Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Robb
If the cooling system in the BMW has 100,000 miles on it you really need to have an experienced wrench check it for you because the radiator, water pump, thermostat and housing can all fail at any time after 70,000 miles and/or 5 years. Due to recycling requirements in Germany and other political influences on design the radiators are aluminum and plastic rather than brass and they just don't last. If you don't catch a failure very quickly and shut off your engine you will at least ruin your cylinder head and maybe more. A good independent shop will probably be a lot cheaper than a dealer for these repairs. It's a good thing 3 series are fun to drive isn't it?
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I'm pretty positive the car has had the coolant system taken care of I bought it from a friend who bought it 3 years ago with 109k and she bought it from the original owner who had it maintained religiously at the dealer. The other positive is that it is an electric fan model which takes the weight of the fan off the water pump. Everything looks good right now in the cooling system so I'm just going to keep an eye on it. Right now I have everything sitting in my office to replace the Valve cover gasket and rebuild the Vanos as soon as I have a free afternoon. This winter I also plan to pull the trans and put a new clutch and fix the sticky 5th gear issue. I'm pretty familiar with BMWs my brother has had a few and a good friend collects classics he has a 2800cs, 2002tii, E30 M3, Z1, Z4, and a 335i sedan on order. Luckily I have the facilities and the know how to tackle pretty much anything aside from computer programing. Its the main reason I got rid of the Honda and got the BMW I like to tinker and the Honda never needed anything.