A Disturbance in the Air box.

Originally Posted by petriej

If you have some fittings, here's what I'd do.

Put a drain hose with a valve in the engine block coolant drain plug. It's going to spill out a bit, so protect yourself (and your O2 sensor).

-Run the car to operating temp. You really just want the t-stat to open. Then shut it off.

-Hook your garden hose up to the expansion tank, open the engine block valve you set up and run fresh water through until only clear fluid runs out your makeshift engine block drain hose.

Repeat last 2 steps until no more ****. Then drain and fill with distilled/coolant mix. That stuff is expensive. Shouldn't be an issue to flush with regular water, unless you have some crazy tap water.

Oh wow, not a bad idea! The only question is, what kind of valve shall I get to replace the bolt in the block until I drain out the crud? Can I get it at a part's store?

Or better yet, why not just run the car at operating temperature, drain everything out, run water into the system (while the T-stat is open), then just keep draining as needed until the water is clean? I figure I can flush with Water Wetter as well, since I got tons of this stuff at home.

Water Wetter! Nice.

I'd make my own. Take the bolt out and take it to a hardware store, try to find a brass or other heat friendly pipe fitting that you can clamp a rubber hose onto. Taking the bolt out will make a mess, though, so maybe do it outside on the grass.

Except you likely have a foot of snow outside right now

I'd be wary of running the car with the engine block drain off. I've run the engine with the expansion tank open and the bleeder screw open, but never for more than a minute.

Whatever you choose to do, good luck an I hope it works out. Can't wait to see the outcome.

Originally Posted by petriej

Water Wetter! Nice.

I'd make my own. Take the bolt out and take it to a hardware store, try to find a brass or other heat friendly pipe fitting that you can clamp a rubber hose onto. Taking the bolt out will make a mess, though, so maybe do it outside on the grass.

Except you likely have a foot of snow outside right now

I'd be wary of running the car with the engine block drain off. I've run the engine with the expansion tank open and the bleeder screw open, but never for more than a minute.

Oh I agree. But what I was saying in my previous post was after the engine was run to operating temperature, and heat on full (opening the heater core as well), and that way I can drain everything at once. I figure while the T-stat is wide open, I can just run water through it and clean it out. Better yet, I can just keep the bolt off, unplug the main hose going to the block from the pump, and just squirt water in there and drain it out. As far as from the t-Stat to the throttle body, that is going to be tricky. I'd have to yank the hoses out from the block and the t-stat in the airbox and drain em out. I'll have to get some pipe cleaners since there is orange crud in there as well. Again, not milky but rusty in color (as you saw in the sample pictures in the cup) and full of debris.

I am just shocked that this car has not overheated. And yes, it does blow full heat to boot.

Here is the bleed method I like and use on my cars. It's what my dad taught me when bleeding air out of cooling systems:



As the person says in the video, when you see bubbles coming out of the bleed screw area, screw it down and watch the water going into the expansion tank. He has the expansion tank cap open for pretty much a while to make sure the air is out of the system. But this is later on.

Bingo. Do that.

Originally Posted by petriej

Bingo. Do that.

And then put it in my museum?

Huh, check this out... I see VOB is the culprit to the green coolant they put in the car. Apparently you have to request the service department to use the BMW coolant. What sacks of ****. Un-freakin-believable... I seriously gotta flush the engine out now.

Check out this link, the guy is local to me:

http://www.unofficialbmw.com/e36/eng...nt_change.html

The whole procedure makes the trip to the dealer like an inconvenience. VOB stealer quoted me $200 for a radiator flush and brake flush. The VOB stealer rep
(when asked) revealed the fact the dealerships use the cheap stuff AND NOT THE BMW fluid (customer has to specifically request it and pay for it).

Considering I would be w/o a car (and $200) for a day (well the $200 would be gone for ever).

As far as a good article to bleed your coolant, I found it on Pelican and Bimmerforums.com

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/tech...lant-Flush.htm
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1073044

I figure with the drain plug off of the engine block, I am just going to run the garden hose through the radiator and just drain the system once and for all. Since now that I found out that VOB, the bastards that had been dealing with the 325is M-Tech with the first and previous owners were using cheap coolant, I am worried for the head gasket. Again, I didn't see any oil drops or milky sludge in the valve cover area or in the expansion tank and the car was not overheating. But now I am thinking about replacing the water pump and thermostat as well, just in case they are chewed to bits from the cheap coolant.

I wish I had a bigger garage. This is really ticking me off that I can't help this poor baby out. It's suffered long enough.

I honestly wouldn't even bother with the drain plug on the block. I've flushed it almost exactly like you're talking about and that works quite well. I pulled the Tstat housing off and tossed the tstat, reinstalled the empty housing, and ran it through like that.

I wouldn't want to get it hot enough to open the stat and then shock it with a bunch of 40*F water. I'd think that would be very stressful on the block.

Any errors in this post are purely Swype's fault, not mine.

Originally Posted by E36 Phantom

I honestly wouldn't even bother with the drain plug on the block. I've flushed it almost exactly like you're talking about and that works quite well. I pulled the Tstat housing off and tossed the tstat, reinstalled the empty housing, and ran it through like that.

I wouldn't want to get it hot enough to open the stat and then shock it with a bunch of 40*F water. I'd think that would be very stressful on the block.

Any errors in this post are purely Swype's fault, not mine.

Yeah but if I do that, might as well replace the water pump as well since I will need to replace the seals and T-stat anyways.

Ninja edit! Came to comment on VA being the most awesome state.

Just flush it all and use good BMW coolant with distilled water. You should be fine.

What distilled water do you like? Deer Park? Giant? Harris Teeter? Uncle John's Darn Good Piss Water?

Well the good stuff isn't really for consumption. The stuff I like is safeway brand (because who cares?) for mixing with baby formula. You generally do NOT want to drink DI (de ionized) water by itself. It shocks the body and you'll get crazy sick, but it's great for infants to mix with formula. So I have a couple of jugs in my garage. Friends always ask about the baby water, since its label is pink and has a baby on it.


I think you could find it at Bloom or Kroger, you East Coaster!

Ah, but there are Safeways in MD. I've seen them. They have Utz brand crab chips in them. We don't have Utz or crab chips.

Wow I didn't know Safeway was that far out east. Cool!

We have Publix which is the same level but Harris Teeeter is the really nice one. HT actually has a sushi chef. I hate sushi though. Sorry Harry, I'll stop the hijack now.

HT is awesome. Why don't you like sushi? I love sushi.

I loooooooove sushi.

And FYI California Rolls are not considered real sushi. I know because I have a Korean friend, who has a Chinese gf who's ex-bf was Samoan, his mom was Philippine so they pretty much know the Japanese Culture!

Yea I had sushi with some east coast friends in Vegas and they were all gaga over "eatin' sushi in Vegas!"

They were hesitant to even try their california rolls. Meanwhile I'm getting nigiri and sashimi saba, hamachi, tako, ebi, etc. etc.

I didn't have the heart to tell them their imitation crab meat is so far from real sushi they shouldn't even call it that. Who am I to put them down?

Lol, my brothers did the same thing. I'm just enjoying raw tuna and salmon and when I said try the California roll, they almost turned green!

One time I made a mistake by eating next day Sushi, I remember being drunk and seeing the nice rolls there, totally forgot that they had been in the house for 4 hours at room temperature and someone through them in the fridge for another 10 hours or so.

Being the drunken idiot, showed all my friends how a hardcore raw fish eating m'fer I was! Well within 3 hours I was sober peeing from my anus and puking at the same time, slept in the bath tub naked!!!

Originally Posted by Brad31late

Lol, my brothers did the same thing. I'm just enjoying raw tuna and salmon and when I said try the California roll, they almost turned green!

One time I made a mistake by eating next day Sushi, I remember being drunk and seeing the nice rolls there, totally forgot that they had been in the house for 4 hours at room temperature and someone through them in the fridge for another 10 hours or so.

Being the drunken idiot, showed all my friends how a hardcore raw fish eating m'fer I was! Well within 3 hours I was sober peeing from my anus and puking at the same time, slept in the bath tub naked!!!

HA! And on that note, perhaps Hnaz can have his thread back...

Originally Posted by Brad31late

Lol, my brothers did the same thing. I'm just enjoying raw tuna and salmon and when I said try the California roll, they almost turned green!

One time I made a mistake by eating next day Sushi, I remember being drunk and seeing the nice rolls there, totally forgot that they had been in the house for 4 hours at room temperature and someone through them in the fridge for another 10 hours or so.

Being the drunken idiot, showed all my friends how a hardcore raw fish eating m'fer I was! Well within 3 hours I was sober peeing from my anus and puking at the same time, slept in the bath tub naked!!!

Brad you're on roll today man.

Originally Posted by petriej

HA! And on that note, perhaps Hnaz can have his thread back...

It's the texture of sushi BTW, just don't like the raw aspect. I don't like rare steak either. Medium well is my choice, but I don't like most seafood, except shellfish. I do like crabs, lobster, and shrimp. Especially Maryland crabs. It's like a religion to them. That should lead right back to Harry in Maryland. So how goes it Harry, has it been flushed yet?

I'm always down for Sushi!

Much of what we get here at Americanized places isn't sushi at all. California roll = no seafood at all.

I'm not a huge fan of rolls since they're so unpredictable, but give me some sashimi and I can pack
down a couple hundred worth of that.

Any errors in this post are purely Swype's fault, not mine.

Originally Posted by SCJon

Brad you're on roll today man.



It's the texture of sushi BTW, just don't like the raw aspect. I don't like rare steak either. Medium well is my choice, but I don't like most seafood, except shellfish. I do like crabs, lobster, and shrimp. Especially Maryland crabs. It's like a religion to them. That should lead right back to Harry in Maryland. So how goes it Harry, has it been flushed yet?

Negative. Not flushed yet. I tried to jack the car up last night so I can at least drain the radiator, but no luck. I did not have enough space on the driver's side to get my floor jack in place and lift the car up. I tried to finagle around, nothing. Still not enough room.

I'm going have to just bleed the car with the new thermostat in, add some distilled water in, and drive down (carefully) to the DIY garage in VA and just do it there. Believe me, it kills me that this crud is still in there, but I am cursed with no garage space. My only worry is how bad electrolysis has damaged the radiator, thermostat, water pump, engine block, and head gasket. If all goes to ****, I will have to buy another engine. No two ways about it.

Originally Posted by hnaz

Negative. Not flushed yet. I tried to jack the car up last night so I can at least drain the radiator, but no luck. I did not have enough space on the driver's side to get my floor jack in place and lift the car up. I tried to finagle around, nothing. Still not enough room.

I'm going have to just bleed the car with the new thermostat in, add some distilled water in, and drive down (carefully) to the DIY garage in VA and just do it there. Believe me, it kills me that this crud is still in there, but I am cursed with no garage space. My only worry is how bad electrolysis has damaged the radiator, thermostat, water pump, engine block, and head gasket. If all goes to ****, I will have to buy another engine. No two ways about it.

I doubt it will that quick. Is the jack to close to the wall or the car too close to the floor?