just blown another one...
not due to ice or anything. it think it started doing it a little while ago, but why don't i have any luck with them?
thats 2 on this car, and one on my last car. 3 radiators in 4 years

whats the story with eggs? is is a whole egg or just egg whites that can help them for a bit? i have chickens you see...

[Edited on 2/12/09 by blakep82]

driving too closely to other cars?

Might got a big stone on it?

this time its round the back, on the engine side, near the top hose. its actually fizzing out. last one the top hose connection pulled off
engines hot now, but i'll try the egg thing til i can get another new radiator. going to put 2 eggs in i think. also, got some chemical metal somewhere. might squish that on the outside. just not amused...

shame you don't rear pigs otherwise you could have a proper breakfast.

eggs, oats, radweld, kwikseal, spaghetti hoops etc are all bodges - use at your risk if you do not value the engine.

^ oh, i know they are, but i'd like an engine that can hold water for my regular 60mile round trip to glasgow until i can get a new radiator from a bmw breaker, who i know have a 328 in

what i don't want is one that boils over on the motorway and destroys itself

[Edited on 2/12/09 by blakep82]

you sure the thermostat is opening early enough? if the engine is running too hot it puts extra air pressure in the system and can cause leaks.

I've just replaced my bluebirds thermostat which I tested it along with the new one in a pan.

The new one was wide open while the old was 1mm open and that’s with the water now boiling They go faulty with age rather than miles.

and they just cost about £3

[Edited on 2/12/09 by Mr Whippy]

^hmm, interesting. it could be. the car can take a long time to get up to temeperature some times. don't know if thats a symptom of a knackered thermostat though. i really need to put some time into finding out all these little faults and fix everything thats getting past it.
just seems as soon as i sort one thing, something else stars to go wrong

probably worth buying one then flush the system with a garden hose for half an hour, radator as well. Then fill up with new coolant. I'd be adding some radweld also, its designed to be left in there and helps lubricate the water pump too (apparently) or there's Wynns Radiator Stop Leak too.

Like I said I did my bluebird only few weeks ago and the amount of black scale that came out gave me a shock (mind this car has only done about 45k)

Now its just perfect and no signs of overheating or problems

[Edited on 2/12/09 by Mr Whippy]

You have to wait until the cooling hose behind the block goes.
£380 to get it fixed at a BMW dealer.

£10 quid for the part.

quote:

---

Originally posted by l0rd
You have to wait until the cooling hose behind the block goes.
£380 to get it fixed at a BMW dealer.

£10 quid for the part.

---

Well, they used to charge

£98 for the first hour and £50 for every hour over after.

This bloody hose is behind the block, so you need to take everything out,

Throttle body, intake manifold etc...

6 hours work it took me and was paid 100 for it.

My Christmas present to a few of my relatives is to service their cars, really in the end its saving them a fortune but costing me nothing except some spare time

[Edited on 2/12/09 by Mr Whippy]

the radiator in my nissan sunny/sentra also leaked twice, the culprit was the radiator cap, it wasn't letting the coolant to the expansion bottle at the designed pressure, changed that and now its fine..

quote:

---

Originally posted by ghuncha
the radiator in my nissan sunny/sentra also leaked twice, the culprit was the radiator cap, it wasn't letting the coolant to the expansion bottle at the designed pressure, changed that and now its fine..

---

My experience with faulty thermostats
is that it can get stuck open resulting in a nice and cool engine
It can stuck closed nice boiling engine
It can stuck half way open, engine is boiling when the car is moving but cools down when it is stationary

Could it be that both were faulty? Were they new in the first place?

Buying a secondhand radiator is a mugs game often the breaker charges more for a crappy looking thing of questionable fitness as a new one costs new BMW rads start about 60+ p&p on ebay.

I bought a Rover 75 one which is a massive alloy rad for 62 quid delivered from Nothern Radiators (NRG Automotive Radiators on ebay) .

If the top hose stub on the radiator fails its is due to one of two things ---- the hose has gone rock hard with age & exposure to heat or the engine mounts are completely knackered.

The other things that cause problems is radiator pressure caps sticking causing over pressure and not changing the coolant.

Avoid eggs or radweld products as they just block your heater matrix and stop your car getting warm inside. Dropping egg whites in a hot radiator will just cook them anyway My experience of stats always had them failing closed so it boils the water in the engine. I have sealed leaks before now using solder and a blowlamp on old brass top radiators.