Another coolant hose blow-out

gde061 · 08-22-2019, 02:24 PM

Had my car (2008 335xi, 70+k miles) for <1 year, and am now dealing with my second coolant hose blow out. This time is appears to be the hose from the OFH to something down lower in the engine bay -- maybe the thermostate housing. Just blew apart where the hose joins up with the snap-on proprietary BMW connector.

It happened on the highway -- I got a coolant light and saw some steam from hood, drove to the next exit ~ 5 miles at "slow" highway speeds, and pulled in to see coolant all over the engine. The temp gauge was just at half-way, so I drove another 1 mile to my house at low speed to assess the damage. By the time I got home, temp guage was 1 tick above 1/2 and I got the high-temp light, but wasn't put into limp mode. Coolant tank was empty.

The first hose failure (upper radiator hose) it was in my driveway on a cold day. Not a particularly big deal, but with this potentially happening at any time, any place, I am now thinking about taking the car somewhere to have all the hoses replaced as a precaution against getting stranded on the side of the highway waiting for a tow.

Is that something this car needs at 10 years /70K? I heard about replacing the water pump around 70K... probably I will do that if I get the hoses replaced, since it might have been running dry during this episode. What other kind of stuff would be good to take care of at the same time? And what is a reasonable charge to have it done professionally at an independent shop?

gde061 · 08-23-2019, 10:15 AM

Just searching around online last night, I saw ECS has cooling "refresh" kits ... the basic OEM one with a water pump and thermostat is ~$500 bucks, and the Genuine BMW one is around $850 bucks. Then they go up to a "level 2" kit, which add the accessory belt and upper and lower radiator hoses, and then a "level 3" kit which has the pulley's and tensioner, as well as a radiator. Level 3 is ~$830 for OWM and $1600 for BMW parts.

First question: what's advisable for a 2008 with 75k miles that might have the previous owner pushing the car hard. There is no sign of any stop-leak in the coolant, no issue with radiator overheating (when the coolant isn't blowing through a busted hose!), but the doc from BMW about Cooling System says pretty clearly never run the pump dry, and never even store it dry... so I'm thinking it's kinda mandatory insurance in this situation to replace the water pump at least...?

Second question: what is the community opinion of ECS's OEM parts? And how does this pricing compare with what I might get if I spend time searching around for the best deal / source the parts individually.

08-22-2019, 02:24 PM	#1
gde061 Private First Class 16 Rep 103 Posts Drives: 2008 335xi coupe Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Cleveland iTrader: (0)	Another coolant hose blow-out Had my car (2008 335xi, 70+k miles) for <1 year, and am now dealing with my second coolant hose blow out. This time is appears to be the hose from the OFH to something down lower in the engine bay -- maybe the thermostate housing. Just blew apart where the hose joins up with the snap-on proprietary BMW connector. It happened on the highway -- I got a coolant light and saw some steam from hood, drove to the next exit ~ 5 miles at "slow" highway speeds, and pulled in to see coolant all over the engine. The temp gauge was just at half-way, so I drove another 1 mile to my house at low speed to assess the damage. By the time I got home, temp guage was 1 tick above 1/2 and I got the high-temp light, but wasn't put into limp mode. Coolant tank was empty. The first hose failure (upper radiator hose) it was in my driveway on a cold day. Not a particularly big deal, but with this potentially happening at any time, any place, I am now thinking about taking the car somewhere to have all the hoses replaced as a precaution against getting stranded on the side of the highway waiting for a tow. Is that something this car needs at 10 years /70K? I heard about replacing the water pump around 70K... probably I will do that if I get the hoses replaced, since it might have been running dry during this episode. What other kind of stuff would be good to take care of at the same time? And what is a reasonable charge to have it done professionally at an independent shop? Last edited by gde061; 08-22-2019 at 03:07 PM..
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08-23-2019, 10:15 AM	#2
gde061 Private First Class 16 Rep 103 Posts Drives: 2008 335xi coupe Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Cleveland iTrader: (0)	Just searching around online last night, I saw ECS has cooling "refresh" kits ... the basic OEM one with a water pump and thermostat is ~$500 bucks, and the Genuine BMW one is around $850 bucks. Then they go up to a "level 2" kit, which add the accessory belt and upper and lower radiator hoses, and then a "level 3" kit which has the pulley's and tensioner, as well as a radiator. Level 3 is ~$830 for OWM and $1600 for BMW parts. First question: what's advisable for a 2008 with 75k miles that might have the previous owner pushing the car hard. There is no sign of any stop-leak in the coolant, no issue with radiator overheating (when the coolant isn't blowing through a busted hose!), but the doc from BMW about Cooling System says pretty clearly never run the pump dry, and never even store it dry... so I'm thinking it's kinda mandatory insurance in this situation to replace the water pump at least...? Second question: what is the community opinion of ECS's OEM parts? And how does this pricing compare with what I might get if I spend time searching around for the best deal / source the parts individually.
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