succesful radiator and water pump swap - with a caveat...

[bibi_mwewe]

So, over the past two days, two complete BMW DIY novices (myself being a nearly complete newbie to car repair in general) managed to replace a radiator, water pump, hoses and belts on my '95 325iC. Total work time was maybe 3.5 hours, the delays came in having to halt work in order to rush around town looking for needed tools! I can't emphasize enough how straightforward this work was (with one detail, I'll get to it below), especially considering we were relying completely on internet sources and frequent digital photographs of our progress - figured if we kept track of things we pulled out, we should be able to put them all back.

The big "problem" was never being able to find the engine block drain plug in order to get all the old coolant and later tap water (from flushing the system with a garden hose) out. Jeron, you posted in another thread that we should have been able to find it (at least feel it, I imagine) from the top. Please tell me where!!! I looked at half a dozen references on the 'net, even the most detailed didn't seem to match up with what we were seeing in there. I followed the tap water flush with several gallons of distilled water hoping to force as much out as possible via the radiator, but am worried that maybe the best thing to do will be to figure out the drain plug location, then do another coolant flush and change ASAP. Advice would be welcome...

Advice for others: make sure that whatever you plan to use to get the fan clutch loosened will actually fit into the very narrow space available. We didn't do so, and ended up hunting slender 32mm wrenches at half a dozen auto/hardware stores before finding a Craftsman open wrench which barely fit. However, jamming a screwdriver against the pulley cover bolts worked just fine instead of investing in a BMW tool to do the same thing. Also, both of the belt tensioners worked by cranking them hard CLOCKWISE; the A/C belt tensioner needed an 8mm allen wrench, the other a 16mm socket.

Also attach all the lower hoses and sensors to the radiator before putting anything else, such as the reservoir/fan shroud, back into place. You won't have much room at all later. However, probably since my car has manual transmission, it would be entirely possible (though a bit awkward) to remove the fan shroud and radiator without removing the fan.

That's all I can think of right now. Here's evidence that all the effort was worth it: the victory lap to a local park with my poor pup who got so tired of being grounded for the past three weeks.

[Wayne 962]

Cool deal - congrats. I recommend the proper tools for this job - it saves time and money. See this link for details:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/catalog/shopcart/BMWM/POR_BMWM_TOOLS1_pg1.htm

As for your coolant plug, there's not way you can possibly reach this from the top of the engine. Nope, nada! Here's a photo of the plug from underneath:



It's located on the engine block under the cylinder heads, basically between the two header pipes...

-Wayne

[Wayne 962]

Oh, I would definitely empty the old coolant out - it's a very easy task once you know where the plug is - use the above photo as a reference...

Here's another photo:



-Wayne

[Jeron]

Sorry, for the mis-information. I was referring to the radiator drain plug. I should have read your post more carefully.

I've pulled my radiator twice in the last few months while installing and then replacing an electric cooling fan. I didn't bother draining the block although it is not a bad idea. I drained a 4-cyl Camry a few years back and then went to the trouble of finding and pulling the block plug and got nothing so I guess you can say I'm soured to the block drain.

Flushing it with distilled water for a few hundred miles twice has been good enough for me but maybe when I get around to putting coolant back in I'll drain the block too.

[blkongry]

Just out of curiousity, Bibi, did the new radiator come with plastic housings on the sides, or is a replacement radiator more durable (the thermo fatigue just kills the plastic, especially if it ever runs over-hot).


BTY... LUV the car... (sigh) nothing like a black cabrio, but I'm going to have to stick with the gray interior. Now you just need some clear corners, projector headlights, and wide "mock E46" grills" ;-p~~

[bibi_mwewe]

Wayne, thanks for the attempt to help out with the engine drain plug, but those photos were among the many I'd already looked at, and they didn't help one bit. Any idea as to actual distance (in inches) from some easy to find reference point, such as the firewall or such? And between which other parts do you have to reach through in order to access the plug? The best pictures I could find were at http://www.bmw325i.net/maint_coolant_change.shtml
however, this isn't for the E36 and hopefully is why, when looking in the exact same location with laptop in hand as a reference, we couldn't find anything!!

Umm, the new radiator is a Behr and came from Pelican Parts - hopefully they sent me a nice one! Here's a picture of it next to the old one, definitely a little different...

[blkongry]

Yeah, still has the crimped plastic sides, but being new, it should last the lifetime of the vehicle from here out (ah, I shouldn't say that, since some of these rides easily run over 250K miles).

[Jeron]

Standing in front of the car looking into the engine bay, on your left hand side are the exhaust headers. You should see where the 6 header pipes come out of the engine and the front 3 and rear three of the 6 pipes collect into a pair of larger pipes.

In the photo above labeled "Here's another photo:" the bottom right quadrant is taken up by the triangular flange that is the joint between the three pipe and the single pipe. Two of the three bolts on the flage are visible.

It appears the drain plug is behind these exhaust pipes approximately between the two flanges.

[Wayne 962]

Here's another photo showing the firewall and the headers removed. The plug is on the block (arrow on the right pointing to where it would be if the flange wasn't in the way).

The photos in the article you are looking at are all wrong for your car. It's not at the bottom of the block either - it's about a foot or more up into the engine. It's way up there, right below the exhaust manifolds. You need to jack the front of the car up in order to see it - you can't do it any other way...

-Wayne

[Wayne 962]

See, it's all the way at the top of the block:



-Wayne

[bibi_mwewe]

Hmm, could this be it? I tried lowering my digital camera down underneath the headers and taking a bunch of pictures - same method we used to figure out what to use on the main belt tensioner, since we couldn't quite see into there and for some reason, couldn't work out the 16mm hex shape by feel... But if it is it, well, I can touch it from above, might be able to work a tool down in there. Sadly, I don't yet have a jack or jackstands (and won't be getting one for awhile after the hit my budget took from buying car parts!) so I can't just jack it whenever I want to look around.

[Wayne 962]

Jack + jack stands = handy tools to have!

That looks like it to me!

-Wayne

[blkongry]

Yeah, a jack and jack stands are a must. Make sure you save up and get a decent one. A nice floor jack adds so much stability and ease to making repairs, and don't ever forget the jack stands... I can't even imagine being crushed under my own car, but I know it's happened to be people before.

[bibi_mwewe]

When you're a grad student trying to get by on the West Coast (Reno isn't as bad as CA, yet, but still pretty outrageous!) you learn all about borrowing tools - not to mention returning one-use only tools (sorry about that, Sears)! That's why I haven't bought a jack and stands yet, can't afford the good stuff and don't want to waste money on the cheap stuff. Luckily my repair-partner-in-crime does his own maintenance on his VW van and Maserati, and a new faculty member does the same with his Mercedes and VW, so for non-emergency work I'm pretty well set.

Thanks for everyone's help in finding that drain plug! We were looking way too low on the engine, and of course going off the E46 photos didn't help either...

[blkongry]

Now there's an eclectic mix... a Maserati and a VW bus... is the owner confused??

There was a discussion on here a while back about rear headrests and the roll over protection system. Everyone who has talked about having it has both, as I see Bibi has, too. So, if one gets the rollover protection system, does that mean they get rear headrests, too? I've got neither, but it gives me room to tuck my amps and cross overs into the space behind. This guy (photo kyped from the web) has a ride just like mine.


Although, I'd kind of like the added safety (not that I plan on flipping my ride anytime soon, but it'd be nice incase anything bad happened... just saw a guy on the news last night who got hit by a reckless driver, and one of the cars was cut in half... being in a convertible, I'd like every advantage I could get) of having 'something' to keep me from getting squashed like a pancake if the car ever does decide to roll. Is this something that is a discrete system and retrofitable? Is the car hardwired for it?

PS, know all about the art of scraping for school... I would have loved to have gone to a West Coast university, but could only pay for New Mexico

[Wayne 962]

It's a nice feature - I would imagine that the cars are wired for them, but I don't know for sure...

-Wayne