Where does it go??

[Hawk318ti]

The coolant that is.
Why does one have to check the coolant level so often after replacing the expansion tank?
I replaced it 2 weeks ago and last night i had to put 1l of water in.:dunno: It seems like i am not the only who has to do this as a guy I work with has to do the same thing on his Ti.

 

[///MALCOLM325]

Maybe there's a more technical answer, but my 2c would be to actually bleed the system thoroughly. Had many issues after replacing my expansion tank on an ex 325, but after bleeding the system the right way - didnt use much water or coolant after that.

 

[Hawk318ti]

I have done the whole bleed from both screws last night so I will see if it makes a difference now. When I did the replacement I bled it only from the screw near the ET.

 

[Coisman]

imp:
Here is a post from my thread about my car, I did it wrong, and it looks like you also made the same mistake as I did...

Wednesday: Started work at 06:00, and as I parked my car in the basement and switch her off, BANG!!! PSSSSTTTTT!!!!!! Radiator preasure tank, or watever it's called, the bottle that holds the water ok... blows up!! Once again calls in favours, Willem AGAIN, for the parts, R650 for the bottle, and R190 for the antifreeze Frikkieh to help me fit the shit, hell, frikkie even volenteered to tow my car from my work to his house, but I called my insurance, and 30 minutes later, free loadbed truck taking me for free to frikkie's house.
Strip out airbox, radiator fan and all pipes, and fit the new bottle and connect the whole system, put in the antifreeze, then, spot one rubber o-ring lying on the floor... strip everything off again, fit o-ring, fit everything else and fill up till level indicator is on correct level, but the car keeps boiling...
Call up Willem, he explains that you need to take out the breather plug, open the bottle and fill it till the water comes out the breather plug hole, then put back the plug, close the bottle, and start her, for 2 minutes, open bottle again and check level, then all will be ok.

 

[XMAX]

I think all the coolant goes to NARNIA. :slap:

Sorry for that.

If after following the correct bleeding procedure youre still experience problems, it might be that you need to check the hoses for leaks.

you might want to check the Water Pump. I know that the expansion tank leaking has no direct impact on the water pump, but i kept on losing water and was about to change the expansion tank until I found out that the water pump was shot and that water was leaking due to a bent shaft.

If you still cant locate the leak, take it to someone who will be able to take a proper look.

Failing that, I suggest you find a cupboard and try to enter Narnia. :dunno:

 

[Hellas]

I'm having water disappear from my SUV (no visible leaks and weeks of fault finding) and the only thing could be the connector clips are too loose. They seem fine , but under pressure, a mist can escape.

 

[Jacques Motorem]

I've been topping up my wife's C180K ever since we got it - about 500 ml every other month or so - have never been able to find any leaks or drips - must be mist too - or just a crap make of car - I think its the latter

 

[netercol]

coolant can dissapear in the strangest small iritating places.. sometimes the only way to find them is proper teardown/inspection..

see this for instance.. was about a litre every two weeks..

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=18097

 

[Peejay]

Coolant can also be disappearing through the combustion chamber. This would that your head gasket is on its way out. Had this on my 328 a while back. BMW has a special tool to check if coolant is in the chamber.

 

[Hawk318ti]

Coolant can also be disappearing through the combustion chamber. This would that your head gasket is on its way out. Had this on my 328 a while back. BMW has a special tool to check if coolant is in the chamber.

Surely then there would be water in the Oil?

imp:

Call up Willem, he explains that you need to take out the breather plug, open the bottle and fill it till the water comes out the breather plug hole, then put back the plug, close the bottle, and start her, for 2 minutes, open bottle again and check level, then all will be ok.

I did this the proper way the second time so hopefully i wont have any more problems

 

[Peejay]

Nope sometimes there isn't. the water and oil don't even mix and you won't be able to tell. Have the system bleed again and check if the coolant loss is a lot. If no other visible leaks then have the head gasket checked out. Are u experiencing any power loss?

 

[Hawk318ti]

Hmmm interesting cars these BMW's, lots of new things to learn (repairs wise) than on Audi's and VW's

Nope no power loss that I have noticed:dunno:

 

[frikkieh]

By Coolant we all mean Glycol antrifreeze I hope. It normaly has a destinct yellow/green or pink color for the purpose of detecting leaks easily. I believe if it it has a mist, it will create some sort of visible "leak stains" to some extent, depending on the mixture. I learned to use clean coolant without dilution. It will make enough of a mess over time.
Does the fan switch on when the car is warmed up?
How many times did you need to top up and by how much?

 

[Hawk318ti]

Yup I did use BMW antifreeze, I will check for leaks marks but from what i have seen i cant find any.
Why not dilute it?
I topped up with roughly 1 liter 2 weeks after my first attempt of bleeding, i still need to check it now 5 days after bleeding properly.

 

[frikkieh]

"Why not dilute it?" - Water contains impurities.
Some are of the opinion that by adding water, it cools better.
Use distiled water, if you dilute and not ordinary tap water.
Formy old Jetta I used a 60Coolant/40Water mix and topped up with clean coolant, not water.
These days I just add clean coolant.

 

[Hawk318ti]

Ok my baby started to overheat again yesterday in traffic on oir beautiful 2 lane highway with no emergency lanes ,as a quick fix I turned my heater on in an attempt to cool the water down quicker and it worked rather quickly. Got home and still couldn't hear or see the fan turning. Let her cool down and guess what no missing coolant the level is perfect. How does on test a radiator fan?

 

[Oooompie]

Pull the electrical plug off the temperature fan switch plug on the radiator and bridge two of the three wires with an open piece of wire bent in a U shape. (One is current and two for fan speed) The fan should come on immediately when current and one of the fan speed wires are bridged. If it does come on it will normally be a faulty temperature fan switch plug. Remember ignition must be on.

 

[frikkieh]

Ok my baby started to overheat again yesterday in traffic on oir beautiful 2 lane highway with no emergency lanes ,as a quick fix I turned my heater on in an attempt to cool the water down quicker and it worked rather quickly. Got home and still couldn't hear or see the fan turning. Let her cool down and guess what no missing coolant the level is perfect. How does on test a radiator fan?

BMW reworked the Siemens fan by moving the fan electronics location from the centre of the fan, to a unit that almost looks like small hard drive on side. For my model (2000 323i e46) anyway. I had the same issue, but my fan failure was intermittend...I took it to BMW and they tested for me in the workshop.

 

[Hawk318ti]

Sorry for the late reply but it has been fixed and I have been lucky because it turns out the wiring was faulty and after it was fixed I heard the fan for the first time since I bought the car 3 months / 8000km ago. Frikkieh thanks for all the help

 

[frikkieh]

Sorry for the late reply but it has been fixed and I have been lucky because it turns out the wiring was faulty and after it was fixed I heard the fan for the first time since I bought the car 3 months / 8000km ago. Frikkieh thanks for all the help

Good one - glad you got it sorted :thumbsup: