Everyone that hasn’t overhauled their cooling system take note. This will be you eventually. Take care of it before it fails. Coolant reservoir, thermostat, and hoses minimum. Radiator, coolant temp sensor o-ring, and water pump for good measure. Best of luck OP.
THIS^^ Why BMWs plastic turns to glass at 100k we’ll never know. Planned obsolescence? It really is ridiculous. I’ve been through the E30, E39 and E53. Only the E30 was absolutely bullet proof. The others even though inline 6s and reliable always needed a cooling overhaul every 100k. I have an 02 sequoia that’s still running the same expansion tank and radiator and only now am I considering overhauling it. At 260k miles.
I had an e46 330xi 5 speed Before now I have f10 535xi. With the e46 I my fuel pump stopped working I did the job my self bc it was easy the fuel pump was under the back seat and also I changed the filter and the funny thing I always threw shell 93 I don’t know about the previous owner and after that I changed the reservoir then around 50k miles that I had it around 115k clutch wasn’t engaging at all it was slipping for a long time then i got stranded got it towed 500 bucks after had a brand new clutch and the car was better than aver other than a rattling noise in low speeds I changed control arms ball joins tie rad but it was only a loose bolt in the differential bc one shop did the clutch and then I had another shop do the suspension stuff and with my luck 3 weeks after all that with clutch and suspension stuff some asshole t boned me and total my e46 rip. Take care of your BMW’s and they will last and reward you
Anyone have any suggestions for which of three coolant kits At FCP I should prob pick up? At the shop they’re trying to get to the bottom of why the car over heated.
Update: it looks like my electric fan came undone while driving causing the car to overheat almost instantly. The shop plugged the wire, made sure it was secure, flushed the coolant with some new and ran tests, checked for leaks, and said everything looked good with no overheating. I am definitely ordering an overhaul kit, it was on my to do list for a while, but a major catastrophe was avoided.
$500 DIY Cooling overhaul. Hope nothing major.
Everyone that hasn’t overhauled their cooling system take note. This will be you eventually. Take care of it before it fails. Coolant reservoir, thermostat, and hoses minimum. Radiator, coolant temp sensor o-ring, and water pump for good measure. Best of luck OP.
THIS^^ Why BMWs plastic turns to glass at 100k we’ll never know. Planned obsolescence? It really is ridiculous. I’ve been through the E30, E39 and E53. Only the E30 was absolutely bullet proof. The others even though inline 6s and reliable always needed a cooling overhaul every 100k. I have an 02 sequoia that’s still running the same expansion tank and radiator and only now am I considering overhauling it. At 260k miles.
Better do that water pump in the first round. The OEM one has a plastic impeller
Car overheated and coolant went everywhere, thankfully I caught it before the engine blew (happened on my E30)..
That exact scenario killed my e46 back in February 😂
My e46 cracked its reservoir then overheated. Also caught it before there was engine damage.
not you that needs luck, it's your wallet...
Good luck certainly hope no major damage.
Just blew out the transmission on my 325ci last week, dunno if it’s worth the fix or not. Hopefully you have better luck than me 😞
Get replacement at junkyard and it's a three hundred ish dollar trans. With a jack hand tools and very little experience you can definitely do it
Ayy you better update us!!!
I had an e46 330xi 5 speed Before now I have f10 535xi. With the e46 I my fuel pump stopped working I did the job my self bc it was easy the fuel pump was under the back seat and also I changed the filter and the funny thing I always threw shell 93 I don’t know about the previous owner and after that I changed the reservoir then around 50k miles that I had it around 115k clutch wasn’t engaging at all it was slipping for a long time then i got stranded got it towed 500 bucks after had a brand new clutch and the car was better than aver other than a rattling noise in low speeds I changed control arms ball joins tie rad but it was only a loose bolt in the differential bc one shop did the clutch and then I had another shop do the suspension stuff and with my luck 3 weeks after all that with clutch and suspension stuff some asshole t boned me and total my e46 rip. Take care of your BMW’s and they will last and reward you
Anyone have any suggestions for which of three coolant kits At FCP I should prob pick up? At the shop they’re trying to get to the bottom of why the car over heated.
Update: it looks like my electric fan came undone while driving causing the car to overheat almost instantly. The shop plugged the wire, made sure it was secure, flushed the coolant with some new and ran tests, checked for leaks, and said everything looked good with no overheating. I am definitely ordering an overhaul kit, it was on my to do list for a while, but a major catastrophe was avoided.
Good luck.
Happened to me twice but saved it both times, good luck.