[TheONE24]

Pulled the engine apart today to try to fix as many leaks as possible. Did the valve cover gasket, both oil filter housing gaskets, dual oil cooler hose gaskets, and the upper coolant hose gasket that connects directly to the oil filter housing. I noticed when I pulled the coolant hose that goes from below (water pump) onto the block next to the oil filter housing that it was disintegrating. I ordered one of the metal connectors on ebay since it seems like a part that has a known issue to fail and will continue to fail. I went ahead and started prying on the connector it to remove the metal band holding it onto the hose and popped it off. When I looked at it there was a chunk missing on the part that went inside the house. Not sure if that was already like that or caused by me prying on it hard to get that band off. Anyways when it finally came off the hose and connector slipped from my hands and fell down towards the bottom. Fluid rushed out of course but I could immediately see the piece I noticed missing. I have replaced my water pump at about 70,000 miles and I'm at 100,000 know. Not sure if that was it's cause but I know I don't want to do it again.

So, by not knowing if it is in there or not and since the hose goes pretty much straight down I think I have 3 options.

1. Ignore it and hope the water pump chews it up into tiny pieces and it passes or get stuck in some out of the way place while it continues to disintegrate.
2. Pull the hose off at the water pump and wet vac out the connection on the water pump.
3. Run the car for a bit and hope the coolant is going from the water pump up to the block and have it flush everything out of the hose.
- Does anyone know which way the fluid runs in this hose? From bottom to top or top to bottom?

It's around freezing here right now so I'm not real excited about dropping the car and pushing it out to the driveway and getting under it so I'm curious about number 2.
Thanks

[TheONE24]

11537541992 part number. Did some digging and it goes to the thermostat. Still not sure if the fluid goes from the thermostat through this or from this hose to the thermostat.

[feuer]

Yes, Ebay part is the best replacement for this. Here is the link https://www.ebay.com/i/253020416033?...D1414716252954

[TheONE24]

Originally Posted by feuer

Yes, Ebay part is the best replacement for this. Here is the link https://www.ebay.com/i/253020416033?...D1414716252954

I bought one from a company called mambatek. Looks about the same but different clamp.

[PichaDis11]

Seems coolant flows out to the radiator from that fitting. Have a look at the Cooling systems PDF in this thread. http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1360573 Lots of knowledge in there to how all these systems work. Maybe run the bleed procedure for few seconds to get the water pump to push coolant from the engine carrying the broken piece with it.

Hope it helps. I sure wouldn't be able to sleep well knowing that piece was still flowing around the engine.

[TheONE24]

So I put the car in neutral and pushed it out of the garage. Note to self: Powering up the car to put it in neutral does cycle the coolant. As the coolant splashed down I watched where it came out while pushing and could see it coming out of the block which means it flows downward. I pulled the bottom cover off and stared at the water pump remembering how little fun it was to replace and could not tell exactly where that hose went. I'm guessing it goes somewhere on the top of the water pump. I decided to try the shop vac but it was not cleaned out very well and could not tell if the piece was sucked up or not. I will say it did pull a lot of coolant very quickly. I think I'm going to chance it. I will probably try to flush it and put the new fitting on and cross my fingers. If I'm going to pull the water pump I might as well replace it. All of this of course is assuming the missing piece did go down the tube instead of fly out.

[TheONE24]

Two month update. No issues with coolant or Water Pump. Seems like i got it.