[ForestHillsJackie]

I got this dang thing off, and I’m replacing the gasket and prong and the rubber hose.

(For anyone interested, this was the condition of the o ring after 17 years)

Question is, the gasket is stuck, like corroded on. How do I pull it off?

And for anyone who is wondering, I don’t think there is a way to replace the rubber hose with the hard pipe still installed. I tried for about an hour because I was trying to avoid taking the hard pipe off. Turns out that if you have an 18” extension and universal E10, it’s not that bad (thanks Efthreeoh ). Took me about ten minutes. Then taking the rubber hose off was easy.

[StradaRedlands]

I _think_ the gasket should just pry off if enough force is used. Do you have the replacement one already? You can see how it just slips on. I have a loose one but never replaced so just presuming...

I would be a little concerned at the coolant weeping at the joint there on the third picture. Or is that corrosion? Those pipes are kind of stupid-expensive, but maaaaaybe pony up for a new one?

[Konrad5288]

I feel your pain on coolant feeder tubes!

Razor blade cuts rubber but pushing at an angle with a small flathead can unstick those occasionally or will take it off in little chunks. If worried about damaging the tube You could just hit it with a lighter/flame. It’ll soften it up or melt it. Like Strada said-it should come off

You shouldn’t inhale rubber fumes they’re bad for you

[ForestHillsJackie]

I tried soaking and heating, but the gasket/flange piece is just there to stay. That part and the hard pipe are in really good condition, so I am going to leave them alone, but now I have the problem of replacing this gasket rectangle cross-section gasket.

It comes part of the hard-pipe assembly (so no part number available), and the current gasket is a little shredded on the edges from where it had fused to the o ring.

I measured and it has inside diameter of 33 mm, outside diameter 37, and the width is 4mm. Where can I buy this thing? Can I just add some permeated black into the existing gasket and call it a day? (I think the o ring, which will be new, does most of the sealing anyway.)

[Konrad5288]

Ace hardware might have one for you. they’re by the bolts, and sometimes they’re in back behind the counter. Mine has a whole display board behind the back counter that you match your O-ring to. Cost under $2 normally. Depending on your Ace Hardware. if you don’t have an Ace Hardware, I’m not sure where to go, but possibly At any of the small hardware stores Or you might even be able to walk in AutoZone and get one. I usually try Ace for bolts, O-rings, and connectors and pins. Have a wide variety of ones you won’t find anywhere else and small springs too

if you ever need one for like a tractor or On an exhaust system that incorporates springs like on some motorcycles. Plus if you ever need a sheet metal ace hardware has those and they also have the metal bands with the holes in them and are usually cheaper than something like a Home Depot. Although their prices have gone up as of late on the bolts. But what is cool is they carry the chrome bolts also. Menards is starting to carry those too, but Ace has the more unique/hard to find hardware A lot of times

[Konrad5288]

Oh and btw I think strada and I both thought you were just talking about that little rubber o-ring that you took off. Not the flange. Looks like the last person to change it put silicone on the round one. if that’s a rubber gasket on the 2 holes flange, I might silicone it. You shouldn’t need silicone on the round one though.
Looking at mine, which is a little bit different a three bolt flange but same tube into engine design(round tube with o-ring) The flange is mated aluminum to aluminum with no gasket. The only gasket is the round one. But it’s also three bolts. And it doesn’t have any silicone on it. I can send you a picture but it’s essentially the same as yours with one more bolt.

One more thing that flange with the two bolts looks like a thermostat housing if the tube is the same thickness as a thermostat. A thermostat housing gasket might work on the flange.

[ForestHillsJackie]

Konrad5288

Thanks for the tip! I do prefer going to Ace Hardware over the big orange store.

I don’t think I explained myself clearly since I switched topics in the middle of the thread.

Here is the parts diagram:

from real OEM

The part I am working on is #3, the pipe from engine supply to coolant pump.

I have the soft rubber part replacements and the clamp.

I couldn’t remove #6, the gasket flange, so I will just leave it on. That and the hard pipe are in great shape.

I have the O ring #5.

I’m attaching a drawing of how I think the assembly looks. The issue is there is a rubber piece that sits in the pipe channel, and it’s not an O ring, and it’s not on the parts diagram so I think it just comes with #3, which is a $144 part.

I have the measurements for that part, it’s a flat gasket. But I don’t know where I could get one. It’s a weird measurement.

I might be overthinking it because this part might just be to hold the dang thing on the engine so you can line up and thread the bolts. If that’s the case, I can probably get away with reusing it since the oring is what is doing the sealing.

[Konrad5288]

Looks like none of the sold pipes oem or aftermarket offer a gasket for that flange. Probably not needed

[Konrad5288]

Check the pic. You might be overthinking it like you said. That gasket is round to start not square. Yours only looks square because it dried out while compressed. I will look at my engine block with tube off in next hour just to verify. Pretty sure there is no oring like in your drawing on mine.

The “weird gasket” in your drawing should be the oring.

Oh, nevermind. I figured it out. If you’re seeing something in the hole in the engine right now its not an oring it’s silicone.

Like I said, previously, according to your first pics somebody siliconed that O-ring the last time and they shouldn’t have needed to. Maybe they had a small leak and instead of fixing it correctly with a new oring just had some black silicone lying around.

[ForestHillsJackie]

Would it really dry out to be so perfectly flat like that? That would explain a lot, it just looks so natively flat.

It’s busy season at work, so I can’t work in the car now, but I’ll try it out later and report back.

[Konrad5288]

Yes mine looks the same I believe. I’ll post a pic soon in maybe 20min

[Konrad5288]

Here’s mine it’s more than half flat. Kind of hard to take a picture it’s still on the car, but it’s the best I could do Only one side has a little round. It 4/5 flat. The other two pictures are of the OEM replacement for you and that’s definitely a round o-ring. I was trying to think of a good example you see a lot of flat ones. sometimes if you’re working with your AC lines and you pull them apart, the O-rings will be flat and need to be replaced

[Konrad5288]

And there’s no other seal going into the engine that’s the only one

[ForestHillsJackie]

Konrad5288 that is extremely helpful, thanks. How long did it to to reattach that pipe? I’m not looking forward to that part of the job.

[Konrad5288]

I’m not going that far with mine. I only took the engine side out to get to the exhaust manifold bolts. The rubber side looks like it’s a bit of a PITA. There is a lot going on where it attaches. But coolant hoses usually go on easier than they came off, and It’s reachable with a screwdriver for the clamp if yours attaches around the same spot as mine does but keeping the clamp in place initially might be difficult.

I am just really learning about these engines and how BMW has their pieces organized under the hood. I’ve pretty much gone over my whole entire car since getting it. I’ve gone through most of the wires to make sure everything is in check. And now taking note of where everything is in the engine bay while I remove the cylinder head. Just wanna make sure everything’s 100% good to go once I get it running.

All in all everything’s pretty easily located, and these cars aren’t nearly as hard to work on as a lot are. I’ve worked on Fords that were harder to get to pieces. My 335I reminds me of a Honda. everything’s been pretty accessible. You might have to be a bit of a contortionist for a few things but that’s normal on any vehicle.

Plus most of the problems that people have on them probably aren’t BMW specific problems. Like your oring. All vehicles use O-rings somewhere. Basically the only thing on a BMW that differs from other cars is their electronics. Some cars have different mechanical things than others, but most of the mechanical stuff is all the same. Maybe looks different or works a little different but it’s the same car to car.