How can I tell how old my cooling system is?

Originally Posted by cn90

Bluebee,

Don't bother with the belt because although the whiteout looks good now, when it rotates, the smooth surface (yes the smooth and not grooved surface) rolls over the idler and the white-out will be gone in a week.
Belt is usually easy to inspect with a flashlight to look for cracks, so you don't need to "engrave" it.

Documentation documentation!! I keep all paperwork for anything I have ever done to my vehicles. That's how I know when my last oil change was done. Tells me how many miles I got on the last and second to last set of tires ect !

Originally Posted by jcbmw

I have a 97 528i looks like still have the original cooling system working at 124K mile. I got the car 3 and half years ago at 99K without knowing much about it. The car had three POs and no service record. It has been problem free for more than 3 years and recently the starter failed and also some oil leak from valve cover. I started to read in this forum and was able to replace the starter and the valve cover gasket myself thanks to the information here. Now the cooling system is making me awake at night. The more I read this forum, the more I worried. The car does not overheat but all components of the cooling system appears to be original. The radiator label does not have a date on it, but I appears still to be original based the information I read here. The upper radiator hose has a 97 marker on it. I have no idea on the thermostat and water pump but the coolant in the expansion tank is very very dirty. It is cloudy and looks like brown or rusty. I plan to do a complete system overhaul when the weather getting a little bit warmer.

I bought mine at Christmas with 191 k kms on it and the only thing I could find from the records that was changed was the t stat and pump. After reading all the posts on cooling issues I had all the remaining cooling parts changed. As one poster said, change them as they WILL fail. The only vehicle I have ever owned in 35 years where I pulled into a shop and said. This rad etc ? The stuff that's working fine? Rip out out and replace it! Now I sleep well!

Originally Posted by H2oallyear

Documentation documentation!! I keep all paperwork for anything I have ever done to my vehicles.!

I document the part.

Here you see where my expansion tank failed in a year and a half!

mine does not have the big factory sticker, just a smaller BEHR sticker with a smaller sticker with 'G', so apparently, mine has been replaced sometime in the past. Since there is no room to see anything, I am cleaning everything that is not clean, and am going to look for new spots and drips, if there are any. I am curious about spots of old red fluid under the power steering area. And caked dirt. There is no fresh oil under the power steering unit. It looks like several parts have been replaced on my engine and other.

The valve cover gasket looks like it was replaced. The radiator looks to have been replaced, that big factory sticker is not on it. And maybe some power steering leak may have been fixed, as the hoses and connections are dry even though there was prior fluid under it on the engine. Very hard to hand clean, doing it in small stages with simple green, and paper towels. The Alternator looks original, or at least if ever replaced was with factory part, as it has the BMW sticker on it.

What joy to drive after al those years in an old economy car.

Originally Posted by Mack

At least you can breath easy knowing the rad has been replaced. Now I wonder about the expansion tank, thermostat, water pump etc..etc..etc..

That rad is almost 7 years old, not exactly a newborn.