On Saturday my upper radiator hose some how blew off my E36. Ive had an issue with it before when I first bought it (radiator hose either blew off or wasnt attatched on the test drive) but the owner reattatched the hose, added coolant and everything was fine durring the 6 hr drive home. Ever since I bought the car Ive had a low coolant notice on the OBC so on Satuday I topped off the resivoir and went on my way. I drove around for ~3 hrs with no problems but then I pulled my car up to my house and saw coolant coming out from under it. The car never overheated the whole time I was driving but the upper radiator hose was no longer connected.
So far I have
-reattatched the upper radiator hose
-Added coolant
-Tried to bleed the system for air (not sure If I did it right. there seems to be 1000’s of different ways that people do it)
-Started to overheat again last night.
-Checked all the hoses and everything looked fine which is why I think its an air bubble.
I do NOT have hot heat. You can feel the air but its not hot by any means.
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP. I dont know what to check next. What is the CORRECT way to bleed the system of air?
i know on my m20 there is a bleeder valve in the tstat housing you have to open when refilling the coolant. find the tstat housing and see if the e36’s are the same
Just bought a new radiator today, Wont get here till Friday
Im also looking to find a place that will let me buy a new water pump (reputable brand) using paypal. If anyone knows, pass it on.
ALSO, I rebleed the system and when I took the upper radiator hose off, I noticed that there was a piece of the radiator “tube” stuck in the hose. The piece in the hose is still a perfect circle, it just broke off of the radiator. When I took the piece out of the radiator hose, the crack marks didnt line up with the cracked radiator tube which leads me to believe that pieces are missing. Im not sure if it could have been like that before I bought the car or if it is a new development. How can I check for blockages in my driveway?
You can throw as many parts at the car as you want but if that pump is bad, the coolant is still going to boil, the head is going to warp and everything is gonna blow up in your face again. Don’t drive the car until you’ve changed the pump unless you want to be replacing your head gasket.
Water pump is on the list of things to get. I really think that I still have air in the system though as well. Im having a hard time finding out how to bleed the system correctly.
Once you get it all together, there really isn’t any special method of getting air out. It should bleed itself out with the revs held at around 2500, cap off.
on m 50 & 52 cars its on the rad, not the t stat housing. (is your car really an m? if so it may different, on the t stat housing)
and to bleed it, just crank the heat, crack the bleeder and let it run, adding coolant as needed. keep an eye on the temp gauge.
and jason is right, that is a very common problem on these cars. ask ryan lol
How high do I fill up the fluid while the car is on? there is a line on the reservoir that says “cold” The last thing I want to do is overfill it. If i squeeze the upper radiator pipe, when i let go, isnt it going to suck air and this putting more air in the system?
