty dope...


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for the life time warranty you have to pay the return shipping but it is it's definitely worth paying it especially on big items like suspension cause even if it costs you $50 to ship the old parts back, you are seeing a $400 refund back OR brand new suspension parts shipped to your door at no charge

[shenofjo]

i guess i never viewed owning this car for life so i shopped around for cheap pricing. at least oembimmerparts said they would honor their warranty on the trw control arms... i've got the itch for a newer fully depreciated car in a few years, watching the 2010+ xjr and who knows how long it'll take for the quadrifoglio to drop to the bottom

[mooll]

speak of the devil....my nissens rad is leaking a small bit. i noticed after replacing the p/s and trans cooler lines o rings today. its a drip drip leak. nothing to worry about now but it will be getting warrantied soon...

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it has about 4,000 HARDD miles on it.

[asianvenom]

speak of the devil....my nissens rad is leaking a small bit. i noticed after replacing the p/s and trans cooler lines o rings today. its a drip drip leak. nothing to worry about now but it will be getting warrantied soon...

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it has about 4,000 HARDD miles on it.

My NISSENS is dripping right at the transmission coolant plug too, I thought its the coolant line replaced it still drripping...I ordered BEHR replacement.

[mooll]

^ mine is a prefacelift but yes they are leaking in similar spots.

[xboss]

FCP is awesome.

[mooll]

FCP is awesome.

yeah,they are. i almost thought about making a new thread as a shout out to them since some people on here i guess dont even know they exist or they still order elsewhere....

[BobieM]

oem replacement radiator and low temp mechanical thermosat is my choice. i also thought about zionsville radiator but its investment you will never see return if you sell the car.

Seconded, I did both. Bought an OEM radiator from Charlie Spear at Gault. The discount knock-offs are rubbish, trust me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[racer2086]

Do you think the Genuine BMW radiators are actually the exact same radiators as the Behr? FCP lists Nissens and Behr as OEM, but I have heard anecdotally that the Genuine BMW radiators are better. Could be fake news I don't know. I'd probably go middle of the road and take the Behr and lifetime warranty, but interested to see what you do with yours.

So I got the new radiator in this week. Had to fill it with 1.5 gallons of pure BMW coolant because of how much I lost.

To maybe answer your question...the Behr radiator I got from FCP has an area right below the Behr molding that has clearly been scuffed with a dremel or something. I imagine that is where the BMW part number would have been. So, I'm betting Genuine BMW radiators are the same as Behr, unless BMW has stricter quality control that would send these off to the "aftermarket".

Also, the Behr radiator as a different internal dimension of the neck. It is 33.6mm in inside diameter, meaning now I can't find a metal pipe to fit inside there. The Nissens piece left in my hose (see below) was 35mm, which I was able to find a very close inch equivalent for online. So that idea is gone now.

Interestingly, the OD of the Behr was 38.6mm, which means the wall of the neck is only 5mm thick. Kinda sad.

The Nissens upper neck was 40.3 OD and ID was 33.3, which means a 7mm thick wall. Obviously for me that added thickness didn't matter. The part I measured ID 35mm on before was what was left in my upper hose and that measured a wider 35mm. Measuring off the old radiator right now showed 33.3mm ID. Hmmm
For reference, the Nissens lower neck measured 40.4mm and ID 34.4 which means a 6mm thick wall for the lower.

So the take home is, it probably doesn't matter and they're all gonna break.