Broken Upper Rad Inlet - Hope I'm Not Screwed!

[DallasBill]

Driving on the freeway today all of a sudden the coolant temp 'dinged me' and I look and it's almost at red. I pulled off into a parking lot about 1/4 mile aqnd it was in the red and I shut off the engine ASAP.

The plastic pipe that the upper rad hose fits over was broken off at its halfway point -- almost like the shop had tightended the clamp too tight after multiple flush and cooling work I have had done over the past 6 months. This rad was replaced at 49k miles due to a defect.... 130k on car now.

Is this "break" a common thing, as the shop claimed when it got towed in, or should I be pointing fingers at them?

Also, there was Mobil 1 oil dripping pretty heavily from underneath the car when I shut it off. Could the pan seal be compromised from the heat? The filter?

I hope it's not a catastrophe waiting for me tomorrow!

[Alexlind123]

Have someone TIG weld on new aluminum end tanks.

[winfred]

busted neck is common on old radiators the plastic gets rotten and crumbly, as for oil leak it's hard to say, depends on how hot it got on what could of gotten roasted, doubt it's the pan gasket most likely it's the oil filter housing gasket, it's one of those $5 part couple hundred labor fixes

[DallasBill]

Have someone TIG weld on new aluminum end tanks.
Now that's something I have not heard about before. What kind of difficulty is that, and where do they get the parts from?

Compared to a new rad from BMA on sale for $199?

Thx!

[winfred]

the money spent on that would probably be close to a custom built radiator (over $500) which imho would be better then using the wimpy oem core, get a factory replacment and change the coolent every two years and it should last just fine


Now that's something I have not heard about before. What kind of difficulty is that, and where do they get the parts from?

Compared to a new rad from BMA on sale for $199?

Thx!

[Alexlind123]

the money spent on that would probably be close to a custom built radiator (over $500) which imho would be better then using the wimpy oem core, get a factory replacment and change the coolent every two years and it should last just fine

Not if either you or a friend you know has a tig welder he will let you use. You could fab the end tanks yourself.

[Bill R.]

real fun to tig weld tanks on and getting it leakproof...
As winfred said its a better deal just to get a custom radiator if you want all aluminum or just get a new stocker, also tig welding unlike mig welding has a much longer learning curve to get proficient at it.




Not if either you or a friend you know has a tig welder he will let you use. You could fab the end tanks yourself.

[DallasBill]

Thanks for the info, all! I have no access to TIG welding expertise and neither does the shop. For the price I'll do a stock from BMA... and I always change the coolant every 2 years.

Just as an FYI, does anyone know anything about www.radiator.com (http://www.radiator.com) Good rads?? They claim to have Behr OEM radiators. And, where does one look at an aluminum rad... online?

Now, let's just hope it's only the oil filter housing gasket that fried... ;)

[Bill R.]

had no problems at all. Here is one site for aluminum bmw radiators
(http://www.pwr-performance.com/radiator_main.htm)Griffin radiators als (http://griffinrad.com/contact.php)o does custom all aluminum radiators for you too.


Thanks for the info, all! I have no access to TIG welding expertise and neither does the shop. For the price I'll do a stock from BMA... and I always change the coolant every 2 years.

Just as an FYI, does anyone know anything about www.radiator.com (http://www.radiator.com) Good rads?? They claim to have Behr OEM radiators. And, where does one look at an aluminum rad... online?

Now, let's just hope it's only the oil filter housing gasket that fried... ;)

[DallasBill]

Thanks, Bill R.

While I'm at it, are there any other things... expansion tank seals, etc. ...that I should also get done at the same time? I'm planning on replacing the upper and lower rad hoses while I'm having this done.

[califblue]

I had the same thing happen to me on a one that was 3 months old...the shop took it back and replaced it with a new improved Behar...the new one has a copper pipe where the old one use to be all plastic( they siad they were having problems with the all plastic ones with air bubbles that were formed in during the mfg process and over time they would expand and leave a big void)

[l8apex]

I had overheating problems with my '94 540 on the track on hot days. The problem was lack of cooling capacity with the stock radiator.
I sent my factory radiator as a model to Ron Davis www.rondavisradiators.com (http://www.rondavisradiators.com) and he made me a high capacity (slightly thicker) all aluminum replacement. They probably still have the drawings, etc. It would be worth the effort to find out.
An additional benefit of the new radiator is that I was able to do the engine driven fan delete with absolutely no cooling issues or no other mods. The electric auxiliary fan in front of the radiator is sufficient to cool the engine when the car is moving at a low rate of speed.
Keep in mind that almost all of the weight of the radiator is carried on a rubber "bumper" mounted on the bottom of each expansion tank, so if you plan to fabricate your own side tanks, you'll need to keep this in mind structurally.

[bfd]

How much did your custom radiator cost? I know Zionsville autosport makes alloy radiators for alot of different BMWs, unfortunately not for the M30 engine, but they cost in the $500-800 range (depending on whether there's an electric fan included).

[Russell]

when did you install the improved behr radiator? I had one put in about 3 years/50,000 mile ago and beginning to wonder if I should plan on a new radiator in the next year.

[califblue]

Russell...i installed it July 05'

[l8apex]

It was about $900, but it was a one-off, and was custom made. I bet the cost of a copy will be less since they already have the plans.
An e-34 radiator is pretty much an e-34 radiator no matter which engine we're talking about.



How much did your custom radiator cost? I know Zionsville autosport makes alloy radiators for alot of different BMWs, unfortunately not for the M30 engine, but they cost in the $500-800 range (depending on whether there's an electric fan included).

[bfd]

Wow, $900, that's alot of dough! That's like 3-4 new Behr/Nissen radiators. Then again, you'll probably never need to change your radiator ever again.

As for e-34 radiators, NO there are several different ones depending on which engine you got. Do a search on Realoem and you'll see each engine has a different radiator.

However for those of you with a V8 engine - 540i/530i, there is an alloy radiator available, with according to ZA has a 65% increase in cooling capacity, all for about $550:

http://www.zionsvilleautosport.com/store/shop.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=6134&Product_Code=E34V8AR

Too bad there isn't one for the M30 "big six" engine....