car overheating again!!! NEED HELP! I have nothing to drive! - BMW Forum

Bleier325 · 03-22-2006, 01:06 PM

My 1994 325is w/ 115000 miles started to overheat today. I caught it before it got to the red. I was like 3/4 of the way to the red zone. I replaced the thermostat and hoses like 4 months ago when it overheated before and have never had a problem until today. Please help, i have to get this fixed i have no car to get to school or work! thanks

Hamfisted · 03-22-2006, 01:27 PM

Is it the original radiator in the car? If it is I'd say drop a new one in there. The waterpump is good?

Mike

kylek325i · 03-22-2006, 05:04 PM

If you have the original water pump- plastic type- its likely that. make sure you have a metal impeller model. Also it is worth the money to get an aluminum t-stat housing, too...trust me. The plastic ones are junk and crack. And make sure your system is properly bled of air. Is it leaking coolant anywhere??

Kaligiy83 · 03-22-2006, 06:32 PM

My bets on the waterpump..at 115,000 miles, its probably the original plastic one. The plastic pumps are crap! Definately have it checked.

Bleier325 · 03-22-2006, 06:44 PM

I do almost all the work on my car myself. And i was wondering if there is a way to tell if it is my radiator or the waterpump. I dont see any leaks and i believe they are both original. I appreiciate all the help!

Teh Prof · 03-22-2006, 06:50 PM

You can't know whether it's the water pump without taking it out and visually inspecting it. If when you take it out you find that it is plastic, do not put it back in, whether it is in one piece or not. Instead, replace it with a metal impeller pump. Obviously, if it is in one piece, uncracked, when you take it out, then the problem was not the pump.

Bleier325 · 03-22-2006, 06:57 PM

I know what your saying and i know this is hard to guess, but do you think i should replace the water pump or the radiator first?? Thanks al lot!

Hamfisted · 03-22-2006, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bleier325

I know what your saying and i know this is hard to guess, but do you think i should replace the water pump or the radiator first?? Thanks al lot!

If this is your only car or transportation, get both. The waterpump should be replaced anyway if it's still the original plastic one, because it'll fail and strand you eventually anyway. If you find that it was in one piece when you pull it apart, good for you, then you already have the radiator there ready to go in. Use Distilled water in your coolant system when you put it back together, as tap water in most locales has a heavy mineral content and that will buildup on the radiator over time, blocking flow. Open the bleed screw and let all the air out before you're done. Good luck.

Mike

Live_the_Curves · 03-22-2006, 11:33 PM

Around that mileage I developed a crack in a my radiator. Needed a new rad and thermostat. Also I damaged some of my engine gaskets. Its a was lengthy bill.

Gator · 03-23-2006, 08:54 AM

You are asking how to tell if it's the radiator or the water pump. You can be about 98% sure that its not the radiator if it's not leaking. If the radiator is leaking then the overheating is being caused by a low level of coollant. Therefore if your coolant isn't low, you can assume that the radiator isn't leaking and is ok. It's still possible that the radiator is clogged internally because the wrong type of coolant was used or it was filled with high mineral content water, but this is fairly rare. However, if you suspect this is the case you can have the radiator flushed.