Cooling system

Whoever designed the cooling system for these cars deserves to beaten for hours with rusty barbed wire, then dragged down a long road of gravel, sea shells and rock salt and ultimately deposited in a pool of gasoline and set on fire. The fire then should be put out with a ball-peen hammer.

C'mon, tell us how you REALLY feel!

no issues with cooling system on my M54
very reliable up to 80-100k miles
just replaced all on 101k miles as a preventive maintenance : radiator , shroud, hoses, t-t, w-p, expansion tank and sensors

Just venting. I did the VANOS seals and destroyed half the plastic cooling parts upon disassemble and the other half upon reassemble. Some of them I literally barely touched and they broke in my hands. I slid the clips on the upper radiator hose off and proceeded to remove it from the radiator. A big fat chunk of the plastic coolant tank came with it. 117K.

Oh well, better in my garage than on the highway.

The list:

Expansion tank
90 degree hose nipple
radiator
fan
shroud
upper rad hose

I'm going to go ahead and do everything else while I'm at it. If these parts were that easily broken, I don't trust the rest.

Originally Posted by El Goodo

I'm going to go ahead and do everything else while I'm at it. If these parts were that easily broken, I don't trust the rest.

Search forum for cooling overhaul.

NOTE:
- Fan Clutch: I use Sachs
- Fan Blade: BMW only, nothing else.
- WP: I have had the HEPU WP for 6 years, zero issues.
- Rad: I have had Nissens for 6 years.
- Coolant reservoir, do NOT use Behr, search and you will know.
Get the reservoir from dealer!

This is what happened last week.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/erawdec...in/photostream

with 117K you already passed the mark so dont expect to run it forever

Originally Posted by champaign777

with 117K you already passed the mark so dont expect to run it forever

The mark is too low.

I own 4 cars. A 2003 530i (117K), a 1999 Saab 9-3 (123K), a 1990 Miata (145K) and a Saturn Ion (95K).

BMW excluded, all have their original cooling systems, save a radiator I put in the Miata at 141K due to dropping the valve cover on the top plastic coolant tank and hairline cracking it.

My education is in engineering and I've been working on my own cars for almost 30 years. I love my Bimmer but there is absolutely no doubt they could have done better on the cooling system. It is one of the worst I've ever personally seen and I owned a Fiero.

El Goodo,

NO ONE has put it better.

On a side note, how do you feel the about the current Administration's handling of the economy?

Regards,
M. Friedman

Haha,

This is funny. I agree with El Goodo re subpar parts.

I used to have a 1983 735i (E23), the cooling system was better than E39:
- solid WP
- tstat housing was aluminum (but it corroded at 140K miles), so replaced.
- Hoses lasted 140K+
- No tensioners to worry about (they used the old-fahsion V-belt)
- All pulleys were metal.
- Reservoir was near firewall: lasted until 140K.
- However, Rad upper neck broke at 120K.

Re E39...It is not the design, the design was OK but the material used was a bit sub par.

Originally Posted by cn90

Haha,

This is funny. I agree with El Goodo re subpar parts.

I used to have a 1983 735i (E23), the cooling system was better than E39:
- solid WP
- tstat housing was aluminum (but it corroded at 140K miles), so replaced.
- Hoses lasted 140K+
- No tensioners to worry about (they used the old-fahsion V-belt)
- All pulleys were metal.
- Reservoir was near firewall: lasted until 140K.
- However, Rad upper neck broke at 120K.

Re E39...It is not the design, the design was OK but the material used was a bit sub par.

Yeah, that really is the problem. It seems to flow just fine and adequately cool but the plastics just don't hold up.

Originally Posted by haolibird

El Goodo,

NO ONE has put it better.

On a side note, how do you feel the about the current Administration's handling of the economy?

Regards,
M. Friedman

Milton, is that you? We could use you right about now, sir.