Cooling system replacement

[SteveYYZ]

Hello all, I have a 1998, 2.8, manual Z3 with 56,000 miles 90,000 km. Read in a number of posts that the cooling system should be replaced, regardless. Radiator, water pump, thermostat, hoses, expansion tank and mechanical fan delete (what is a fan delete?). The car runs perfectly, gets up to temperature as expected and temperature remains constantly in the center of the gauge, no leaks. I live in Canada, car has never seen a winter or road salt, seldom driven in the rain and has been maintained by a mechanic that owns a garage. Hoses are not hard or brittle no unusual noises coming from the engine and it runs very strong. Are these suggestion well intention but overly cautious. Are there inspections that can be conducted to confirm the need to begin replacement of these components? Car is a fun vehicle only and not a daily driver or am I planning any 4000km trips. Thanks in advance.

 

[Jack Ratt]

Personally, if it were mine, I'd leave it as it is. If everything is working as it should then I wouldn't touch it. Enjoy your new toy.

PS: Fan delete is when you remove the viscous fan and replace with an electric fan. This is mostly recommended when the factory fitted fan stops working as it should. If yours is OK then leave it alone

 

[andyglym]

It's considered good preventative maintenance to overhaul your cooling system as these cars are 20+years old if no evidence of prior maintenance. The fan delete is done by some due to the potential of it letting go, shattering and giving you more than a bad day. That's if you've got aircon of course which has it's own electrical fan. Personally I can't see the need to do a fan delete on the proviso you maintain the car properly and check for lateral movement in the primary fan. Like many of these things it's written on Social Media so must be true ........

 

[Zephyr]

Hi, if the car is as described, then you shouldnt worry.
The cooling system fatigue is mainly caused by extremely low temperatures and high operaring temp of the engine. Just imagine what happend in a hose when from operating temperature of 108 celsius, you park the car over a pile of snow and ambient temperature minus twenty degrees. The molecular forces from extra hot to super cool are as if from a hot sauna you dive into a frozen lake.

 

[SteveYYZ]

Personally, if it were mine, I'd leave it as it is. If everything is working as it should then I wouldn't touch it. Enjoy your new toy.

PS: Fan delete is when you remove the viscous fan and replace with an electric fan. This is mostly recommended when the factory fitted fan stops working as it should. If yours is OK then leave it alone

Sounds like a very cost effective solution and I agree. Will just keep and eye on things.

 

[SteveYYZ]

It's considered good preventative maintenance to overhaul your cooling system as these cars are 20+years old if no evidence of prior maintenance. The fan delete is done by some due to the potential of it letting go, shattering and giving you more than a bad day. That's if you've got aircon of course which has it's own electrical fan. Personally I can't see the need to do a fan delete on the proviso you maintain the car properly and check for lateral movement in the primary fan. Like many of these things it's written on Social Media so must be true ........

I have AC, will check the fan. Thanks for the advice.

 

[SteveYYZ]

Hi, if the car is as described, then you shouldnt worry.
The cooling system fatigue is mainly caused by extremely low temperatures and high operaring temp of the engine. Just imagine what happend in a hose when from operating temperature of 108 celsius, you park the car over a pile of snow and ambient temperature minus twenty degrees. The molecular forces from extra hot to super cool are as if from a hot sauna you dive into a frozen lake.

That makes sense. Not a fan of saunas and a frozen lake.

 

[colb]

From what you describe your system sounds as though its in good working condition. As long as your temp guage sits at 12 o'clock when fully warmed up I wouldn't worry and wouldn't throw new parts at it just yet.
If it was a daily driver and had covered high mileage then it might be worth doing a coolant syatem overhaul, new pump, thermostat and maybe radiator as they would have gone through many heat cycles and degraded over time.
Have you ever replaced the coolant, if not then no harm done if you drain and flush the system with a hosepipe paying particular attention to the heater matrix so thet gets a good flush in both directions. Refill and bleed with reccomended mixture of coolant.

 

[SteveYYZ]

Thanks. Complete flush and fill is first thing in the spring along with oil, brake fluid, transmission and differential fluid. Can’t wait to get started. Too cold now garage isn’t heated.

 

[DakarZ3_NZ]

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…sounds like the car has been well pampered and the cooling system in good working order, so I’d just replace/flush the coolant in the spring, as suggested.
P.S. my ‘01 3.0 Z3 had developed a pin-hole leak in the expansion tank, which was the original 21-year old tank. Have just replaced it with a new tank, but hoses, radiator, viscous fan, etc. are all in great order so I’m not doing anything with them, although I might include a spare set of hoses in my next parts order.

 

[SteveYYZ]

Spring I’ll change all the fluids and enjoy this Bavarian beauty.

 

[Ianmc]

I tend to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school. That said, my experience of BMW radiators (a number of Z3s and E36s) is that they fail after 20 odd years.

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Spring I’ll change all the fluids and enjoy this Bavarian beauty.

Ahem. (discrete cough mode engaged) Not a lot of Bavarianity going on here.

BMW Z3 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[SteveYYZ]

Ahem. (discrete cough mode engaged) Not a lot of Bavarianity going on here.

BMW Z3 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

HAHAHA You are right, built in the land of Dixie by Daisy Duke, Designed in Bavaria then? Burkhard Göschel led the team.

 

[SteveYYZ]

I tend to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school. That said, my experience of BMW radiators (a number of Z3s and E36s) is that they fail after 20 odd years.

Thanks, If the rad leaks its a simple fix with the pump, hoses and thermostat replaced at the same time Ill keep an eye on things and replace when something fails.

 

[t-tony]

HAHAHA You are right, built in the land of Dixie by Daisy Duke, Designed in Bavaria then? Burkhard Göschel led the team.

Designed by a Japanese, built in the USA.

Tony.

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Designed by a Japanese, built in the USA.

Tony.

Damn. Beaten to it.
And made out of left-over bits from other cars, a bit like a large amount of the British motor industry.

 

[abh29]

When changing the coolant I use 50% BMW Antifreeze 50% Distilled water,due to our white tap water .

 

[Zephyr]

Designed by a Japanese, built in the USA.

Tony.

Correct. But I am sure the spare tyre mechanism was designed by some vicious German with twisted humour.

 

[DrWong]

Damn. Beaten to it.
And made out of left-over bits from other cars, a bit like a large amount of the British motor industry.

Was thinking about the Z3 parts bin thing t'other day and realised that later cars took bits from three generations of 3 series, i.e. E30 rear end, E36 front end, and (M54) engines from the E46