I use a torque wrench because I don’t trust myself enough to tighten things up but I’m on my 4th housing now. Sanding the mating surface down is a good idea. I had to sand down a bunch of gunk on the surface. Bought a new housing from the BMW stealer and it is the same as the ones that cracked, down to the production date. I use a new torque wrench to do the install and slowly worked my way to 80in-lb on the 10mm bolts and 17ft-lb on the 13mm. After 3 failed housing, I’m too skittish to go higher than 80-in-lb. so far so good. No leaks after running the car for 15min.
I’ll recheck the torque again after some more drive time to make sure nothing is coming loose.
Thanks for all the tips.
Next thing I'd do is check the calibration of the wrenches.
It isn't that hard. Since torque is a cross product of force and distance (F*d * Cos (t)), clamp the wrench in a vise and hang a weight from the handle. Since you know the mass of the weight, and the distance from the head. See how accurate the wrench is. My cheapo Harbor Freight 0-150 wrench is surprisingly accurate, as is my Snap-On 0-250, my Eastwood torque angle, and Craftsman electronic load meter. My In-lb wrenches stink, they are never repeatable (with 40+ years of wrenching, you do get a feel for things) .. So I just don't use them. lol
Also don't try to tighten one bolt at a time. Sneak up on it like a head bolt..
Also make sure that your bolts have a flat surface where it meets the housing.
No matter where you go, there you are...
Every time a manufacturer does something fancy, there is a problem. What the f@(< was wrong with a flat gasket mating surface? Fancy shaped o-rings and grooves, bah.
Tom
Currently 1995 M3 manual coupe, 1993 325is
Past cars
2003 530i
1998 528i
1995 530i
1988 528e
1988 535i
1987 2.7i
1972 2002
And buggy whips are still a thing too... Get over it. It works great, if you understand it.
No matter where you go, there you are...
I'm running the same URO aluminum housing (current one is 30k+ miles old), I think it's like $12 on FCPeuro for the housing with gasket.
I do read commonly that the aluminum housings are prone to leaks. I've said that myself just because it seems true based on how much I read it (I'm going to stop saying it), because personally I've never had a thermostat housing (plastic or aluminum) leak on me. Could be luck.
I inspect the mating surface to make sure it's mostly flat, you can sand it a bit on a flat surface to make sure (I haven't needed to). I run a tiny amount of black rtv sealant around the perimeter of the mating surface of the housing, then install. I can't remember when/where I was recommended to run some sealant on it, but it hasn't been a negative thing (make sure it doesn't seep into the housing, and that you wait for it to fully cure before putting coolant back in). Like Rich has mentioned above, imo, screw the in-lb torque wrenches for this job. This guy, like most things, just needs to be hand tight. Like, hand on the head of socket wrench, don't use the handle.
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I think this thread has all the advice you need. I will also 2nd these points: the gasket seals, not the housing and to use only an authentic, BMW gasket. Also use only a 1/4" ratchet to install if not using a small torque wrench with in lbs.
I've also used RTV on the housing itself, but a thin/translucent amount on aluminum housings
1997 Arctic Silver/Black M3
CES Stage IV (651rwhp/615rwtq @ 24 psi)
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I know you're correct, but it is still in line with so many things on these cars where they've been over engineered. When you run into it, you just have to shake your head. For example, the heater core pipes. Instead of making them long enough to just poke through grommets in the firewall and attach to hoses, it goes from AL tubes to a plastic connector piece then to hoses. Probably some assembly line time saving reason for it.
Tom
Currently 1995 M3 manual coupe, 1993 325is
Past cars
2003 530i
1998 528i
1995 530i
1988 528e
1988 535i
1987 2.7i
1972 2002
That photo of the OE housing makes that look like junk. I don't believe it's a proper OE part, looks like a bait and switch.
No. It’s not bait and switch. The replacement I purchased from the dealer is exactly the same. The quality of the new one from the dealer is inferior to the original one I removed from 1998 when compared side by side.
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I have a used housing that needed some clean up so I bead blasted it, cleaned up all of the casting slag on the inside, filled in the recess with aluminum filler. I will try this FelPro 35782 gasket (without sealant) and we'll see how well it holds up.
Screen Shot 2020-04-15 at 8.32.14 PM.jpg
Last edited by AJLM34A; 04-15-2020 at 08:41 PM.
Surface the interface with ~600 grit wet/dry paper on a piece of thick glass or marble/ granite counter top.
I had the understanding that these existed (from M50 NV?) I even bought the paper gasket thinking I could use it, but had never seen a alloy thermostat housing without the orange ‘thingy’ gasket gap.
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Last edited by bluptgm3; 02-12-2023 at 10:51 AM.
I must be lucky. The M3 I bought had a an aluminum housing put on by the prior owner and it works perfectly. The 328is I am modifying has a random cheapo aluminum one I bought on eBay a couple years ago. I did have the original plastic one on the 328is until I broke the one fitting clean off with a hammer attempting to remove the fan.
None have ever leaked.
The URO aluminum housing is good. The orange gasket they Include is junk! It’s way too thick, like triple thick and when you torque down it won’t let the housing sit flush and seal. Buy an Elring gasket and all will be well.
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I rebuilt my entire cooling system with the ECS performance kit & it came with there aluminum thermostat housing. I had a problem with it mating and leaking coolant but I used a bit of gasket maker it solved the problem
i also have had problems with the OEM housing as it would crack for me too just be easy
Hi guys, we have our engineers looking into this gasket issue right now, thanks for the feedback. Miclin, please email your order confirmation or purchase details (retailer name, order number, date, etc) and shipping address to "sales at uro parts dot com", and we'll be happy to ship you a warranty replacement housing at no charge.
We'll update the thread with the response from our engineering department, could be a week or two but stay tuned.
Last edited by URO Parts; 04-29-2020 at 03:28 PM.
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Thank for the offer. It is refreshing to see that companies are following enthusiast forums and taking feedbacks from customers. I purchased the housing through pelican parts and they were able to give me a refund. I’m back to using OEM plastic for now. I don’t know about others but personally I would like a good quality metal housing and willing to pay a premium for it.
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nice to see URO showing up and responding to the concerns and offering to help. Maybe this will help improve the product.
TRM Coilovers 670F/895R | BBS LM | Corsa RSC36
Quick question: anyone know if Elring makes the OEM gasket?
I pulled a aluminum thermostat housing off a junkyard e36 (325i). See pics. Just realized the inside wall was damaged.
I think the casting of inner-wall is too high, thus when the PO torqued down the 4 bolts..it cracked. That part of the inner-wall should be ground down (using Dremel)
Agree with others, the orange rubber gasket is too high. I guess you could shave it down with knife
^^^ BTW, the PO used black RTV sealant
Last edited by chimpanzee; 08-02-2020 at 01:46 AM.
I think I may know why the OEM housing cracked for the OP. BMW is now selling the housing with the oversized gasket similar to what URO and others offer with theirs. I did not know this until a friend bought one. They never included a gasket in the past. You can see it here: https://www.rmeuropean.com/Products/...MFG9-V550.aspx
Elring is the only suitable gasket at this point, unless the gasket ordered separately through BMW is different than what they are supplying with the housings.
Also, if you think BMW doesn't make mistakes like this... they do. Late 2000's dealer purchased replacement E39 expansion tanks went through a period of poor manufacturing and would fail after a year or less.
Last edited by Braymond141; 08-02-2020 at 01:10 AM.
The URO gasket is different than the BMW ‘orange rubber thingie’. The URO gasket is a solid ‘column of silicon rubber different than BMW gasket than narrows on each edge.
I don’t believe that there is a bad batch of BMW gaskets.
There has been a rash of problems with plastic OEM and/or aftermarket thermostat housings.
I own a URO aluminum T-stat housing, as a spare. I am nervous about using it due to the size of the machined ‘trough’ for their oversized gasket.
Torque of attach fasteners could contribute to the issue. The T-Stat has an O-Ring and the BMW ‘orange thingie’ is well designed. Use the plastic T-Stat housing or the Ranol /Ranok aluminum housing, if you can find one.
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Last edited by bluptgm3; 08-02-2020 at 02:18 AM.
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