[F87source]

Originally Posted by jefe2000

Good tip! I’ll give mine a strong wiggle and tug next time I have the hood up. Though I suppose I’m almost wary to do so. What if it stays together while I’m prodding at it and then it decides to pop on the next drive — I will have done it to myself. Though I suppose the point is if the plastic is that degraded, then me perturbing it should be all it takes to break it while in the relative calm of my garage instead of out driving somewhere.



Helpful! Mine has been garaged during my ownership (so for its 5th–7th years). Not sure about the first owner though.

Taking a step back: it’s only a $40 part. So I’m leaning toward preemptively replacing it “too soon,” instead of seeing if I can get another year out of it. Better than the alternative, I think.

I always flex it a bit too, and if it has become brittle over the years it would just snap off, and even though it has been 9 years (this year), my coolant hose is still very flexible and strong. That's because it isn't about age on these hard plastic pipes that don't see sun light and aren't as badly affected by ozone as rubber, it's more about heat cycling (related to miles not time) - and since my car is really low mileage there hasn't been alot of heat cycling.

BTW BMW keeps plastic parts like this for older cars in deep storage for years before they are finally sold and they never have issues with degradation, so it really isn't about time it is about heat cycling. The exception is if it was exposed to sun light and UV, then it might degrade alot faster depending on what type of plastic it is made of.

[DocWong]

Ok, I’m having no luck in bleeding the cooling system: Ignition on accessory mode, headlight on low beam, knob turned full right, temp on both sides to full heat, fan on lowest setting, hood open with charger connected, pressing fully on the gas pedal 10 minutes…. No action.

Any idea what I could do to bleed the cooling system?

[M2guru]

Originally Posted by DocWong

Ok, I’m having no luck in bleeding the cooling system: Ignition on accessory mode, headlight on low beam, knob turned full right, temp on both sides to full heat, fan on lowest setting, hood open with charger connected, pressing fully on the gas pedal 10 minutes…. No action.

Any idea what I could do to bleed the cooling system?

Not sure if "accessory mode" is different than ignition on...

[F87source]

Originally Posted by DocWong

Ok, I’m having no luck in bleeding the cooling system: Ignition on accessory mode, headlight on low beam, knob turned full right, temp on both sides to full heat, fan on lowest setting, hood open with charger connected, pressing fully on the gas pedal 10 minutes…. No action.

Any idea what I could do to bleed the cooling system?

Do you have any water pump error codes? The last time I saw something like this was when the user's water pump died completely or their ground cable was loose because the bolt snapped. Speaking about the ground cable bolt should be replaced whenever possible, I replaced mine last year with a grade 8.8 bolt that is coated for corrosion resistance.

[DocWong]

Thanks M2guru, I’ll add putting it in Sport or Sport+. I’m assuming Accessory Mode is just pressing the Start Button without touching the clutch or brake pedal.

F87source, no water pump error codes, I was thinking the same thing about the water pump failure. I do have a water pump ground bolt ready to replace the aluminum one. I’m assuming that if the ground bolt it’s the problem, I’d get an error code?

I’m thinking that maybe I’ll just run the engine up to temperature to open up the thermostat and loosen the Coolant Expansion Tank cap or bleeder and let coolant spill out?? Hmm I don’t know if I can’t get the above work.

[David.m]

Originally Posted by jefe2000

Taking a step back: it’s only a $40 part. So I’m leaning toward preemptively replacing it “too soon,” instead of seeing if I can get another year out of it. Better than the alternative, I think.

That's what I've done, I'm at 7.5yrs/145K km and have changed it twice. On a cold engine it takes more time to undo the bits to route the hose than it does to disconnect the old & connect the new one. I even use masking tape to hold a freezer bag under the radiator end connection to catch the small amount of coolant that escapes (which isn't much if you use a finger to block the opening between removing old/connecting new hoses).

[F87source]

Originally Posted by jefe2000

Good tip! I’ll give mine a strong wiggle and tug next time I have the hood up. Though I suppose I’m almost wary to do so. What if it stays together while I’m prodding at it and then it decides to pop on the next drive — I will have done it to myself. Though I suppose the point is if the plastic is that degraded, then me perturbing it should be all it takes to break it while in the relative calm of my garage instead of out driving somewhere.



Helpful! Mine has been garaged during my ownership (so for its 5th–7th years). Not sure about the first owner though.

Taking a step back: it’s only a $40 part. So I’m leaning toward preemptively replacing it “too soon,” instead of seeing if I can get another year out of it. Better than the alternative, I think.

Yeah I agree, it's a cheap part so it's better to preemptively replace it, especially if you get a life time warranty with FCP Euro or ECS tuning. My point was just that you should focus more on mileage as an indicator vs. time.

For instance someone who drives their car 25,000 miles per year would likely have these plastic components fail way before the 8 year mark due to how much heat cycling is taking place. So they shouldn't assume that everything is ok and hang on till that 8 year time frame. The same holds true for someone who doesn't drive their car that much, and it wouldn't make sense to replace these parts if they're clearly still ok. For instance my own coolant expansion hose is still very pliable, I can flex it quite a bit and it behaves like a new plastic part. So I'm probably going to wait until my next coolant flush to swap it out.

I'm actually pretty confident that even if I tries to break the hose it would take some serious effort to do it, and I will test this out when I do replace the hose. The same was true about my stock mickey mouse flange, alot of the higher mileage guys who claimed that it fails after x amount of years showed that their flange degraded so much it was brittle and crumbled upon the application of any force. My stock flange was still so pliable I could literally crush it flat with a pair of channel locks and it would still rebound back and not break, so that forced me to have to painstakingly cut it out with a hack saw blade in order to install the rein flange (this was before I upgraded to the ecs flange and hose combo). So for somethings (these hard plastic parts and things like the water pump) it really is about mileage and not time, whereas with soft rubber parts that are really vulnerable to ozone degredation (like the serpentine belt, tires, etc) or oxidation (like fluids) then you really should replace them based on time.

[mattr832]

Anybody have any recommendations on general preventative maintenance items for the cooling system? I have a 2016 M2 about to hit 50k miles and I track it very frequently from April to Oct.

[F87source]

Originally Posted by mattr832

Anybody have any recommendations on general preventative maintenance items for the cooling system? I have a 2016 M2 about to hit 50k miles and I track it very frequently from April to Oct.

You should probably look at the water pump at this point, especially if you track the car. Other than that just the expansion hose, mickey mouse flange from the cylinder head, and water pump ground bolt. If you track your car you really need to replace things prematurely, otherwise you risk ruining a really expensive track day, also having a cooling system failure while pushing your engine 10/10 is a good way to blow a motor.

[E90convert]

Originally Posted by mattr832

Anybody have any recommendations on general preventative maintenance items for the cooling system? I have a 2016 M2 about to hit 50k miles and I track it very frequently from April to Oct.

Originally Posted by F87source

You should probably look at the water pump at this point, especially if you track the car. Other than that just the expansion hose, mickey mouse flange from the cylinder head, and water pump ground bolt. If you track your car you really need to replace things prematurely, otherwise you risk ruining a really expensive track day, also having a cooling system failure while pushing your engine 10/10 is a good way to blow a motor.

Thanks for addressing this. I'm in the same boat with my 2018. I think I'll be doing my serpentine belt too. I'm indifferent about the DCT fluid, because even BMW Motorsport does not recommend a fluid change until 30,000 Km track mileage.

[ThreeStripes]

46k with track time here. Planning a big 50k service this year with basically everything mentioned above.

[jordantii]

I'm assuming this is not an issue on Comps?

[F87source]

Originally Posted by E90convert

Thanks for addressing this. I'm in the same boat with my 2018. I think I'll be doing my serpentine belt too. I'm indifferent about the DCT fluid, because even BMW Motorsport does not recommend a fluid change until 30,000 Km track mileage.

Yup it's a good idea to do the serpentine belt too, continental told me it's every 5 years or if the measurements with their tool get too thin

[F87source]

Originally Posted by jordantii

I'm assuming this is not an issue on Comps?

No, this hose isn't present on the s55

[jefe2000]

Swapped out this coolant expansion line on my '18 M2 today. The car has around 44K mi (~71K km) and hit its 7th birthday last month. Getting stranded while out somewhere due to this line breaking is not my idea of a good time, so I decided to preemptively replace it for peace of mind at the very least.

I found popping up the lid on the air intake box gave me enough maneuvering room to get the new line in and pull the old one out. I also had to remove the corner brace that covers the one corner of the intake filter housing, mostly to give my hands enough room to get the job done.

I used masking tape to attach a small plastic bag under the end of the line that connects to the coolant hose. Even though the car was cold and hadn't been driven for over 24 hours, a small amount of fluid still resided in the line and drained out when I disconnected it from the nipple. A very small amount also came out of expansion tank end of the line. The bag worked very well to catch nearly all the coolant in the line.

The new line went on well. There's a satisfactory click when the new line engages on the expansion tank and coolant hose nipples. You'll know when it's fully engaged.

I tried initiating the self-bleeding procedure, but couldn't get it to work. I suspect I didn't have enough of a charge on the battery. (I'll have to remember to have a working charger for when I fully drain the coolant system next year.) But since the engine was stone cold, coolant loss was minimal, and the coolant expansion tank not drained, I don't actually think I needed the bleeding procedure for this job.

After all was done, I took a closer look at the old overflow line that I'd removed. I yanked it around and bent it to see how close it was to stranding me somewhere. It didn't yield. I think I would have been fine after all to leave the old one in place for another year. Still, this was about peace of mind, so I'm happy to have the new line in place. I'll look at replacing it in another 7 years or 40K miles and will send the one I installed today back to FCP Euro for a refund.

[DocWong]

So turned out to be either a failed water pump or the ground bolt breaking off.

Weird that the water pump failed at 40,000 miles.

F87source, you were spot on about that. That’s why I couldn’t bleed the system.

In the meantime, I’ll still do the coolant return hose modification.

[F87source]

Originally Posted by DocWong

So turned out to be either a failed water pump or the ground bolt breaking off.

Weird that the water pump failed at 40,000 miles.

F87source, you were spot on about that. That’s why I couldn’t bleed the system.

In the meantime, I’ll still do the coolant return hose modification.

Keep us posted with lots of pics and what size hose you end up using.

[NSXR]

Originally Posted by jefe2000

Swapped out this coolant expansion line on my '18 M2 today. The car has around 44K mi (~71K km) and hit its 7th birthday last month. Getting stranded while out somewhere due to this line breaking is not my idea of a good time, so I decided to preemptively replace it for peace of mind at the very least.

I found popping up the lid on the air intake box gave me enough maneuvering room to get the new line in and pull the old one out. I also had to remove the corner brace that covers the one corner of the intake filter housing, mostly to give my hands enough room to get the job done.

I used masking tape to attach a small plastic bag under the end of the line that connects to the coolant hose. Even though the car was cold and hadn't been driven for over 24 hours, a small amount of fluid still resided in the line and drained out when I disconnected it from the nipple. A very small amount also came out of expansion tank end of the line. The bag worked very well to catch nearly all the coolant in the line.

The new line went on well. There's a satisfactory click when the new line engages on the expansion tank and coolant hose nipples. You'll know when it's fully engaged.

I tried initiating the self-bleeding procedure, but couldn't get it to work. I suspect I didn't have enough of a charge on the battery. (I'll have to remember to have a working charger for when I fully drain the coolant system next year.) But since the engine was stone cold, coolant loss was minimal, and the coolant expansion tank not drained, I don't actually think I needed the bleeding procedure for this job.

After all was done, I took a closer look at the old overflow line that I'd removed. I yanked it around and bent it to see how close it was to stranding me somewhere. It didn't yield. I think I would have been fine after all to leave the old one in place for another year. Still, this was about peace of mind, so I'm happy to have the new line in place. I'll look at replacing it in another 7 years or 40K miles and will send the one I installed today back to FCP Euro for a refund.

Quoted for awesomeness.

[DocWong]

Ah ha!!!

It was the infamous water pump ground bolt!

Now, while I’m at it: Mickey Mouse flange/hose, turbo intake, turbo boost pipe, intercooler, charge pipe, diverter valve, malo main seal plate, serpentine belt and flush.

I’m debating on changing the water pump/thermostat. At 40k miles? What do you think?

[NSXR]

Originally Posted by DocWong

Ah ha!!!

It was the infamous water pump ground bolt!

I never even knew this was a thing!

Originally Posted by DocWong

I’m debating on changing the water pump/thermostat. At 40k miles? What do you think?

Overkill?

[jefe2000]

Originally Posted by DocWong

Ah ha!!!

It was the infamous water pump ground bolt!

I’ve been trying to pin down the location of this bolt. There’s not much to go on that I’ve found so far. As far as I can tell, it sits under the main crank pulley on our cars, is that right? And it looks like you’ve gotten at it from the top rather than underneath the car?

Originally Posted by DocWong

Now, while I’m at it: Mickey Mouse flange/hose, turbo intake, turbo boost pipe, intercooler, charge pipe, diverter valve, malo main seal plate, serpentine belt and flush.

The charge pipe is still on my “yeah, I should get around to that” list. I’ve procrastinated mostly because it looks like a bear of a job for one person. Let us know how it goes!

Originally Posted by DocWong

I’m debating on changing the water pump/thermostat. At 40k miles? What do you think?

Feels early. I plan on getting after the water pump on mine around the 60K mile mark.

[NSXR]

Originally Posted by jefe2000

The charge pipe is still on my “yeah, I should get around to that” list. I’ve procrastinated mostly because it looks like a bear of a job for one person.

The charge pipe isn't too bad if you have a decent place to work and imagine it'll take 3 full hours. The problem starts when people want to do the work in their driveway in frozen weather with limited tools and expect it to happen in a half hour.

The big deal with the charge pipe is that you MUST choose your intercooler first, and it's because not all charge pipes work well with all intercoolers, some fit great, others fit terribly and can make you want to pull your hair out trying to make them work.

Mike at XTreme can help you with this.