[Duke4AZ]

Originally Posted by Manolito

Neither of my '97 328s seems to bleed properly, and both of them have chronic "Low Coolant" messages in the computer.

I am a believer.

Long story short, for various reasons I replaced the radiator and expansion tank in my 98 238i e36 (159K miles) this weekend. When I pulled the tank I was rewarded with various plastic bits, not dissimilar to those you show in your posting. I have not dissected the tank, but posted a couple of pics. One clearly shows that the large baffle through the middle of the tank is both cracked and missing large chunks of material. So based on your previous post, I can guess this should have not be much of a surprise.

One question I have to ask though is the coolant/antifreeze that you were using and how often do you change the stuff? I am currently running Prestone at a 50/50 mixture ratio. However, because of a water pump and head gasket replacement recently performed, the cooling system is completely new in front of the firewall, I am thinking about flushing the system again and going with the BMW fluid. Any experience with that vs the domestic stuff?

Another question, or maybe comment is that darned block plug. The coolant drain plug in the block is located right on top of one of the O2 sensors. To get the plug out I have to remove the sensor and then have to tape up the hole so I don't fill the exhaust system with coolant. What is up with that? I just know I am going to take a shower when I pull that plug.

Well, just thought I would put some feedback to your previous post as it did give me a heads up on an eventual failure.