ATTN: E39 540i Owners - Check these Hoses! (TECH)

The sun came out and the roads were finally clear! The wife and I decided to burn out some carbon build up in the DINAN 5 and take a little jaunt up to Park City, Utah where the Sundance Film Festival was taking place.

We took a cruise right up Main St. where the traffic was backed up as hundreds of camera's were rolling to the stars visiting the festival. We took a jaunt up Main St. then down Main Street and really couldn't see anyone.

Literally 100 feet after we clear Main St. I give the vessel a little bit of gas. Approaching a red light, I down shift and look in the rear view mirror. James Bond smoke screen? Not a chance! Blown coolant hose! :mad

After a $170 tow trip home, I remove my Dinan strut bar, the front engine cover and walla, take note to the demon culprit! 10 minutes later I find the problem! I must admit after being so cautious and replacing all the front radiator hoses, expansion tank, and radiator, I missed these bad boys! Upon further examination, it is obvious these swollen bastards need replacing.

So, as a 540i owner to another, learn from my experience and check these out to see if they are swollen and in need of replacing!

Can you imagine how embarressed I would have been if this hose would have blown RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MAIN ST?

TECH:

You'll need to remove that fancy engine cover. Merely push down on the four buttons and remove cover. Look towards the firewall, in the back of the engine. You'll see the long hose (#1) and the short (#2) underneath it.

The larger end fits in the back side of the upper engine. The smaller end fits in a gizmo part on the right side of the right valve cover, the port all the way on the bottom. When I say right side, I mean if your standing in front of the engine.

As I was about to replace the larger number one hose, I spotted another fat swollen bastard (here on out named FSB), hose number 2. I figured replace this while I was there.














Today's Tech Article by Johnny was brought to by Beringer's Gewurtzitraminer.

Love the wine bottle on the engine.

Where are the Montecristos.

If the car is busted, might as well party.

If i had known about bimmerfest when this happened, i would've made the identical post!!!! glad to hear im not alone

Glad you were awear of the problem before too long! My wife had a small rock gthrough her rad. on the highway (80mph) never saw anything-blinders Our Acura was only a few months old, a TL-S . She calls me and tell me the car dies when she slows down and it won't idle smooth I ask her if ay IDOIT lights were on and she says yes a funny question mark I say anything else???? No, Still
I get there and tow it to the shop and the block was 295 degrees
Well a month later and a new rad. theromstat and air hose which melted, the car runs prefect and no ill effects YET, 2 years later and 25000 miles.

All of that to say it could been much worst... Glad to see it wasn't

Originally Posted by mgianetto

Glad you were awear of the problem before too long! My wife had a small rock gthrough her rad. on the highway (80mph) never saw anything-blinders Our Acura was only a few months old, a TL-S . She calls me and tell me the car dies when she slows down and it won't idle smooth I ask her if ay IDOIT lights were on and she says yes a funny question mark I say anything else???? No, Still
I get there and tow it to the shop and the block was 295 degrees
Well a month later and a new rad. theromstat and air hose which melted, the car runs prefect and no ill effects YET, 2 years later and 25000 miles.

All of that to say it could been much worst... Glad to see it wasn't

Yes, owning a 540i makes you check your rear view mirrors often ( for red and blues). So it's a good thing I noticed!

Good stuff man. I'll have a look at those guys. Any other hoses that typically have problems that I should be on the lookout for?

Originally Posted by NoBull

Good stuff man. I'll have a look at those guys. Any other hoses that typically have problems that I should be on the lookout for?

Not that I am aware of at this point. I didn't know about these until this happened.

Great post.
Need to signup AAA for a reason after owning 540 since this rad related issue can burst at any time.

Yeah my hose blew up about 2 months ago and the tear looked identical to yours. I am thinking that I would just need to replace the whole cooling system once a year to avoid breakdowns since I have had 5 problems in the last 3 years.

Thanks for the great informative post.

Originally Posted by chuck92103

Love the wine bottle on the engine.

Where are the Montecristos.

If the car is busted, might as well party.

I like the wine too......nice touch. Cohibas wouldn't be bad either.....or maybe even some Davidoffs.

Originally Posted by Schnell5

The sun came out and the roads were finally clear! The wife and I decided to burn out some carbon build up in the DINAN 5 and take a little jaunt up to Park City, Utah where the Sundance Film Festival was taking place.

We took a cruise right up Main St. where the traffic was backed up as hundreds of camera's were rolling to the stars visiting the festival. We took a jaunt up Main St. then down Main Street and really couldn't see anyone.

Literally 100 feet after we clear Main St. I give the vessel a little bit of gas. Approaching a red light, I down shift and look in the rear view mirror. James Bond smoke screen? Not a chance! Blown coolant hose! :mad

After a $170 tow trip home, I remove my Dinan strut bar, the front engine cover and walla, take note to the demon culprit! 10 minutes later I find the problem! I must admit after being so cautious and replacing all the front radiator hoses, expansion tank, and radiator, I missed these bad boys! Upon further examination, it is obvious these swollen bastards need replacing.

So, as a 540i owner to another, learn from my experience and check these out to see if they are swollen and in need of replacing!

Can you imagine how embarressed I would have been if this hose would have blown RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MAIN ST?

TECH:

You'll need to remove that fancy engine cover. Merely push down on the four buttons and remove cover. Look towards the firewall, in the back of the engine. You'll see the long hose (#1) and the short (#2) underneath it.

The larger end fits in the back side of the upper engine. The smaller end fits in a gizmo part on the right side of the right valve cover, the port all the way on the bottom. When I say right side, I mean if your standing in front of the engine.

As I was about to replace the larger number one hose, I spotted another fat swollen bastard (here on out named FSB), hose number 2. I figured replace this while I was there.














Today's Tech Article by Johnny was brought to by Beringer's Gewurtzitraminer.

Nice site by the way too.

Are these hoses full of coolant? Does changing them require draining coolant?

Thanks again guys. (and girls?)

Andy, yes, you should probably drain a large portion of the coolant out to change these "FSB" hoses.

Johnny