The BMW UUC Digest Volume 1 : Issue 105 : "text" Format Messages in this Issue: Disappearing coolant.. Re: Disappearing coolant.. Re: Disappearing coolant.. Re: NY Times article on Bangle Re: NY Times article on Bangle Re: NY Times article on Bangle Re: M20 engine idle Is Bangle on his way out? Re: Issuance of Thanks Tire Mounting
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 15:01:01 -0500 From: "Chamberlain, Jesse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Disappearing coolant.. Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hello list, I'm hoping that someone out there has gone though what I'm about to describe and could lend some advice. I'm having some issues with my 93 325i (has 148K miles) and disappearing coolant. For the last month or so, I've noticed that my car is loosing coolant. It gets down to about the bottom of the expansion tank, I fill it up to the Fill line, and then 3-5 days go by and the its back down to the bottom of the expansion tank. But, I can't seem to find where the coolant is coming out of. The car doesn't over heat, I don't see any coolant on the ground, I don't see any water in the oil (and vice versa), I don't see any trail of dried coolant on the radiator (the radiator was replaced at about 100K miles), and I replaced the water pump (metal impeller) and factory plastic thermostat housing with the metal one about 5 months ago (since it just started happening about a month ago, I don't believe this is it). I do know that my coolant level sensor has gone bad, and keeps throwing the check radiator error message on the OBC, even when the coolant is at the full mark. Could the coolant be leaking out of the sensor? I don't see how, but I guess it is possible. This is something I plan on fixing sometime in the next month. One more possibility is that the heater core has started leaking. How often do these fail? I don't smell any coolant inside when the heater is on, so I am trying to rule that out. I'm hoping its not the heater core because to replace the core you need to take out the whole dashboard, and its nothing I want to do with these 5 degree temps, even in my garage. Thanks for any help. ---------------------- Jesse Chamberlain -99 M3 -93 325i ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 15:35:38 -0500 (EST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Disappearing coolant.. Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> might well be a slow leak in your heater core or the plumbing that goes to it. Do you notice that it only happens in the winter when you use the heat? Also, check carefully around the thermostat housing. Sometimes you can get a leak there that goes away when things swell completely (operating temperatures. Take a look at the engine with it running to see if temp and the water pump push anything out, though you would see somethingaround the compartment if it were bad. I'm assuming you keep your motor clean to find leaks like this (simple green and rinse in warm weather, cover the Airbag sensors with baggies). I've had a slow leak in my core problem since about 90k, though it hasn't gotten bad enough to go after (I only use about 1-2 pints per winter). I get the occasional whiff of glycol, but it's not quite consistent. Sounds like your problem is a bit worse. Try to ease off using the heat if you can, to reduce the problem. Also sounds like your coolant sensor float is bad. Marc Plante [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 14:39:16 -0600 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: "Chamberlain, Jesse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Disappearing coolant.. Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "Chamberlain, Jesse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I'm hoping that someone out there has gone though what I'm about to > describe and could lend some advice. > > I'm having some issues with my 93 325i (has 148K miles) and disappearing > coolant. For the last month or so, I've noticed that my car is loosing > coolant. It gets down to about the bottom of the expansion tank, I fill > it up to the Fill line, and then 3-5 days go by and the its back down to > the bottom of the expansion tank. > > But, I can't seem to find where the coolant is coming out of. The car > doesn't over heat, I don't see any coolant on the ground, I don't see any > water in the oil (and vice versa), That's good. You can still run oil analysis to double check for residual coolant contamination, but unless you had severely overheated the engine in the past, most likely this is not it. > I don't see any trail of dried coolant on the radiator (the radiator was > replaced at about 100K miles), and I replaced the water pump (metal > impeller) and factory plastic thermostat housing with the metal one about > 5 months ago (since it just started happening about a month ago, I don't > believe this is it). My money is on the aluminum thermostat housing/gasket. Those Indian aftermarket thermostat housings are junk. Steve D had stopped selling them at some point because of QC problems. Out of the two I had installed on my E36s, one had so many voids in the casting that I had to return it to the merchant. Have you replaced both t-housing gaskets when you swapped the housing? If not, it's very likely the old gaskets have failed to conform to the new housing's shape and are leaking a bit. It's really hard to check that area for leaks. Easiest with the car up on the lift. > I do know that my coolant level sensor has gone bad, and keeps throwing > the check radiator error message on the OBC, even when the coolant is at > the full mark. Could the coolant be leaking out of the sensor? I don't > see how, but I guess it is possible. Nothing is impossible, but you should be able to see coolant residue at the bottom of the sensor if it's leaking. > One more possibility is that the heater core has started leaking. Do you get sweat and musky smell when running the heater? Does your windshield fog up? If so, you might have a heater core leak. Otherwise, not likely. > How often do these fail? 150+K miles on E30s. My oldest E36 is barely above 1/2 that mileage. > I don't smell any coolant inside when the heater is on, so I am trying to > rule that out. I'm hoping its not the heater core because to replace > the core you need to take out the whole dashboard, and its nothing I want > to do with these 5 degree temps, even in my garage. Based on what you have observed, it's probably not the heater core. I would still suspect the thermostat housing/gaskets. alex f ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 17:25:13 -0500 From: Phil Marx <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: NY Times article on Bangle Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Actually those statistics tell a slightly different story if you know anything about BMWs. Of course the E60 Five Series didn't go on sale until October of 2003 so it seems even more amazing that the 2003 E39 broke all records even after going out of production in June of 2003! I'd call that a demand based on a public frightened by the new version and scrambling to grab the last of the old model. As of October 1, 2003 (the last month before the E60 became available even though some 800 were listed as "delivered" but probably to dealers as demos) Five sales were up 14% compared to 2002. I don't recall a single month in 2003 MY that the Five didn't outsell the previous year by at least 10%. Not bad for a "dated" design destined for replacement! -Phil >Mark Dadgar wrote: >I love these statistics. Comparing the new models' sales to the >immediately previous years, which were the last model years in a >multi-year run. > >I should friggin' hope the sales numbers are up. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 15:01:47 -0800 From: Greg Cagle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: NY Times article on Bangle Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I thought Bangle's explanation of the "bulging trunk" was pretty ridiculous, even if edited: > The 7 Series belt line is straight, more like car designs from the > 1930's, Mr. Bangle said. But that caused problems at the car's rear > as he added more space to the back seat passenger area. So Mr. Bangle > raised the trunk (and in doing so made the opening large enough to > load golf bags easily, not an insignificant consideration given the > car's demographics). IMHO it's possible to "raise the trunk" and not make it look like it was a glued on afterthought. - Greg -- Greg Cagle gregc at gregcagle dot com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 09:39:09 -0600 From: Dennis Wynne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: NY Times article on Bangle Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The "explanation" about the new 6 is good too. Lets see, we floated the Z9 concept, everyone hated it, so I made it look like that anyway. Dennis 01 M5 silver/black (a pre-Bangle design) At 03:01 PM 01/26/2004 -0800, you wrote: >I thought Bangle's explanation of the "bulging trunk" was pretty >ridiculous, even if edited: > >>The 7 Series belt line is straight, more like car designs from the >>1930's, Mr. Bangle said. But that caused problems at the car's rear >>as he added more space to the back seat passenger area. So Mr. Bangle >>raised the trunk (and in doing so made the opening large enough to >>load golf bags easily, not an insignificant consideration given the >>car's demographics). > >IMHO it's possible to "raise the trunk" and not make it look like >it was a glued on afterthought. > >- Greg > >-- >Greg Cagle >gregc at gregcagle dot com >__________________________________________________________________________ >In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. > >UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate >Short Shifter - accept no substitutes! >908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 22:40:06 -0500 From: "Chris Pawlowicz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: M20 engine idle Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Stephen says > I currently have a 1989 E30 320i with warm idle symptoms that are stumping > me, so I'm back to dip in the well of the digest's collective experience. > operating temperature: it idles very smoothly, but hesitates when coming off > idle. Also when coming down to idle it dips briefly below idle speed before > > 5) resistance of airflow sensor coming off idle how did you check this? the AFM's are notorious for having dirty contacts inside right around where the wiper sits when at idle.. I'm not sure how you checked this but a straight resistance meter check might not show the noisy signal you get when part of an electrical circuit (like when the car is running).. especially if you are using a DVM (rather than an analog meter) it seems to me that all older AFMs show this behaviour.. a local guy here got so pissed off (especially with the E30 running AC.. makes things very jerky starting from idle) that he bought a new AFM and this made a big difference you can also take the AFM apart and use contact cleaner on the wiper / resistor bits, and some people even bend the arm slightly so it uses a different part of the resistor when at idle.. (also changing the signal it sends the computer for a give air flow..) chris pawlowicz ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 23:39:46 -0500 From: "Dennis Liu" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "BMW List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Is Bangle on his way out? Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.wheels24.co.za/Wheels24/News/0,,1369-1372_1471904,00.html hmmmm.... vty, --Dennis ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 11:28:14 -0800 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Issuance of Thanks Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Brad, I thought you were in Cajun country? It's cold a few hours "South" of you....? Boy that East coast winter must be much worse than I thought. It is a great community. -Kevin ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 14:47:30 -0500 From: "Robinson, Lee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'M3SIG'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "'UUCDigest'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Tire Mounting Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Everyone, I had some questions about mounting tires, specifically track tires. See, me & this other fellow came to the conclusion that we could split the cost of some basic stuff, like a static float balancer & maybe some special pry bars & save about $50 per person per event for mounting & flipping tires. I'm sure someone has tried this. We tried deflating a tire & breaking it off the bead (15" victo) & were somewhat unsuccessful (actually, it was cold out & we weren't really that interested at the particular time). In the other guy's case we're looking at 315/35-17's. I'm sure that since we've been able to properly maintain & even do some extensive work on an E30 M3 & Z06 (now Z28) that this isn't above our engineering skills. Anyway, does anyone have a list of "must haves" to do this? I.e. things we might not think of like the bead adheasive. Maybe some tips for actually getting these on & off would be groovy too. Thanks in advance, Lee ------------------------------ End of [bmwuucdigest] digest(10 messages) **********
