New member from North Carolina, USA
 

Hey. I am a new 318ti owner from North Carolina. I use to drive Nissan/Infinitis, then went up to BMW and love it! Its bought an paid for and is a 96. It has some problems, but overall is a great car w/222k on body but doesn't look like it and allegedly 70k on the new motor. I hope to get some help with getting the ti right, as I'm having some issues getting the low speed fan to kick on (only comes on with a/c on and already switched fuses)and a leak on the driver side end tank of the radiator. I'm all for giving back to the community and among the few ladies who dont mind getting dirty so any & all advice will be appreciated. Thanks for having me!
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...99779136_n.jpg

Welcometo the org. The radiator is probably leaking at the expansion tank. Common thing. The general sensus is to replace the radiator. Check the knowlege section for a detailed write up on a coolant system rebuild.

http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthrea...hlight=coolant

http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthrea...hlight=coolant

Yes, replacing the expansion tank will cost you about as much as replacing the whole radiator expansion tank unit. The cooling system is the weak link in these cars. Read up on the subject and replace the various components before they break. Overheating can be deadly to the engines. On all BMW's think preventive maintainence rather than repair. Ti's are fun little cars...enjoy.

Sure are a bunch of us new people in NC all of a sudden! It's this heat, we've all got Ti fever!

Welcome to the Org.
I replaced the O-ring at the bottom of my expansion tank. It solved the problem for right at five dollars.

Welcome!

Well anyone interested in the weekend of July 6-8 in Charlotte, NC

Welcome and good luck!

Thanks guys! I hope to get this car running right.

teetime4one, where is the o ring you speak of located at an how do you change it? I don't mind getting into some work if it will save me several hundred dollars in parts an labor for a new radiator.

The expansion tank is the clear plastic piece on the drivers side of the radiator. It is a pull out and push back in type tank. Once you have the black plastic piece on top of it out of the way, it will be free to remove. I took my radiator completely out when I removed my expansion tank O-Ring. So, not sure what a PITA it will be to remove while the radiator is still in the car.

03 Gasket ring D=77,0MM 1 (part# 17211712965) $4.37

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...89&hg=17&fg=05

Part #5 in the diagram needs to be removed to get the expansion tank out.
Have a body builder on hand when you do this...you're going to need a strong set of hands to pull it out.

"I'm pretty strong" ;)

But why isn't parts #13 & #14 listed? I'm curious to know what they are.

Welcome to the org.....!

^ TY!

Sometimes they'll use the same illustration for multiple vehicle models and other times they'll change the design of a certain part and/or discontinue it.

Understood!