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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > Mechanical Maintenance: Break-in / Oil & Fluids / Servicing / Warranty > Coolant leak cascades into multiple problems



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      02-16-2015, 06:33 PM   #1
jon_335
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Coolant leak cascades into multiple problems

OK, just want to bitch a little and blow off some steam. I tend to lurk and not post much.

About two weeks ago on a Saturday, I go to leave the house and notice a puddle of coolant on the floor. Uh-oh … this can't be good. I jack up the car, pull the undertray off and have a look around. I can't see much, except that the leak appears to be coming from the front of the engine near the water pump and t-stat. Given the milage (about 75k), I figure it's time to replace the water pump and t-stat. And I feel lucky that this happened in my garage and not in the middle of a drive.

I order all of the parts and fluids, along with parts to replace the oil filter housing and oil cooler gaskets. I'm now ~$700 poorer. I spend the following weekend installing everything. I got her all buttoned up, ran the bleed procedure, started it up and everything looked good. Took it on a test drive and as I'm pulling back into the neighborhood, I pop the lower radiator hose off the water pump. Luckily I was close to home.

I get the car back up, reseat the hose and beg my wife to take me to the local stealership the next day to get more coolant (about 45 min from the house). I fill it up, bleed, check for leaks and take it for a test drive. All seems well, except that I'm down on power. Odd. Must have a vacuum leak somewhere. Oh well … I can drive it so I'll figure it out later.

The next morning, it's cold and rainy and I'm taking my daughter to skating practice before the ass crack of dawn. About half way there I get a low coolant warning and I start to see steam coming from under the hood. Fuck! I get off at the next exit and try to top off the coolant. No dice so I park and call the tow truck. An hour and a half later the flatbed shows up and she's off a local indy.

Turns out the plastic flange on the thermostat hose … the hose that connects just below the oil cooler … had a catastrophic failure. $400 later (repair and tow), I'm back in business. I can't believe I didn't see a crack or any damage in the hose when I was doing the OFH gasket repair. And the loss of power was because apparently I did a poor job of reconnecting the charge pipe when I pulled off the intake manifold to do the OFH gasket. At least that was an easy fix.

Fast forward to Friday … I'm driving back to the office from a work meeting and at the stop light I notice steam coming from under the hood. I pull into a nearby parking lot, pop the hood, and see coolant dripping. The coolant level was still good, so I risk driving the 6 miles to the mechanic - I don't think I would have made it much further. At least it was cold out. Now the plastic flange on the upper radiator hose gave out. $200 later the car is ready at the end of the day.

I can't get to the shop that evening, so I go by in the morning to get it. Crank it up and the idle is surging. Shut it off and restart. Same thing multiple times. Car goes into limp mode and is throwing P0221 and P0121 codes - throttle position sensor errors. Luckily, the owner of the shop was there so we pull it into the garage and confirm the codes. Mind you the car drove totally fine on a 12-mile test drive.

I get the call today that they reset the throttle position adaptations. If that doesn't fix it, then they are talking about needing a new throttle body. That's not something I hear of often and I can barely find a mention of these codes on the forums.

It's been a long and expensive two weeks. I want my car back in a bad way. This better be it!! But after all is said and done, I still love my e92!
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Last edited by jon_335; 02-16-2015 at 07:47 PM..
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      02-17-2015, 09:48 PM   #2
Zernaff
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Reading this makes me want to sell my car.
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      02-18-2015, 11:01 AM   #3
AdamN52
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That's a tough break man - sucks when you get blindsided by repairs like that.
Goodluck!
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      02-18-2015, 06:58 PM   #4
jon_335
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I got the car back today and I am super paranoid. I question every bump, noise, smell, etc. I hate that I do that! Hopefully my paranoia will fade soon.
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      02-18-2015, 08:06 PM   #5
Needbmwpartzz
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Reading in a forum feeds paranoia........I suggest you abstain from reading here for a month or until symptoms disappear!
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      04-29-2015, 05:12 PM   #6
AY335
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So a few months ago my Tstat went out and a month or so later my expansion tank blew. It was covered under warranty so all good. I asked them to do the water pump since I'm over 90k and they wouldn't do it. Ext the plastic vent line broke out of pocket.

Last sat on mulholland hwy I got yellow then red. Pulled over immediately to see coolant all over the ground. So after the tow I found out my radiator is busted. So they fixed the radiator just to find the water pump is gone as well. Do t know what to say about all that. It's all happened in the past year. I got a great price on all the repairs tho. 600 for water pump installed and 800 for the radiator. Just like op I hope nothing else goes. Have had the car for going on 6 years now and a lot has been done to this thing.
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