Popped a radiator hose on E36 M3

[black legend ii]

Hi guys,

Yesterday I took out the M for a spirited drive after it was sitting in the garage for a while.

So, after I got everything up to temp, I did a few good runs.

At one point, when I changed from 1st to 2nd at high rpm, i heard a loud popping noise near Maxwell drive in Sunninghill. I just changed to a higher gear and got off the throttle.

about 2km later, I noticed the heat gauage was maxed out. I then drive for 1 km to the garage and switched off.

Upon inspection, I noticed that the hose running to the top of the radiator was off and coolant was everywhere. I put it back and tightened it.

I then left the car until the heat gauge was just marginally past half way and then started filling cold water while the car was idling. I did one litre while idling and the rest while the car was off.

Drove home very slowly and the needle was back to half way, with no audible sounds of anything suspect. Sounds solid.

Do you think the engine or gasket could have been damaged from 3km of driving, even though I was driving slow.

I'm probably going to have to flush and fill up again with coolant mix

worried about the motor though

Any comments or advice is welcomed

Regards
BLII

 

[Nukleuz]

Shit... that's not good...I hope there was no damage!

I would of switched off immediately and towed it in if it hit the red on the heat gauge.

 

[black legend ii]

Shit... that's not good...I hope there was no damage!

I would of switched off immediately and towed it in if it hit the red on the heat gauge.

Yip, not good at all. Once I noticed the heat guage, I basically coasted 80% of the way to the garage. Could not risk sitting on the side of the road on a sunday afternoon

To think that just before I noticed the heat gauge a G5 GTI was looking all spirited. It was unusual for me to decline a dice. Imagine if I had diced him, I would have melted that engine properly.

Today, I will start her up and see how it sounds. I hope the noise of the engine will be a good indicator of any damage. Will also check for white smoke in the exhaust etc.

Thanks

 

[calypso]

Check of the radiator neck has any damage, that's normality when it starts to let go of hoses. If you were riding in the red I would be pretty scared. The back of the engine gets some big hot spots. Hope you have not warped anything.

 

[black legend ii]

Thanks, will take a look at that.

In terms of me filling cold water at prob 55-60 degrees, could that by itself put the engine at risk of warping?

 

[ClassicB]

I would get the head gasket changed at minimum. It is probably around +- 17years old and took some punishment after that kind of heat.

Hopefully your head is still ok and doesnt need to be skimmed.

 

[328ii]

I'll definitively sort out the hose problem - i had a top hose come off twice,
due to cracked radiator fitting (over tightening of clamp by mechanic..!).

Only God knows why ANY decent manufacturer would make radiator parts
from plastic - aluminium is the most abundant metal on the planet..!

If a coolant pressure test and combustion chamber compression tests
are ok, then your car's engine should also be ok, and you too.

8?>

 

[black legend ii]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Will definitely be taking it for a compression test soon

 

[hoosain]

if the top hose starts to swell and become very hard when the engine is hot and if there is a lot pressure in the water bottle then your head gasket is blown

 

[Julz]

Well I hope the car didn't sustain damage but I don't understand why you kept on driving when it was clearly overheating.All you had to do was stop and open the bonnet and the problem wouldve been clear.I'd rather walk and scavenge for water then driving a bone dry engine.

 

[wikk3d88]

BMW and spontaneously destructive cooling systems. Sigh.

 

[black legend ii]

@Julz - you are right, should have stopped immediately, but thought at the time 1km downhill wont be tooo bad.

Anyway, I'm living to now regret that decision.

Yesterday I managed to drain and full coolant and the car was fine.

Today I noticed some coolant that leaked and messed the garage floor.

Decided to loosen the hoseclamp and then re-tighten

I Broke that plastic neck thingie that the hose connects to.

I guess that means a new radiator is on the cards.

when it rains........it pours :thumbdo:

 

[ClassicB]

@Julz - you are right, should have stopped immediately, but thought at the time 1km downhill wont be tooo bad.

Anyway, I'm living to now regret that decision.

Yesterday I managed to drain and full coolant and the car was fine.

Today I noticed some coolant that leaked and messed the garage floor.

Decided to loosen the hoseclamp and then re-tighten

I Broke that plastic neck thingie that the hose connects to.

I guess that means a new radiator is on the cards.

when it rains........it pours :thumbdo:

I did the same thing five years ago on my previous E46. Broke the neck of the radiator using too much force.

feel your pain

 

[black legend ii]

Yip, not good,

Wife is trying to persuade me to sell it and get a bigger vehicle now that come Jan, we will have 2 kids.

Told her that I would trade in the GTI or her before I sell the M3 :nonono:

deep down, she is probably right, but I know it would be life long regret should I sell her, especially now that she is looking brand new.....the M3 that is

Is this a DIY that I can do myself? Read the pelican article and it does not seem to bad, but you never know with these things

 

[ClassicB]

You can Diy, not that difficult. Try Silverton for the radiator, they sell original behr.

 

[calypso]

They sell OEM Behr, not OE. But still much better value then the OE unit.

 

[Technician]

it a bit of a mission to get to the radiator especially that the gap isnt the biggest. but it can be a DIY job.

if you have time you can take off the bumper and grill etc. it'll give you better access.

just also make sure the system has no air in the system. the E36 M3 doesn't have a bleed nipple like the 328 on the radiator, the original M3 system is a self bleeding unit, but the pipes still need to be massaged, but read up on it as it prevents little issues.

on a side note- my recommendation would be to drain the whole system, the drain plug is basically between the exhaust manifold and block.
fill the system with good quality anti freeze and distilled water (50-50).
you will be amazed how long and well your cooling system works.
its a small job with long lasting results.

 

[tyu333]

The hardest part of the DIY is the bleeding.

 

[black legend ii]

Hi Guys,

have not sorted the M out as yet......didnt need to drive it since then.

Anyway, would anyone recommend me going the mishimoto route. Doing some reading on it, and people say it's better than OEM in terms of the all aluminium neck.

Let me know what you think.

Silverton has the Behr OE for R3200......way higher than some of the posts on the fanatics site.....I'm sure that was in the past and inflation and stuff pushes it up to more than R3k

Thanks
BLII

 

[calypso]

Silverton Behr is not OE but OEM. Silverton one is made in SA, OE is made in Germany. There are small differences, but not enough to warrant the 3x price difference in my opinion. I got mine from Nasser on the forum, got me a great price.