I had that exact same problem and I hear what the problem is first look and see where the leak in most likey comming from the return hose where the thermal senor is located it my also be the upper hose and also check the expansion tank for a small crack after you find the leak Checkout realoem.com and get prices/product from getbmwparts.com and replace them yourself the dealer will charge a fortune just to replace the hoses so get them and do the job your self if your comfortable doing it or find a good bmw mech that has reasonable prices.

I have mine in the shop for a coolant leak. Mine is in between the heads (v8) in what they called the valley drip pan. It's under the induction (air intake) between the heads.

hi

hi. my name is mike i have that leak (between the heads (v8) in what they called the valley drip pan ) how did you fix it ?? here is my email [email protected] thx mike

Your not going to like that bill. Very expensive to fix. The whole top of the motor basically has to be torn out. I want to say labor alone is around 2K to 2.5K+ depending on the hourly rate.

There is a aftermarket vendor that came out with a device that shaves half if not more of the labor off the job. Do a search on some of the 7 series boards, otherwise if I can find it I'll post it.

Here it is.............check this out also kacpermk.


The product is made by All German Auto............. allgermanauto.com go to there products section and under N62 Coolant Pipe.....gives you all the info you need.

Leav02 said:

I have mine in the shop for a coolant leak. Mine is in between the heads (v8) in what they called the valley drip pan. It's under the induction (air intake) between the heads.

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Check above. Its on a 7 series but it gives you an idea of the work involved. Bentley just released there repair manual for the 5 series. Might want to pick it up if your going to tackle this job yourself.

This is a design flaw that BMW will never admit. Similar to Porsche and there IMS bearing issue which if it goes out 95% of the time the whole motor needs to be replaced. Engineers have even studied the IMS bearing from Porsche and laugh at the design saying no way in hell it will last. Most are amazed how some people get well over a 100K on it. Aftermarket bearing was design and has shown great results over the years. Yet Porshce won't even work with them. Because if they did they'd be admitting the problem. Similar to BMW's coolant pipe. This company has a way to cut huge amounts of time off the repair but a BMW dealership chances are will never put that part in your car.

kacpermk said:

hi. my name is mike i have that leak (between the heads (v8) in what they called the valley drip pan ) how did you fix it ?? here is my email [email protected] thx mike

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First place to check is follow the upper hose coming out of your coolant tank that runs across the top of your radiator. This part fails right around 50k to 75K on many BMW's. It's a simple DIY repair and cheap. You should see some dry coolant(will be white) around the area where it goes from the rubber hose to the plastic pipe that runs across.

When I replaced mine (65K on miles) I basically just touched this plastic pipe and it just crumbled. What a poor design is all that went through my head. Really how much would it cost them to make it a metal/aluminum pipe, pennies. So you can either replace it with the one from the dealer or head to a hardware store and replace it with a copper one. I believe its 7 or 8MM pipe in width. Then just get some clamps and away you go in about 10 mins of work tops.

Otherwise check the bottom of the coolant tank for a leak.

n200mb said:

just went over 62k miles losing a quart of coolant/month; where are the usual suspect areas to inspect ?

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You are describing the Porsche situation incorrectly. Porsche did redesign the IMS bearing after the 2005 model year. The engines for 2009 and later do not have the IMS. The vast majority of Porsche engines with an IMS do not have failures. This one of those forum subjects that get talked to death but rarely happens. In addition, Porsche is very generous in subsidizing the cost of replacement engines for out of warranty failures.

skylolow said:

Check above. Its on a 7 series but it gives you an idea of the work involved. Bentley just released there repair manual for the 5 series. Might want to pick it up if your going to tackle this job yourself.

This is a design flaw that BMW will never admit. Similar to Porsche and there IMS bearing issue which if it goes out 95% of the time the whole motor needs to be replaced. Engineers have even studied the IMS bearing from Porsche and laugh at the design saying no way in hell it will last. Most are amazed how some people get well over a 100K on it. Aftermarket bearing was design and has shown great results over the years. Yet Porshce won't even work with them. Because if they did they'd be admitting the problem. Similar to BMW's coolant pipe. This company has a way to cut huge amounts of time off the repair but a BMW dealership chances are will never put that part in your car.

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It looks like an excellent solution from All German Auto.

Torn between resurrecting this oldish link or starting new.

Well aware of the All German Auto Fix for this particular leak. My question is does this problem cause the cylinder damage I have read about on the 545I/N62B44 or is that a problem with the Alusil cylinders?