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Thread: coolant leaking - never ending

  1. #26
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    That doesn't seem right to me.

    Then can we cannibalise an aux water pump from an E34 to help out these E36 young guns here, and ensure they don't freeze their butts off in traffic ? Or some other simple water pump. Do some simple wiring, work in a fuse into the wiring, maybe splice the wiring with the heater controls, then maybe a hose mod or two, and we are done.

  2. #27
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    It's after market part.

  3. #28
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    Seems a lot of work. Comparing with my coworker driving a Tesla, my butt is still a bit warmer.

  4. #29
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    Firstly there is no need and there has never been any need to put the car on jackstands or on an incline, to bleed the radiator. The engine in the bay is already on an incline to the front. This is to enable trapped air bubbles to move to the front. There they are pushed out to the expansion tank by the pump and replaced by coolant drawn in from the expansion tank.

    Putting the front end up in the air helps get the air out of the heater core, not just the engine. I've been bleeding my m52 and m54 with the front raised and never had heat or overheating issues. I don't even start the engine till I'm done.

    Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

    Gave away my BMWs, driving a VW and an Audi now.

  5. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thomas525 View Post
    That doesn't seem right to me. Then can we cannibalise an aux water pump from an E34 to help out these E36 young guns here, and ensure they don't freeze their butts off in traffic ? Or some other simple water pump. Do some simple wiring, work in a fuse into the wiring, maybe splice the wiring with the heater controls, then maybe a hose mod or two, and we are done.
    I would never use a used aux water pump from another car or scapyard, the usual defect on the aux water pump is that the plastic necks break where the in/out hoses are connected, and the bottom of the housing cracks where the internal motor is located. In case these break, the cpl. cooling system is emptied by the aux water pump within shortest time, causing overheating, head gasket problems. Many E32 and E34 owners therefore delete the aux water pump, because a new aux water pump aka secondary water pump from BMW now costs more than $200. And do NOT buy a cheap one from China. Here the differences between a cheapo Made in China aux water pump and the original one, got that pic and comment from someone in Australia, http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/s...rigvsChina.jpg
    His info: I got my money back on the cheap, Chinese copy pump that couldn't be fitted. Didn't have to return it, so took it apart to see exactly what was different about it internally. Genuine Hella pump on right, Chinese copy on left. Quite the dramatic difference in impeller design there! Just leaving aside the fact it was the wrong size, wrong electrical connection + wrong plumbing port size, I seriously doubt that even if all those hurdles could have been overcome to make it fit, it certainly wouldn't have pumped the water through it at anything like the required rate. Couldn't even make a working pump out of the sum of parts because the impellors are very slightly different heights, such that when screwing down the Chinese centrifugal pump housing over the Hella impeller and onto the Hella motor for a watertight seal, it clamps the impeller tight which prevents it turning at all. Salvaged the screws and threw the rest in the bin.
    Shogun tricks and tips for the E32 series are HERE!

  6. #31
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    Shogun, do you basically agree that its a good idea to work in a new aux water pump for the E36 if it was safe, doable, durable, and at a reasonable cost? On this concept alone, what is your opinion?

  7. #32
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    I do not have it originally installed in my E36 M3 and personally do not miss it. On the E32 I noticed when the aux water pump was defective, because in idle the air temp coming out of the vents went slightly down. There I replaced it against a new one from Hella, not because of the slight temp differences in idle and higher RPM, mainly because I want to keep the car in original, good condition.
    Shogun tricks and tips for the E32 series are HERE!

  8. #33
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    I replaced radiator and running flush/cleaner for 3 days as I found deposit at reservoir sensor. But man, the heat control valve is pia. I don't want to open the intake manifold and there is no room to ply remove the hose. I worry I might not be able to reconnect them. As I get heat at higher rpm, just not at idle, I intend to leave it as is until it gets worse. Youtuber says it's 2 hour job for the heat valve and I doubt about it. Is my reasoning sound?

  9. #34
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    Your reasoning is sound, and the car may in fact be built that way going by what shogun says. But actually he says that you will get some heat at idle, just not as much as while driving. If you are getting zero heat, something is wrong. Probably heater core clogged. Did you pressure flush the cooling system? Did you backflush it ? Backflushing is a tried and tested way to clear trapped debris from the small passages in the radiator and heater core.

  10. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by yxd0018 View Post
    As I get heat at higher rpm, just not at idle
    I would check:
    The heater valve when set on full heat or with disconnected power supply should be fully open, and the opening is done by the pressure of the circulated coolant in the system.
    So the heater valve may be dirty and not fully opening without enough flow, here pics on my website from a fully clogged heater valve used on E32, E34, E31
    http://twrite.org/shogunnew/files/ih...valvedirty.jpg
    http://twrite.org/shogunnew/files/ih...valveclean.jpg

    or the water pump is the problem, not as defective like this one https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...p-Failure-Pics
    some info
    http://www.benhirsch.net/blog/?page_id=101
    https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledi...ter_pump_fail/
    The old BMW water pumps had plastic impellers that were prone to breaking mostly where the shaft meets the impeller, or the impeller got lose at the shaft and did not pump enough coolant then especially at lower engine RPM. The newer BMW water pumps have a fiber-resin composite impeller that looks like black plastic, but is much less prone to breaking, however, the stigma of the "plastic impeller" has persisted. Nowadays the new fiber resin composite impellers work fine.

    I would check the pump and the heater valve.
    Shogun tricks and tips for the E32 series are HERE!

  11. #36
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    I want to check the heat valve. But worry about how to put things together. Any tips to make it easier besides pains-taking plying through?

  12. #37
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    I measure the hose temperature after the drive. The 2 above hoses connecting to heat valve have 71c. The 3 hoses to the firewall has reading 50c, 71c, 40-70c (it fluctuate so I'm not sure if it's correct) from passenger side to driver side. The vent temperature is 40c at idle.
    Any insights? Thx

  13. #38
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    Op, look at the last couple of posts in this thread :

    https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...0#post30205440

    Please try to forward and backflush your heater core first by adapting the christfix method to your E36. There is no need to remove your intake manifold.

    I think in future, heater core issues not immediately fixed by proper bleeding, the next step should be checking continuity at the heater valve, which is easily done with a multimeter, and then biflush (forward and backflush) the heater core, refill, rebleed and test.

  14. #39
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    Finally find the hole in the pipe 64211394293 from engine to heat control valve at the back of engine, under 2 other hoses. Pretty hard to squeeze into that small space to replace it. In one youtube video, that guy do it under the car. I'm not sure if I should ask mechanics to remove all 3 hoses to inspect the control valve.
    On FCP site, febi parts is much cheaper than meyle and has much longer history (both are german). I guess febi is good.
    Last edited by yxd0018; 03-05-2019 at 11:29 AM.

  15. #40
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    1996 E36 M3 Evo
    Febi is fine in this application.
    '96 M3, S50B32, 6MT
    + good stuff

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