[fearitself165]

and wow let me tell you... what a sight to see. My car never overheats but its actually been not getting up to temperature lately. So I had a t-stat and cylinder head coolant flange because they're both cheap preventative maintenance items, but when I learned the water pump was connected to the thermostat I figured I might as well do both of those if im going to do this project.

If anyone can tell me the best way to post pictures I would like to show people what the old parts look like. Im at 144k miles I believe and I don't have any maintenance records but the car is definitely in good shape. When I got the coolant flange off, it literally started crumbling to pieces if you pushed it too hard (for instance using a screwdriver to pry the coolant hose out of it), the thermostat was disconnected from the housing (lmao!) And the water pump was the original genuine BMW part!!! I would think someone would take care of important preventative maintenance items like these especially since they all 3 are really cheap parts.

Although I'm not done with the project im taking a little break to relax because I have to stay the night here at my parents house (radiator drain plug crumbled to pieces... noticed when it started dripping and a ripped o-ring fell to the ground) lol. Anyway so I need some help with part numbers. On real oem this is radiator drain plug on the left side (side I need) 17117530902 and this is the control sleeve part number which is supposed to be on the right side 17117521781. Why couldn't I seem to find any drain plug on the left side of mine?

[335dlci]

You need a special tool for the ac belt..

[fearitself165]

Originally Posted by 335dlci

You need a special tool for the ac belt..

I thought I responded to you yesterday... shows how tired I must have been
But yes the coolant flange was a radioactive green on the inside and it was so brittle that a screwdriver would cut it like it was sand - tad stronger but you get the point. The outside was in better shape except the points between the outgoing tubes look like there were hairline cracks that start leaking when the car heats up.

The thermostat was so obviously broken it was sad. The plastic parts that hold it onto the housing were gone so it was stuck open and that was where my coolanttemp problems stemmed from. I've already noticed DRASTIC temp differences already. Like before starting the car it was down to 45 degrees C and when up to temp just street driving today it was at a steady 86. Im excited to see if highway driving gets me to a steady 90 degrees C.

Before the thermostat was replaced my temps usually stayed around 55-60 I want to say when the car was off or cooled down, and when up to temp it varied between 67-79 degrees C. And I want to say hardly ever got that warm even.

The water pump wasnt in horrible shape..although when spinning the pulley wheel you heard a rattle if you kinda spun it one way and reversed it the other. Im not sure if that is applicable to real life but it has to show somethings wrong with the bearing.. if anyone has any input on this im curious. Also I noticed the genuine bmw original pump that I removed has a composite impeller.. kind of wish the new one did as well (Gates) brand, but for the price its definitely solid!

Oh and one more thing I noticed is that the belt seems to have a slight chirp on it when the cars running now. Its hardly noticeable either. When I first had the car started it was making a sound but it was slightly different. That time I redid the belt and noticed rhe belt was definitely a little further away from the engine on the tensioner pulley. Is it just not 100% aligned?

[peteyypab]

Out of curiousity, what coolant was in the car? was it blue?

Using the wrong type or mixing certain coolants is known to attack certain plastics.

[fearitself165]

Originally Posted by peteyypab

Out of curiousity, what coolant was in the car? was it blue?

Using the wrong type or mixing certain coolants is known to attack certain plastics.

When I bought the car it did have blue bmw coolant and I have filled it with nothing but. Although you certainly could be right in that I don't know what previous owners filled it up with. I did my best before putting the new water pump on to flush the car with distilled water and nothing came out. I think I already mentioned this but I ended up going through all 4 gallons of distilled water because after I loosened the radiator drain plug the first time it fell apart. The o-ring broke and the cap part with the Phillips screw just fell off lol. Eventually I was able to get it tightened enough to where it wasn't leaking anymore but I was too worried about the longevity of this broken drain plug and I waited till the next morning to buy a new one from the dealership.

I'm pretty confident in the strength of the coolant system at this point. I even replaced the o rings of the coolant hoses that connect to the cylinder head coolant flange. I would have even replaced the one of the radiator hose that connects to the thermostat, if i had known about it.

Right now my main worries are the serpentine belt and the turbo outlet hose because after replacing the water pump its developed a slight chirp. Im unsure if this is because its not aligned 100% or if the excessive oil blowby is spraying on the hose and causing the sounds. I also am thinking of the intercooler as well because it seems to have some leaks in it where the oil is coming out but its hard to justify a replacement of something that doesn't hinder the performance of the car whatsoever.

There's no chance the bearing has gone already right?

[peteyypab]

Did you replace belts?
Check the balancer for cracks?

The AC belt is a stretch type belt and for the cost of replacement its just not worth putting the old one back on IMO.

Also if you got any oil/coolant on the pulleys/belts and that could be your culprit.

I wouldnt think the WP bearing would be bad out of the box, but anything is possible these days...

[fearitself165]

Originally Posted by peteyypab

Did you replace belts?
Check the balancer for cracks?

The AC belt is a stretch type belt and for the cost of replacement its just not worth putting the old one back on IMO.

Also if you got any oil/coolant on the pulleys/belts and that could be your culprit.

I wouldnt think the WP bearing would be bad out of the box, but anything is possible these days...

Yes its definitely possible some coolant got on one of the belts, and oil has been spraying through a leak in the turbo outlet hose recently. (Red boost hose. Im not 100% on this as the culprit but I'm pretty sure)

And I thought about it but no the belts weren't replaced. I was going to order them but I didn't want to wait another several days for them to arrive when I had all the other parts I was waiting for.

I also have a clutched alternator pulley should I do this at the same time as the serpentine belt? And AC belt needs a tool is that correct?

As far as appearance-wise the belts look good and the vibration damper is a little discolored but I haven't see any cracks.

Should I do the two pulleys at the same time as the belts? And this just makes me think damn if im doing all that I should probably just do the vibration damper too.. but I want to wait till that needs to be done just because I don't have +$100 to throw around for a part that doesn't need replacement yet.. if its 20-30 dollars a part and I can do 5 of them for 100 dollars that's way different imo.

[jacbo]

You can use imgur to upload photos, then grab the link and embed the link using the "insert image" button. i think there's a guide somewhere on the forum?

i'd like to see the photos just out of curiosity. i changed my water pump at around 125k miles and it wasn't in bad shape at all considering it was the original. Never had issues with overheating and only changed it for peace of mind. Coolant was clean when it came out so i assume that the system has has at least the coolant replaced? i don't have many receipts from previous owner to say what has been done

so anyway, i'm surprised to hear the state your cooling system parts were in, very interesting

[jacbo]

Originally Posted by fearitself165

Yes its definitely possible some coolant got on one of the belts, and oil has been spraying through a leak in the turbo outlet hose recently. (Red boost hose. Im not 100% on this as the culprit but I'm pretty sure)

And I thought about it but no the belts weren't replaced. I was going to order them but I didn't want to wait another several days for them to arrive when I had all the other parts I was waiting for.

I also have a clutched alternator pulley should I do this at the same time as the serpentine belt? And AC belt needs a tool is that correct?

As far as appearance-wise the belts look good and the vibration damper is a little discolored but I haven't see any cracks.

Should I do the two pulleys at the same time as the belts? And this just makes me think damn if im doing all that I should probably just do the vibration damper too.. but I want to wait till that needs to be done just because I don't have +$100 to throw around for a part that doesn't need replacement yet.. if its 20-30 dollars a part and I can do 5 of them for 100 dollars that's way different imo.

i replaced all pulleys etc when i replaced my water pump. and glad i did, the bearings were rough and horrible. No more strange noises from pulley system. But i did not replace the vibration damper for same reason as you... pretty damn expensive for one part, i'll get round to it eventually.

only thing is if it fails it can lead to some big problems

[fearitself165]

I'll post a couple others like the other side of the thermostat which is where you can see the real carnage. From this angle it just looks maybe a tad old. The water pump itself actually looks great in appearance imo.. a little dirty. But when you spin the impeller a certain way it makes a little grinding noise. Im not surprised considering its the original water pump and at over 140k miles. Impressive longevity though. The cylinder head coolant flange as you can see is changing colors on the insides. Idk if this is from a mix of coolant in the past or what. On the outside you can see the spots between the pipes where it leaks when it gets hot im guessing... super small hairline cracks. I had this kind in my expansion tank which had the same deal. It looks like just a surface crack but once the coolant heats up enough you can see mini leaks from these areas. So I'm sure it would've lasted longer but the inside plastic where the color is green is BRITTLE. When I was removing the plastic heater hose that goes over the smaller hose on the flange, I used a screwdriver to pry it off. When it gave the screwdriver went along the inside surface and there's now a big groove where it just cut through that weak plastic so easily. Lastly the radiator plug was another victim of this long time plastic wear. The philips cap was gone and it was down to the plastic that the o ring goes around and that was also all smashed up.

I just started back to work today so I' going to start planning soon on my next preventative maintenanc jobs. Next I want to do turbo outlet hose and seals/intercooler, injectors if they need replacement, turbos which im still unsure of whether ill end up doing a hybrid build or just a stock replacement, unsure of what I wanna do with the fuel pump still, and im gonna start looking into suspension overhaul soon. Probably just a stock control arm replacements and maybe a strut upgrade but well see.

[fearitself165]

Idk it doesn't seem to be working

Trying to post pics of the thermostat housing engine block side but now it's not working for me. Can anyone else see it?