M60 Coolant Hose Blows off of Radiator!

[Fetch]

To make this part of the story short.....Shortly after 5500rpm shift, strong coolant smell......Drive slowly for 30 sec, watching engine temp expecting the worst......temp doesn't increase at all.....

Get to stoplight 1 min later, a very small amount of steam is seeping out of the hood, I put the heater on full blast and watch the engine temp more, still not raising at all. I pulled into a parking lot right off of the stop light I was at. Get out of car, trail of liquid following my car into the parking lot.

I pop the hood and see the top radiator hose disconnected!!!

I inspected all belts, and cleaned up coolant that had gotten on mostly the brake booster. I reconnected the coolant hose & re-clamped the clamp. I dumped the half gallon of premixed coolant I had in the trunk into the system, it drank it all with no regrets......

I walked over to the car-x place that happened to be right there, and they gave me a gallon of water, I dumped almost all that in too.

Then drove to a place that would sell me antifreeze without them wanting to charge to put it in themselves.

Filled up with equal amount of 100% coolant to balance out water I put in earlier. Then drove around more stopping 3 times to top off with mixed coolant. Last stop it seemed to have bleed all air out of the system, and was holding the same level in the expansion tank.

Whole time I was doing this I had heater on full blast to make sure coolant was circulating thru that system as well.

So any ideas why my top radiator hose blew off?....I'm guessing it wasn't tightened enough, and blew off. Then the water pump completely dumped all my coolant.

Weirdest thing is, the engine temp never went a hair over it's normal spot, normally it sits just barely over the halfway point.

That's my story for the day :)

[Evan]

I spray a little permatex inside the mouth of the hose so it sticks... then I clamp the hose and gently tighten it.

[genphreak]

I spray a little permatex inside the mouth of the hose so it sticks... then I clamp the hose and gently tighten it.Beware any bits that push off inside, they just will work to clog things up.

Maybe you had the wrong coolant in there and the pressure got too much... sorry for the insolnce but it doesn't sound like you are using cool blue as it isn't available just anywhere.

Regardless factory cars ever have trouble with hoses blowing off, maybe yours are old, clamps wrong or more liklely someone forgot to tighten it enough? Could be someone being too conservative too- the radiator being a plastic connection seldom responds well to overdoing it ;) BMW have a rating for the tightness I do believe...

[Fetch]

Beware any bits that push off inside, they just will work to clog things up.

Maybe you had the wrong coolant in there and the pressure got too much... sorry for the insolnce but it doesn't sound like you are using cool blue as it isn't available just anywhere.

Regardless factory cars ever have trouble with hoses blowing off, maybe yours are old, clamps wrong or more liklely someone forgot to tighten it enough? Could be someone being too conservative too- the radiator being a plastic connection seldom responds well to overdoing it ;) BMW have a rating for the tightness I do believe...


oh yes, I know it has the wrong coolant in there. I've inquired about it in other threads.

The top radiator hose gets pretty much rock hard when the engine is warmed up, it seems like it has too much pressure.

[genphreak]

oh yes, I know it has the wrong coolant in there. I've inquired about it in other threads. The top radiator hose gets pretty much rock hard when the engine is warmed up, it seems like it has too much pressure.That sounds normal to me. If you are really worried, try pulling the radiator out and giving it a backwards flush from top to bottom (standing on the input tank not the normal orientation). If someone has used the wrong coolant in there or never changed it, it could be clogged up with corroded material. Beware the problems; head gaskets are not an easy job...

[Fetch]

That sounds normal to me. If you are really worried, try pulling the radiator out and giving it a backwards flush from top to bottom (standing on the input tank not the normal orientation). If someone has used the wrong coolant in there or never changed it, it could be clogged up with corroded material. Beware the problems; head gaskets are not an easy job...

Well, before it dumped all my coolant out, the coolant was very clean looking, like it had recently been changed. Also, the radiator is way too new looking to be the original, so I'm pretty sure that it is ok.

oh, so you mean, the headgasket could have a leak, and the engine is pressurizing the coolant system? Is there a way to check for this?

[genphreak]

Well, before it dumped all my coolant out, the coolant was very clean looking, like it had recently been changed. Also, the radiator is way too new looking to be the original, so I'm pretty sure that it is ok.

oh, so you mean, the headgasket could have a leak, and the engine is pressurizing the coolant system? Is there a way to check for this?No, but the wrong coolant is a very bad thing in a BMW. It sounds weird but is true. It doesn't take long to destroy a lot, they are very specific about it. Search for coolant and you'll see if you don't beleive me. Plain water is ok to run until you can get cool blue (BASF Glysantin coolant). I ran a day or two on water once instead of putting the wrong stuff in as I didn';t want to flush it...

The green must all be taken out (fully flushed, block drained according to procedure) when you swap over- whatever is left inside will eat the alloy of the block, radiator and heater core away as best it can.

BTW When at temperature the hoses should be well pressurized. Wrong coolant may affect this. I wouldn't expect much difference in pressure from top to bottom hose.

Is the system properly bled- this should be your first check. With your cooling system, go exactly by the book, it is mission critical after all. For $50 there is some a coolant checker- Shogun posted about it recently re a post someone put up on troubleshooting potential head problems- search for that to find it....

[Fetch]

Ok, well from what I could tell from Jeff's posts, it would be ok to run it for awhile, and that it won't immediately do anything. But you say it should be changed right away?......

The soonest I would be able to drain and fully flush the system would be when I go home in two weeks.

[DaveVoorhis]

... the wrong coolant is a very bad thing in a BMW. It sounds weird but is true. It doesn't take long to destroy a lot, they are very specific about it. Search for coolant and you'll see if you don't beleive me. Plain water is ok to run until you can get cool blue (BASF Glysantin coolant)...
I've seen this several times, here and elsewhere, including some who seem to suggest that you should only use genuine BMW coolant or (apparently) your engine will dissolve. I've also seen comments to the effect that any aluminium-compatible coolant is fine.

Is there something unique to BMW cooling systems that requires blue and only blue? I notice the Bentley manual says on page 170-6 to "always use genuine BMW coolant or its equivalent to avoid the formation of harmful, clogging deposits..." I would take "equivalent" to mean any aluminium-compatible coolant, as long as it's changed every two years. Yes? No?

[Fetch]

The prestone antifreeze I put in:

"carefully balanced protection against temperature extremes and rust corrosion of all cooling system metals, including aluminum"

[632 Regal]

the M60s are self bleeding.


Is the system properly bled- this should be your first check. With your cooling system, go exactly by the book, it is mission critical after all.

[Evan]

you are hereby ordered to turn in your BMW immediately for failure to use blue coolant.

thank you.

[Fetch]

you are hereby ordered to turn in your BMW immediately for failure to use blue coolant.

thank you.

I have forwarded your message to the previous owner.

[genphreak]

The prestone antifreeze I put in:

"carefully balanced protection against temperature extremes and rust corrosion of all cooling system metals, including aluminum"Most coolants make the claim yours does. Yes you can prbably run it for a while, probably longer that you can run plain water (especially if you are not going to stress the cooling system heavily).

However the correct Coolant **is critical** to the operation of your engine and the manual is specific about it. You ignore this at your peril. I'm not saying it is the cause to your problem at all, (but unbelievable as it seems it could be), but if your coolant was not blue when you got the car it is an indicator that whoever has been looking after or maintaining your M60 has not had BMW experience at the least, or is not up to the task.

Search the forum for head gasket/cooling system stories and in almost very case the major factor is coolant is non-genuine. BMW is not like most other cars when it comes to coolant compatibility- but like Benz and Audi and others the engine's run hotter than most and the design specs of the castings and components rely on one composition only. We know it is common to SAAB and perhaps Volvo also, but it is not to be mixed or used with anything else other than Glysantin G48 (http://www.performancechemicals.basf.com/ev-wcms-in/internet/en_GB/portal/show-content_ao/content/EV/EV3/products_markets/automotive_fluids/glysantin/index)(BMW cool blue coolant).

If you still don't believe me, check this thread over on the Benz forums. (http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=18872)

The old-hands know not ot use anything else, others that think they know better challenge them all the time as I once did. But you need the right stuff. It appears that Glysantin is almost a standard in Europe. This contrasts to the US where owners are driven to expect 'compatible' coolants will do like perhaps it does in some other cars.

Though there have been many lively discussions about this issue here, from my experience I can say that BMW may well be the pickiest of all German cars on collant type.

Phew! There we go, the quarterly coolant post is done. :D

[genphreak]

the M60s are self bleeding.Thanks Jeff, I forgot there was no bleeder on an M60. I wish mine was. Actually it is, but only so far... bah!

[Fetch]

I understand all this......I'm not new to BMWs or their fluid requirements at all (This is one of the reasons I love BMWs, everything is made to work amazingly as long as you follow the requirements).

I'm just gathering information since I cannot perform work on my car right away in most cases. This forum is awesome compared to when I was on roadfly for my E32.

'flush green coolant to bmw blue coolant' has been in my all encompasing excel spreadsheet for this car since over 2 weeks ago :)

[genphreak]

I understand all this......I'm not new to BMWs or their fluid requirements at all (This is one of the reasons I love BMWs, everything is made to work amazingly as long as you follow the requirements).

I'm just gathering information since I cannot perform work on my car right away in most cases. This forum is awesome compared to when I was on roadfly for my E32.

'flush green coolant to bmw blue coolant' has been in my all encompasing excel spreadsheet for this car since over 2 weeks ago :)I wasn't out to patronize in any way- sorry if it sounded that way. One never knows what people know or don't know, and many new owners take a while to get with the flow on coolant, as I did. I hope you get these troubles sorted out- the temp not rising after the blow out sounds very weird :) Nick

[Fetch]

I wasn't out to patronize in any way- sorry if it sounded that way. One never knows what people know or don't know, and many new owners take a while to get with the flow on coolant, as I did. I hope you get these troubles sorted out- the temp not rising after the blow out sounds very weird :) Nick

It's all good, I couldn't really tell if you were or not, I myself am pissed that I can't make my E34 perfect right this very moment lol

I'll most likely be flushing the coolant in 2 weeks when I'm at home with ramps & tools

[genphreak]

I'd expect 'superheated' coolant gas would hit the temp sensor and send your needle off the dial.
In an M60 the upper pipe is above the level of the radiator, so maybe it was really only coolant flow that was interrupted when it popped. I'd expect however for boiling to cause a real problem within seconds. Just 0.02 opinion though. :) nick

[Fetch]

Yeah, I have no idea why the needle never went more than a hair over where it normally sits.

As far as I can tell it works fine, from watching it warmup, to starting it when it has only half cooled down, it reads exactly how I think it should

[Bill R.]

of the radiator as he did the coolant dumps quickly. The temperature sending unit has to be immersed to read correctly, If there's no coolant covering it completely then it won't read correctly and he'll get a false cool reading. Superheated steam still won't cause the indicator to go up because it doesn't make enough contact with the sending unit.
I've seen this many times you blow a hose, watch the temperature briefly start to skyrocket upward, then it starts to go right back down(this is when you should start to worry)

Many customers continue driving the car thinking its ok and they can make it home, they cook the engine on the way home and then i get to see the car for awhile.



I'd expect 'superheated' coolant gas would hit the temp sensor and send your needle off the dial.
In an M60 the upper pipe is above the level of the radiator, so maybe it was really only coolant flow that was interrupted when it popped. I'd expect however for boiling to cause a real problem within seconds. Just 0.02 opinion though. :) nick

[genphreak]

...Superheated steam still won't cause the indicator to go up because it doesn't make enough contact with the sending unit.
I've seen this many times you blow a hose, watch the temperature briefly start to skyrocket upward, then it starts to go right back down(this is when you should start to worry)

Many customers continue driving the car thinking its ok and they can make it home, they cook the engine on the way home and then i get to see the car for awhile.Thanks Bill. I'm sure you are correct, but can't work out why the sensor would ignore the steam temperature. Theoretically the sensor would be reading the temp of the water neck if full of liquid or steam. The steam will definately be higher in temperature after hitting the hot galleries in the head and vaporising as it then has to make its way out (ie picking up a lot more heat) than the (say) 150 degree C coolant temp it had in the first place. :) Nick