blown coolant hose yesterday (with pics)..

[joey]

the story goes...about 5 mins after getting in the car I notice she is not running as smoothly as normal, so I take a peek at the temp gauge and its pegged all the way round at red..as the car had been sat in the sun all day I wrongly assumed it would cool down with a little drive,so opt to give it a minute.

30 seconds or so later some very rough running and a stall..so I restart and pull over, bonnet up and this is what I find.

it seems someone had previously cut a piece out of the hose probably due to a leak and reconnected with a cheap hose connector and some jubilee clips.

I call green flag and wait 2 and half hours!

but have no access to water or a 5/8 hose connector so what can I do?..

the guy arrives and the repair takes all of 3 minutes and now its fingers crossed time as I hope and pray that the head gasket is OK..

back in guildford! she runs great...strangely better with a bit more torque and "pep"..

here is my diagnosis..I think the engine normally runs on the cool side of normal Due to the recent change of water pump and thermostat, so what may have happened is the overheat has burned off some carbon deposits and dealt with a minor compression issue that was there..I don't recommend this method but what could have been a major issue had "turned out nice again"....

I have even got a nice little tan from 2 hours spent in the sun..

now I have to top up the antifreeze as mr green flag put in just water..

off to eurocarparts now.

 

[jonco]

Ouch - glad you survived it. I had a leak in the heater valve area a short time ago which fortunately turned out to be the short hose from valve to heater. It was a quick replacement fix.
I inititally thought it was on one of the long hoses because there was rub mark where the two were touching. Getting at the engine end connection of the long hose would have been a b***** and I can understand why somebody has put a connector in.
Zedonist sent me this link to show work involved http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18066 it's for an M44 but not in a Zed. I ordered replacement through Sopers - who had to get it from Germany as I recall.
Good Luck

 

[joey]

just another sign that although these cars are fantastically reliable (my nearly 30 k since may last year proves this) we have to be really prudent and inspect hoses gaskets and all the perishables on a regular basis, this could have been the end of the engine if I wasn't quite so vigilante...I never normally look at the temp gauge as its NEVER been a problem..

I was very lucky to not be looking at a head gasket or most likely considering the cost involved in that a complete rebuild.

as it is i'm budgeting for a new engine and transmission at around 130k and will keep an eye on ebay over the coming 18 mths so as I have one ready as and when the time comes, this way I can buy the lowest mileage example I can find rather than looking in a panic when something goes wrong.

I may even try and fit the 2.2 as in my opinion its the perfect sized engine for the Z3..

I am committed to owning the car now and over the next 5 years will probably replace the hood , steering rack, all the bushes including the rear beam and the ARB's drop links and any other perishables such as vacuum pipes etc etc..as I think in 10 -15 years they will be viewed very differently....just look at how the the MGB's are viewed now, and they were a much maligned car in the 80's..it seems about 25 years from the end of production is how long it takes for a car to be viewed in the right perspective.

god, even the TR7 is now viewed as a good car and they are piece of crap rust buckets!

regardless I love the little thing! and will not be selling anytime soon...

 

[David Cullen]

lucky man very hard to spot these problems, my top hose is a bit shoddy looking so am waiting on a new silicon set to arrive, always good to be a step ahead

 

[joey]

yup..! good idea do it...it was the heater matrix hose on mine..

I have finally got rid of the blasted airlock that was starting to really wind me up!....took half of yesterday and finally parking on a slope and spending a good hour squeezing air out of the radiator hose and working the bleed valve......this accurately conveys how annoying yesterday was!...

I have booked a really good BMW specialist to come over and thoroughly inspect every aspect of the car..I want no more surprises!

that £2 piece of plastic could have destroyed my car...

we are going to deal with the rocking seats and fog the airbox whilst he is here...

roll on sat the 27th!

oh and that reminds me I must get some bushes from aceman...

 

[Barry Gadd]

Hi Joey,
I thought I was the only one going through the wars with my Z3 !!!!!!!
Sorry to hear of the dodgy hose connector but thank goodness it didn't cause any damage.
I'm waiting for a viscous fan assembly to replace mine although I'm still not sure this is the reason as to why mine overheated and blew a hole in the rad.(see my saga on blown rad)
We live close to each other and I'd really appreciate getting together to get to understand better the Z3's quirks.
I live in Pyrford GU22 8SR
Let me know if you'd like to meet up.
Cheers

 

[t-tony]

Hi Joey,
I thought I was the only one going through the wars with my Z3 !!!!!!!
Sorry to hear of the dodgy hose connector but thank goodness it didn't cause any damage.
I'm waiting for a viscous fan assembly to replace mine although I'm still not sure this is the reason as to why mine overheated and blew a hole in the rad.(see my saga on blown rad)
We live close to each other and I'd really appreciate getting together to get to understand better the Z3's quirks.
I live in Pyrford GU22 8SR
Let me know if you'd like to meet up.
Cheers

You are better to send such as phone numbers in a PM Barry.

 

[hard top]

Hi Joey,
I thought I was the only one going through the wars with my Z3 !!!!!!!
Sorry to hear of the dodgy hose connector but thank goodness it didn't cause any damage.
I'm waiting for a viscous fan assembly to replace mine although I'm still not sure this is the reason as to why mine overheated and blew a hole in the rad.(see my saga on blown rad)
We live close to each other and I'd really appreciate getting together to get to understand better the Z3's quirks.
I live in Pyrford GU22 8SR
Let me know if you'd like to meet up.
Cheers

Phone number removed from post.
HT

 

[joey]

Hi Joey,
I thought I was the only one going through the wars with my Z3 !!!!!!!
Sorry to hear of the dodgy hose connector but thank goodness it didn't cause any damage.
I'm waiting for a viscous fan assembly to replace mine although I'm still not sure this is the reason as to why mine overheated and blew a hole in the rad.(see my saga on blown rad)
We live close to each other and I'd really appreciate getting together to get to understand better the Z3's quirks.
I live in Pyrford GU22 8SR
Let me know if you'd like to meet up.
Cheers

Hi Barry,

I am having a mare with mine now mate, see the post...ok had enough now..

happy to get together , drop me a PM mate.

cheers

Joe

 

[Barry Gadd]

Hi Joe,
Forgive my ignorance. I've tried to send a private message but can't work out how to do it!!!
I did include my mob No.in the open message as I couldn't see any other way of communicating and clearly this must have infringed club rules.
Apologies to those above.
If you could let me know the procedure then I'll send a PM straight away.
Cheers
Barry

 

[GazHyde]

Hi Joe,
Forgive my ignorance. I've tried to send a private message but can't work out how to do it!!!

Hi Barry, if you look on the right hand side of the main menu there is an envelope next to your username. Click on that, then choose "Start a Conversation". Otherwise if you look below each post the is a link labelled "Quote in Conversation", which will message that person directly.

We only remove details like this so you don't end up with odd phones calls and extra SPAM

 

[Barry Gadd]

Thanks GH,
I am now able to PM.
Joey and myself live fairly close and both want to get the Z3's up and running asap.
My rad went a week or so ago and Joey's looks as if it has gone too.
I've replaced the rad,thermostat,viscous fan and I've removed and replaced the pump (it looks fine)
I've done a leak down check per 4 cylinders and looked to see if any bubbles appeared in the expansion tank but none seen.
Any other ideas as to why the rad might have blown??
Thanks

 

[vintage42]

... I think the engine normally runs on the cool side of normal...

... could have been the end of the engine if I wasn't quite so vigilante...I never normally look at the temp gauge as its NEVER been a problem...

I am told the 1.9 thermostat is about 195F. At 39,000 miles, my engine runs between 170F and 190F depending on driving conditions. At cruising speed, it's in the mid-170s. Perhaps my thermostat is sticky to allow such a variation.

The needle reaches the vertical point at 165F and stays pinned there until somewhere over 205F, which is the highest I have ever seen. I do not know how hot it has to get for the needle to move past vertical.

The needle is buffered to stay in one place as long as the temperature is within normal operating range, which is 165F to somewhere over 205F. That is not to say that the ideal operating temperature might be equal to the rating of the thermostat, which might be 195F.

However, my engine warms up, runs well, and gets good mileage.

To watch actual temperature, I installed a ScanGauge on the OBDII port:
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f280/vintagefortytwo/BMW Z3 Related/ScanGauge/ScanGaugeOn_zps0ee4d6bf.jpg