Cooling System Repair

[radiosteve]

RE: 1983 E28 533i

A repair technician (had to be, since I haven't done any cooling system work) tightened the clamp on the top radiator hose so tight that the underlying plastic fitting cracked and now leaks.

Anyone know if there is there any way to repair this without replacing the entire radiator?

Thanks

Steve

[John in VA]

J-B Weld has been used successfully - depends on the extent of the crack. If you meant the small hose to the overflow bottle, BMW has a repair piece for that - it threads in place of the broken plastic nipple.
If you need a new radiator, check out an ol' NCCer now in the Atlanta area - www.SteveHaygood.com
He's a parts source, mechanic and E28 owner who can help you out.

[radiosteve]

Thanks for the quick reply! It's the big approx 2" nipple that the main coolant hose clamps to. Cracked is probably to conservative a term - about 1/8th of the nipple is gone... came off in my hand when I removed the hose.

[Scany]

The nipple came off on my E39 when I tried to disconnect the hose when I changed my cooling system. The plastic is obviously fragile when old, naturally, I guess.

My expansion tank ripped last weekend and I tried J-B Weld without much success. Gorilla tape acctually worked better. A combination of the two got us home from Shenandoah (http://skandsen.blogspot.com).

[mlytle]

Thanks for the quick reply! It's the big approx 2" nipple that the main coolant hose clamps to. Cracked is probably to conservative a term - about 1/8th of the nipple is gone... came off in my hand when I removed the hose.

replace the radiator. fixes are temporary and will break again at the worst time.

rad replacement isn't very hard or expensive. if you are still on the original one you are way overdue anyway.

[radiosteve]

The nipple came off on my E39 when I tried to disconnect the hose when I changed my cooling system. The plastic is obviously fragile when old, naturally, I guess.

My expansion tank ripped last weekend and I tried J-B Weld without much success. Gorilla tape acctually worked better. A combination of the two got us home from Shenandoah (http://skandsen.blogspot.com).

Reminds me of a trip I took from Florida to Boston... got as far as the Maryland Welcome Station north of Baltimore and had a cooling system problem. It was a Sunday, a memorial day weekend, and no shops open. Turns out the problem was a cracked gooseneck (this was a 1968 Rambler American, mind you). We patched it with chewing gum, drive 100 miles, patched it with chewing gum again, and eventually got the car home and repaired.