Code P0599

[VaiFanatic]

SES light came on around the same time the Z began letting me know it's time for an oil change.

Took care of the oil change yesterday and cleared the service message to prep for taking it in for a state inspection today. Since the SES light was on, I swung up to the shop I moonlight at on occasions and figured I'd see what code it was throwing.

Came back with P0599; searching the net shows that either corroded wiring or something failing internally within the T-stat housing causes this issue. That means replacement T-stat/housing combo, which is no big deal.

For those who've encountered this, with automatic transmissions, there is apparently a secondary thermostat at the bottom of the expansion tank. Since the car will be drained and I'll be flushing the system, should I go ahead and replace this unit as well? Or is it highly unlikely that this secondary thermostat will fail anytime soon?

Thanks!

[Pelican Parts]

Hello - I'm attaching a couple of links from our site's DIY tech articles on the thermostat replacement and expansion tank replacement; I hope this will be helpful to you. Please let us know if you have any questions!

http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tech...eplacement.htm


http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tech...eplacement.htm

[VaiFanatic]

Hello - I'm attaching a couple of links from our site's DIY tech articles on the thermostat replacement and expansion tank replacement; I hope this will be helpful to you. Please let us know if you have any questions!

http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tech...eplacement.htm


http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tech...eplacement.htm

Awesome links! I also bookmarked the technical page for all things Z4 over on PP.

The only question I have that still remains is whether or not I should bother with that secondary thermostat; if failure is unheard of, I will simply replace the main thermostat as required and then clear the fault code.

[Pelican Parts]

Really glad to hear that you found them helpful. If the members here aren't able to answer your question about the secondary thermostat; feel free to post a Comment just below one of the articles I linked you to and a tech will get back to you with more details about that. Please let us know if there's anything else that we can help you out with!

Awesome links! I also bookmarked the technical page for all things Z4 over on PP.

The only question I have that still remains is whether or not I should bother with that secondary thermostat; if failure is unheard of, I will simply replace the main thermostat as required and then clear the fault code.

[VaiFanatic]

So, my thermostat came in today, and I picked up some coolant from the dealer.

I was going to start lifting up the vehicle when I noticed I don't have ANY jack pads along the sides of the vehicle. All I can see are the holes where these are supposed to go.

The Z only has a little over 17,000 miles on it, and it's lightly driven and always garaged so I don't think they've simply "fallen" off.

It wouldn't make much sense either for BMW to deliver a vehicle without jack pads... I was never involved with the service process beforehand until the warranty was done; this is mom's car.

Then again, I noticed when changing the oil that the cover that goes where the drain plug is was missing... so who knows what BMW techs were doing at the local dealer. (No offense to anyone who is a service tech here that actually knows what they're doing.)

Has anyone else encountered their vehicle not having jack pads?

[cdsweet]

Has anyone else encountered their vehicle not having jack pads?

Somebody removed them all for a reason which is odd? Are you the original owner? If not, I'd see if you can get ahold of them and see if they have them laying around?

One of mine was messed up so I ordered one(~$25 from BMW pn 51718268885) to replace it and I found out they are not connected with a bolt, it is a plastic barrel clip. You can order a whole set of Rein for about the same monies if you want to go that route. The cover for oil drain bolt access was way less than I thought it would be as I replaced mine because it was all warped. Pn
51617199687...

[VaiFanatic]

Yes, I (rather, my mom) am the original owner. Ordered it through military car sales when we were living in Germany back in 2007, and it was built in the states and delivered to us at the local German BMW dealer in Mainz in 2008. It being under warranty and having the maintenance plan meant I never messed with it. It feels a bit small for me as well, so I don't really drive it. I never really paid much attention to the vehicle, to be quite honest.

All I know is since the warranty has been up, I've started taking care of all the maintenance; no big deal as I enjoy doing this anyway.

I'm going to look for some photos of when we had it delivered to see if I can see if they were there from the start (assuming I have one at that kind of angle). I wiped away the road grime around one of the sections and it didn't seem like anything had ever been mounted there from the start. Surely BMW wouldn't do this though. Or did having runflats negate the "need" for jack pads since the vehicle wouldn't be jacked up to replace a flat? But then how would you jack it up to remove the wheel to get a new tire mounted?!

Nothing about this adds up! I highly doubt they all fell off, and one would hope that at the dealer they would look over the vehicle to inspect such wear items and recommend replacement to the customer if it's needed!

I will wait til Monday and call them up and see if they have any in stock.

[cdsweet]

Mine has run flat tires(I think all z4's did?) and had the jack pads but who knows... And agreed, I seriously doubt they all fell off.
Hopefully the dealership thats done all your maintenance will have a set laying around.

[VaiFanatic]

Hopefully the dealership thats done all your maintenance will have a set laying around.

After which I won't ever be setting foot in the dealership again... next time I need OEM BMW coolant, I'll just order it online... The convenience of having it now isn't worth dealing with that place.

Next nearest BMW dealer would be in Austin; the one in Boerne is just for motorcycles.

[VaiFanatic]

So last night I decided to clean around the other sections where pads would be, and I immediately noticed scrape marks from a prying tool being inserted to remove the pads.

What I'm doing now is looking for the photos we took of the Z before we shipped it back to the states; if they're still there, then the only place they could have been taken off is at this dealership as it's never been serviced elsewhere.

I found a picture from 2013 where I'd taken a picture of the cat converter on one of my other cars with the Z being next to it and noticed they were already gone in that photo. So they've been missing since at least 2013.

[VaiFanatic]

Dealer had two in stock, so I bought them. This will allow me to finish this job.

[VaiFanatic]

Code cleared, system burped and topped off, 100 miles successfully logged with perfect temp.

Easy as pie!

[cdsweet]

the burping process on the z4 entertains me...
Unlike the E30's where it gets a bit sketchy having the nose lifted so high.

[VaiFanatic]

Right? That was something rather interesting to just let the electric pump do its thing for about 12 minutes.

All worked out like a champ, though. I've since checked the fluid level again after a week of driving and it's still where it should be.