Solo Man
Well-known member
Got my new TotalBMW on Friday and there was this article about the 316i/318i motor in the E36 range that have these plastic water pipes fitted to it. A Friends car was using water at the rate of one to two litres needed every second day. No tell tale signs on the floor either. Upon reading the article where they replaced the plastic elbow at the back of the engine i decided that maybe that is where the leak was. Bought the elbow from BMW for about R130 and some antifreeze and set about replacing the culprit. What a job! Anyway, when i took the old elbow off it was so badly corroded i do not know how it lasted so long! Then decided to replace the second elbow under the inlet manifold too. Got that for about R200 from BMW. This was a mission to replace as i had to remove the fan, cowl, serpentine belt, alternator, powersteering pump and bracket before i could even reach the one screw on the elbow. Anyway, replaced that and refitted everything and now i hope the leaks are solved! Btw, had Silverton check for headgasket failure/cracks and apparently there are none. Reason for posting this is to all the 316i/318i E36 and 318i E46 owners out there with water leaks.
