[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by HunterHofman

I made a video about the same process, with the help of F87source , massive thanks to you again.

Video:

Hope that helps/entertain some of you.

This was entertaining.

[3t3p]

Originally Posted by F87source

It's not in the same area as the hpfp so it wouldn't make a difference. It should take a shop 30 mins to do this not including a coolant flush. So 30 mins shop time + a coolant flush.

Thanks Source

[F87source]

Originally Posted by 3t3p

Thanks Source

No problemo.

[dtmurf]

As seen in HunterHofman's video, is that the only way to drain the coolant?

[F87source]

Originally Posted by dtmurf

As seen in HunterHofman's video, is that the only way to drain the coolant?

I can't remember what he did, did he just pull the hose off the water pump? Because that's what bmw says to do in ISTA. You could also drain from the aux rad iirc.

[dtmurf]

Originally Posted by F87source

I can't remember what he did, did he just pull the hose off the water pump? Because that's what bmw says to do in ISTA. You could also drain from the aux rad iirc.

Ya, that's what he did and of course that worked but the coolant went everywhere including all over the power steering pump. The Aux Rad might be a better, cleaner option.

[F87source]

Originally Posted by dtmurf

Ya, that's what he did and of course that worked but the coolant when everywhere including all over the power steering pump. The Aux Rad might be a better, cleaner option.

It probably will be clearer to drain from the aux rad.

But I just drained it from the water pump. Cut up a cereal box and used the glossy side as a water deflector into my drain pan. It still made a huge mess though lol.

[vrooooom]

got the mickey (amazon) but feeling so lazy to get under and remove all that stuff again. Reminds me of the diverter valve work.

[vrooooom]

Changed my coolant bleed screw to brass. I noticed it's 1-2mm shorter. is that ok? The plastic one seems sturdy though. A lot lighter that's for sure.

[F87source]

Originally Posted by vrooooom

Changed my coolant bleed screw to brass. I noticed it's 1-2mm shorter. is that ok? The plastic one seems sturdy though. A lot lighter that's for sure.

That should be fine as long as it seals tight.

[vrooooom]

Tried to do the bleed process just so I don’t get any surprises later when I really drain the fluid but I can’t seem to feel or hear anything happening. Hood is open. Battery on trickle charger. Press start button once. Set fan to lowest. Both set as most hottest–28c. Then stepped on the gas for 10s. Nada.

Screen is saying good is open, I presume this can be open. Am I missing a step? The sound while it’s doing its thing is obvious right?

[F87source]

Originally Posted by vrooooom

Tried to do the bleed process just so I don’t get any surprises later when I really drain the fluid but I can’t seem to feel or hear anything happening. Hood is open. Battery on trickle charger. Press start button once. Set fan to lowest. Both set as most hottest–28c. Then stepped on the gas for 10s. Nada.

Screen is saying good is open, I presume this can be open. Am I missing a step? The sound while it’s doing its thing is obvious right?

Low beams need to be on, automatic head light doesn't count.

[vrooooom]

So turn ignition on accessory...
switch to low beam
make sure the heat is highest and fan to lowest (already)
press on gas for 10s and let go.

[vrooooom]

Finally! It’s barely noticeable so I almost have to really get close to the engine to hear it.

Thanks F87!

[F87source]

Originally Posted by vrooooom

So turn ignition on accessory...
switch to low beam
make sure the heat is highest and fan to lowest (already)
press on gas for 10s and let go.

Yes, but I hold the gas down till I hear the pump.

Originally Posted by vrooooom

Finally! It’s barely noticeable so I almost have to really get close to the engine to hear it.

Thanks F87!

No problem.

I generally leave my door open so I can hear the pump easier, I also have my tablet connected so I can see pump duty cycle via protool or bimmerlink.

[vrooooom]

My door was wide open and I couldn’t hear anything so I had my foot on it for longer than 10s. Then I went to the engine actually pretty pissed that nothing was happening. Brought my head closer then I started hearing some. Definitely not like on the video, which must have had the mic darn close to the engine or having air in the system makes a lot more noise than mine. I was also expecting some messages to come up on the instrument panel, like those for resetting oil changes. Nope. No confirmatory messages.

[David.m]

I installed the Rein flange a week ago (bought from fcp), even though I'm at 135K km & 5.5yrs the oem flange was in excellent condition but still happy it's gone, some of the mountain roads I get to are remote with no mobile phone reception so breaking down is a real pia. Having watched a few youtube videos it also looks much better when the oem flange comes out in 1 piece

I seperated the oem hose/flange via same method in Hunterhofman's video, I don't have a vice but used some locking pliers to grip the flange while holding it on a bench to cut. The metal ring is pretty soft, was easy to carefully cut through in one little spot near the edge, then using a very small flat head screwdriver at that point I was able to lever up part of the ring & it tore through to the edge (which I'd cut but not all way through) Then cut rest of the metal ring surface (at around 45 deg or more angle) without breaking through to rubber while using another pair of pliers to peel back (tear) the ring apart, it came off without any damage to hose & took around 10-15min to do.

Like F87 I used a solid band hose clamp (full 316 s/steel) instead of the supplied clamp, made install easier than what I saw on the videos.

Did a coolant flush by disconnecting the aux radiator bottom hose, 4.5 to 5 litres came out and from searching the forum it seems disconnecting at the water pump doesn't result in any more coolant removal? The plus with this method was zero mess and with wheel on full left lock I just remove all but the top 2 guard liner screws (but left the liner on), removed 3-4 of the plastic undertray screws (but didn't remove the undertray) and then had good access to the radiator hose.

Also took the opportunity to again replace the hose between expansion tank & top radiator hose (I'd already done that at 75K km).

[vrooooom]

I've been putting this work aside. Procrastinating.

[F87source]

Originally Posted by David.m

I installed the Rein flange a week ago (bought from fcp), even though I'm at 135K km & 5.5yrs the oem flange was in excellent condition but still happy it's gone, some of the mountain roads I get to are remote with no mobile phone reception so breaking down is a real pia. Having watched a few youtube videos it also looks much better when the oem flange comes out in 1 piece

I seperated the oem hose/flange via same method in Hunterhofman's video, I don't have a vice but used some locking pliers to grip the flange while holding it on a bench to cut. The metal ring is pretty soft, was easy to carefully cut through in one little spot near the edge, then using a very small flat head screwdriver at that point I was able to lever up part of the ring & it tore through to the edge (which I'd cut but not all way through) Then cut rest of the metal ring surface (at around 45 deg or more angle) without breaking through to rubber while using another pair of pliers to peel back (tear) the ring apart, it came off without any damage to hose & took around 10-15min to do.

Like F87 I used a solid band hose clamp (full 316 s/steel) instead of the supplied clamp, made install easier than what I saw on the videos.

Did a coolant flush by disconnecting the aux radiator bottom hose, 4.5 to 5 litres came out and from searching the forum it seems disconnecting at the water pump doesn't result in any more coolant removal? The plus with this method was zero mess and with wheel on full left lock I just remove all but the top 2 guard liner screws (but left the liner on), removed 3-4 of the plastic undertray screws (but didn't remove the undertray) and then had good access to the radiator hose.

Also took the opportunity to again replace the hose between expansion tank & top radiator hose (I'd already done that at 75K km).

I don't recommend this part anymore, simply because it reuses the factory hose. In my initial review 4 years ago I thought this was fine because the OE hose seemed to be super high quality. Well after using it forawhile that no longer seems to be the case since im having some issues with the factory hose.

I'm going to be upgrading to the ECS Tuning silcone hose + their aluminium flange.


I was initially worried about these factors:

1) anodizing flaking off: from what I have seen thus far on the ECS flange, the anodizing is excellent and doesn't have any patchy spots or areas of chipping.

2) Crap O-ring: The ECS tuning o-ring seems to be really high quality, very durable, and thick. It appears to be Buna - r/ Buna - n (nitrile) - I will confirm this later on with ECS. But this makes it very durable and extremely resistant to chemical degredation (my laboratory gloves that I use are nitrile and I expose them all the time to some of the harshest chemicals out there with confidence) and it has a very wide operating temperature range. So no worries there - in fact based on what I have seen recently on facebook, alot of people actually have complained about the O-ring quality that come on some Rein products. So it will be interesting to see how the O-ring on my Rein flange has held up after 4 years.

3) Silicone hose: so upon a brief inspection, the ECS silicone hose is a very very thick multi-ply and reinforced silcone hose. This reinforcement means no ballooning under high pressure, and the hose appears to be even thicker than the stock one (I will compare later this summer). Just holding the hose it feels alot more rigid and durable than the stock hose, so it is likely will last longer than the stock one and should be an upgrade.


4) Warranty: ECS offers a life time warranty now so no issues there. Plus if it ever does fail, itll be easier to replace than the Rein offering where you have to cut another factory hose...


More testing and a full review and diy coming this summer. But yeah I don't recommend the Rein product anymore, I feel like it is so much work to reuse the stock hose that it isn't worth it. I also feel the ECS offering is a better route, small differences with the flange (but possibly still an improvement with the o-ring, and a massive improvement in the flange design that I will test this summer. But essentially the rein flange is smooth and this required alot of torque on the clamp to ensure the hose was snug and coolant didn't leak. The ECS flange has a more agressive flange design that should make the hose stick on better and seal better. I will test it this summer), but massive improvement with the hose.

[David.m]

Honestly cutting/removing the metal ring was pretty quick & simple, cutting the flange especially the part inside the hose would be more difficult.

The ECS flange uses the oem o-ring (according to their website), if you already have the Rein installed why not simply check the o-ring (or even replace with an oem) at each coolant flush?

The oem hose(s) do seem to be long lasting, at least we can inspect in situ & replace when the rubber starts to deteriorate though from most videos it seems to be the various plastic connections that fail first.

[F87source]

Originally Posted by David.m

Honestly cutting/removing the metal ring was pretty quick & simple, cutting the flange especially the part inside the hose would be more difficult.

The ECS flange uses the oem o-ring (according to their website), if you already have the Rein installed why not simply check the o-ring (or even replace with an oem) at each coolant flush?

The oem hose(s) do seem to be long lasting, at least we can inspect in situ & replace when the rubber starts to deteriorate though from most videos it seems to be the various plastic connections that fail first.

Yeah cutting the ring would have been way easier, but I didn't do it that way unfortunately.

So here are the reasons why I made the switch:

1) My OEM hose is garbage, so I don't want to buy another OEM hose and have to make the cut when I could just upgrade and have a pnp solution. Especially if I make the cut and slip and nick the hose, then its another trash hose.

2) it's cheaper to just buy the hose and the fitting together.

3) For anyone who is starting from scratch, then you would have to buy an o-ring for the rein fitting just to be safe. Because recently I've heard issues with Rein and their o-rings causing leaks from factory. At that point it's probably just better to go with the entire unit from ECS.

4) I think the flange design is better on the ecs fitting. It grips the hose better.