Thread: A few coolant leaks - Opinions?

I've experienced no problems at all with blocking off the throttle body hose in my 18 months of ownership and I'm in Melbourne. As an aside it also allows you to install the BMW coolant expansion tank much more simply - which is almost identical to the standard P38 one except it has no hose for throttle body but does come with low coolant alarm as standard - very valuable in my book.

As for the heater leak. It's up to you. Mine started leaking 6 months ago or so and I spent a frustrating day fixing those damnable o-rings - it's a pretty annoying job and much skin was lost wrestling with the tight spaces... But as I'm in Melbourne I wanted my heater

My only other advice would be to buy a hose kit and replace all your hoses. Chances are if a couple are leaking that others aren't far off leaking too, rubber only lasts so long and for the $100 or so that a hose kit costs plus a few hours it's good insurance I reckon.

Got a part number or model/year of the BMW coolant expansion tank by chance!!??

Mine isn't very see-through right now and i'd love to have one that i can see without taking the cap off!

I don't think disconnecting the throttle body heater will give you any grief. Just connect direct from the manifold to the bypass hose. As for the heater, you are using that **** red coolant everyone recommends, aren't you.. Just loop the heater hoses for now, revisit the heater when its going to be cool enough to need it.

Yeah I'm going by RAVE standards (glycol based with phosophorous free blah blah)... I used it in my Green P38 with no issues (other than killing my water pump the next day). Is there a specific reason the red stuff ain't good? Does it accelerate wear on our precious o-rings or make leaks more visible?

It's only started dripping since the coolant change! It had zero leaks on the green stuff! I completely flushed the cooling system prior to the change if that helps! No green left anywhere!

I don't have the BMW tank model number but it was fitted to a lot of different beemers during late 80's and 90's and is quite common - had a quick look on UK eBay a can only see one used one for sale at the moment and it's an ugly one (BMW 320i, 320, 3 series, WATER EXPANSION TANK on eBay (end time 10-Feb-11 21:41:15 GMT)) You can see the low coolant alarm in their photo at least. Or I could post a photo of mine installed

Last time I looked there were 4 or 5 for sale, all pretty cheap - searched on 'bmw expansion tank' or 'bmw coolant tank'

Here's a link for the hose kit:
HOSE KIT

ps I'm using the red stuff too, meant to be better for alloy engines/systems (like our rad)

O rings not that hard. Just need a long screwdriver keithy. Cut out the bit of plastic as per rrnet instructions Ron wrote up...

I'll review the instructions. If I do it, I really hope it's no drama like what Paul had

Might bypass it today and flush it out as i'm off to work on Wed and probably won't get o-rings before then, and the car's getting a roadworthy tomorrow so I'd like to have it all looking mickey mouse for that!

I don't think that bypassing the throttle body anti-icing lines is hard, so i'll knock that one over now seeing as the mowing's done!

Cheers
Keithy

Originally Posted by Keithy P38

Got a part number or model/year of the BMW coolant expansion tank by chance!!??

This will give you an Idea of what model BMW uses the similar tank. They come up all the time on e-bay for around A$25. The sender is 15 alone so not bad if you can find one at that price.
BMW E30 Late Coolant Expansion Tank 325is 325e 325i 88+ - eBay (item 220645882854 end time Feb-25-11 09:02:30 PST)


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-E30-325i-H...item3cb4ba2226