some problems

[Caliburnes]

I moved this thread from Right here as it fits maintenance better than the lounge. So if something doesn't make sense maybe look there. I tried to get everything but may have left stuff out. aznlonewolf135 brought this to my attention.

Sorry for all the questions and I know I have alot but now that I have something going I have so many more. Also I bought this car because the average engine life seemed way better than the little neon I was driving before. And I needed something more reliable to leave with my wife when I go to drill in saltlake in the winters and be able to drive down when it's not bad weather.

This brings another question. What is a good life milage wise out of one of these cars if it's well taken car of? And do they leak oil very often? Gosh long reply but thanks for all of the help so far. Maybe some of you are like me and even if you've said it a hundred times if it's something you like then you could talk about it a hundred more.

So I did some checking while the engine was running today for a vacuum leak or intake leak because the idle is so bad. I can hear air coming from what may be the IAC? I'm not sure what it's called but it sits right on top of the actual intake manifold where the throttle body connects to it. I'm not sure what it's called but it's round and has a hose going from it. Anyway it sounds like its sucking air and not leaking it but the wind was terrible and my hands were freezing so I couldn't tell. But is this supposed to do that all the time? I mean it's kind of loud and makes tracking other leaks harder. Also either just before I started the car or just after shutting it off it set the check engine light. When I looked at freeze frame data the code was set with no engine rpm 's but the code was a p1174, which I did find a couple people talking about, but this means I have a bad vacuum leak somewhere. Anyway if anyone has suggestions it would help. Even with my other questions. I am limited on time to look but have 2 weeks to get this car running good enough to drive to salt lake.

The next thing is I drove the car from where I bought it 150 miles back home with no problem. However this evening when I only drove about 10 miles to the store and stopped there was coolant leaking and spilling like it had overheated, but it wasn't alot and the dash gauge was sitting fine. Now the weather around here has been mid 30's low 40's but the guge shows the car warms up fairly quickly. Could the thermostat be bad cause it to spill out of the overflow? When I drove to my parents house stayed a few hours and then drove the 15 miles total back nothing happened then. This was kind of weird usually when my vehicles have overheated they do it consistantly. As for the overflow on the side of the radiator how full should that be? And could the cap be going bad to cause it to overflow?

[aznlonewolf135]

be concise and I understand that a lot of data can be good but state your scenario and then your questions separately when possible..and post pictures they are truly worth a thousand words...most questions only need a sentences but if post is long and hard to follow you probably wont' get...

check out realoem.com it has a lot of great diagrams if you can't post pictures of what you (look in your door frame for the exact month production of your car)

there seems to be 2 generations of these cars 92-95 with the m42 engine and 96-99 with the m44 depending on the issue it might matter

I'm not sure what the big round thing you are referring to is called but I've had that leak on me as well with poor idling and the occasional engine light...

the rivets seem to go bad and I just drilled them out and used bolts to hold the housing together...

In these cars and in my experience when the thermostat fails it generally gets stuck open and has a hard time warming up and staying warm on the freeways

There's also an infamous plastic housing that eventually fails without warning...there's a cooling system rebuild thread you could check out for more pointers

Lastly in the swap section, under useful links, I posted a link in which you can download the bently bmw manual it's a 90 mb PDF

[Caliburnes]

Originally Posted by aznlonewolf135

be concise and I understand that a lot of data can be good but state your scenario and then your questions separately when possible..and post pictures they are truly worth a thousand words...most questions only need a sentences but if post is long and hard to follow you probably wont' get...

check out realoem.com it has a lot of great diagrams if you can't post pictures of what you (look in your door frame for the exact month production of your car)

there seems to be 2 generations of these cars 92-95 with the m42 engine and 96-99 with the m44 depending on the issue it might matter

I'm not sure what the big round thing you are referring to is called but I've had that leak on me as well with poor idling and the occasional engine light...

the rivets seem to go bad and I just drilled them out and used bolts to hold the housing together...

In these cars and in my experience when the thermostat fails it generally gets stuck open and has a hard time warming up and staying warm on the freeways

There's also an infamous plastic housing that eventually fails without warning...there's a cooling system rebuild thread you could check out for more pointers

Lastly in the swap section, under useful links, I posted a link in which you can download the bently bmw manual it's a 90 mb PDF

Sorry I did make it confusing. I had moved these thoughts and questions from the lounge thread because they are better suited here. But I was having terrible internet at work, which happens everyday, and everytime I tried to modify it it froze. So I just copied and pasted before it froze, I was even lucky to do that.

With Mallards super awesome vin decoding I was able to get the production date of 07-15-1997. Which I knew it was a 97 but didn't know exact date. So it is an m44. I will get pics of the item I am talking about. However an pretty sure it is the CCVV (crank case vent valve) as finding another post with a similar problem. The one listed as the part on pelican parts.com here pelican parts.com seems to mount with bolts going through the top rather than bolts coming from the bottom on my original. This does seem to be an improvement. I don't think it's 2 different parts but I am going to check to make sure.

I guess I didn't see rivets in mine but maybe they are covered up. Unless you meant the rivets to be in something else I had been talking about.

The plastic housing you are talking about is that for the thermostat housing? I did find a post on two plastic coolant tubes that fail and should be replaced Here in this thread and I am thinking about doing those as I have 150k miles and am not sure if they ever were replaced when the water pump went out on the previous owner.

As for the manual I will be downloading it stat. I never knew bently and BMW were related. I had known a few things about bimmers when in college and always liked them, but I finally have one of my own.

[cooljess76]

The rivets he spoke of were a different part entirely. I'm pretty sure he was refering to the secondary air pump. Mine did exactly what he described and my fix was to replace the rivets with screws and nuts.

If you suspect a vacuum leak, the best way to track it down is with brake cleaner. Don't use carb cleaner as it's not as combustable and it will dry out plastic and rubber parts. I suggest starting the car, letting the engine idle. While the engine is running, take a can of brake cleaner and spray it all around the driver's side of the engine and intake. While you're doing this, listen for fluctuations in the idle. It should be very obvious if you hear the rpm's go, you know you've located a leak. The engine will suck in the brake cleaner vapors and they will combust causing the engine to rev higher. Pay extra close attention to the ribbed rubber intake boot between the MAF and the throttle body. This boot is known to dry out and crack in between the seams. It's usually not visible to the naked eye, but it lets enough air in to cause misfires and such. Spray brake cleaner all over that boot. Try to get the underside as well.

If you're hearing a hissing sound, it's often an indication of a clogged CCV which is a black plastic disc located just behind the intake manifold. This disc will have a hose going from it to the rear of the valve cover. On the underside of the disc, there's a little slot or orifice. You might be able to place your finger under the orifice and hear the hiss change tones. If this is the case, you should replace the CCV. Many have tried to clean it, but they usually become so frail and brittle, that they fall apart as soon as you try to disassemble it. Hope that helps. Good luck!

[Caliburnes]

Originally Posted by cooljess76

The rivets he spoke of were a different part entirely. I'm pretty sure he was refering to the secondary air pump. Mine did exactly what he described and my fix was to replace the rivets with screws and nuts.

If you suspect a vacuum leak, the best way to track it down is with brake cleaner. Don't use carb cleaner as it's not as combustable and it will dry out plastic and rubber parts. I suggest starting the car, letting the engine idle. While the engine is running, take a can of brake cleaner and spray it all around the driver's side of the engine and intake. While you're doing this, listen for fluctuations in the idle. It should be very obvious if you hear the rpm's go, you know you've located a leak. The engine will suck in the brake cleaner vapors and they will combust causing the engine to rev higher. Pay extra close attention to the ribbed rubber intake boot between the MAF and the throttle body. This boot is known to dry out and crack in between the seams. It's usually not visible to the naked eye, but it lets enough air in to cause misfires and such. Spray brake cleaner all over that boot. Try to get the underside as well.

If you're hearing a hissing sound, it's often an indication of a clogged CCV which is a black plastic disc located just behind the intake manifold. This disc will have a hose going from it to the rear of the valve cover. On the underside of the disc, there's a little slot or orifice. You might be able to place your finger under the orifice and hear the hiss change tones. If this is the case, you should replace the CCV. Many have tried to clean it, but they usually become so frail and brittle, that they fall apart as soon as you try to disassemble it. Hope that helps. Good luck!

where is this secondary air pump? I can only here the bad hissing from the ccvv so I don't know of anything else making noise.

Gosh I wish I had thought of that. I was using brake clean today to clean oil off the front of the engin (the last jack-wagon from jiffylube who did the previous owners oil change didn't tighten the oil filter cap all the way down and it was spitting oil pretty heavy out of it) Luckily it was on tight enough not to come out while driving but it did spit about 3/4 a quart out of there before I realized it after driving it home. So I guess monday I will do that but I am pretty sure it's the ccvv because I can plug the whole and it changes. It does look like that one on pelican parts is an improvement because it has holes all the way through it or is the picture of the bottom side?

I did visually inspect the boot between maf and throttle body. It looks sort of new to me so it may have been replaced already. But it could have jsut been cleaned well so I will spray it and see if idle changes. If not I will do better visual.

On an awesome note I am planning on buying a new radiator for 50 and some door panels from a guy possibly a couple other things to. My interioe is grey fabric and his is black leather but I think it will look good once installed.

[cooljess76]

The secondary air pump is located just aft of the airbox underneath the MAF and intake boot. It's a black plastic pancake shaped part composed of several stacked plates which make up the housing. It's held together with 6 aluminum rivets. The secondary air pump was only used on '96 and later models. '95's were OBDI and didn't have them. Some '96's didn't even have them IIRC. FWIW, the secondary air pump only runs for the first 30 seconds or so after a cold start up. If it makes any noise at all, it'll be during that first few seconds.

As for the intake boot, I've seen some that "looked" new, but still leaked. Usually if you take them off, you could spread the pleats with your fingers and see the cracks, but not always.

Funny you mentioned the filter housing cap and a oily mess on your engine. The oil filter housings are also known to leak. This is a fairly simple fix. Usually it's the rubber o-rings that become hard and flat causing the housing to leak. However this isn't the o-rings under the cap, you have to remove the filter housing itself from the side of the engine block. This will require you to remove the alternator and possibly the power steering pump pulley. Once the filter housing is off, you'll either see a metal cylindrical piece attached to the housing that recesses into the engine block(if you have a '95) or a plastic removable cylindrical piece which is called a "bush", but is actually a check valve. Remove that piece and it should have two o-rings on it. Note the direction it was installed, because you don't want to install it backwards. Replace the two o-rings as well as the paper gasket that seals the housing to the block and you should be good to go for another hundred thousand miles. There's a good writeup on this located in the knowledge base section of this forum.

When you replace the radiator, or any cooling system component FTM, IT'S VERY IMPORTANT to PROPERLY bleed the cooling system. I can't stress this enough. Failure to do so will result in air getting trapped in the system causing whats known as vapor lock. Vapor lock prevents the coolant from circulating through the radiator and engine and will ultimately cause your engine to overheat and the headgasket to fail which could also lead to a warped or cracked cylinder head. There's a good writeup on how to properly bleed your cooling system located in the knowledge base section. I strongly suggest that you read it 10 times, print it out and follow it step by step repeating the process several times immediately after performing any maintenance on the cooling system. The cooling system is by far the weakest link on these cars and failure to address maintenance or repairs on this system will cost BIG money and headaches later down the road.

[Caliburnes]

Originally Posted by cooljess76

The secondary air pump is located just aft of the airbox underneath the MAF and intake boot. It's a black plastic pancake shaped part composed of several stacked plates which make up the housing. It's held together with 6 aluminum rivets. The secondary air pump was only used on '96 and later models. '95's were OBDI and didn't have them. Some '96's didn't even have them IIRC. FWIW, the secondary air pump only runs for the first 30 seconds or so after a cold start up. If it makes any noise at all, it'll be during that first few seconds.

As for the intake boot, I've seen some that "looked" new, but still leaked. Usually if you take them off, you could spread the pleats with your fingers and see the cracks, but not always.

Funny you mentioned the filter housing cap and a oily mess on your engine. The oil filter housings are also known to leak. This is a fairly simple fix. Usually it's the rubber o-rings that become hard and flat causing the housing to leak. However this isn't the o-rings under the cap, you have to remove the filter housing itself from the side of the engine block. This will require you to remove the alternator and possibly the power steering pump pulley. Once the filter housing is off, you'll either see a metal cylindrical piece attached to the housing that recesses into the engine block(if you have a '95) or a plastic removable cylindrical piece which is called a "bush", but is actually a check valve. Remove that piece and it should have two o-rings on it. Note the direction it was installed, because you don't want to install it backwards. Replace the two o-rings as well as the paper gasket that seals the housing to the block and you should be good to go for another hundred thousand miles. There's a good writeup on this located in the knowledge base section of this forum.

When you replace the radiator, or any cooling system component FTM, IT'S VERY IMPORTANT to PROPERLY bleed the cooling system. I can't stress this enough. Failure to do so will result in air getting trapped in the system causing whats known as vapor lock. Vapor lock prevents the coolant from circulating through the radiator and engine and will ultimately cause your engine to overheat and the headgasket to fail which could also lead to a warped or cracked cylinder head. There's a good writeup on how to properly bleed your cooling system located in the knowledge base section. I strongly suggest that you read it 10 times, print it out and follow it step by step repeating the process several times immediately after performing any maintenance on the cooling system. The cooling system is by far the weakest link on these cars and failure to address maintenance or repairs on this system will cost BIG money and headaches later down the road.

Well then I will check the boot over again. And I don't think the secondary air pump is leaking but again I cant hear much over the ccvv.

As for the oil leak that info helps and I may just replace those o-rings anyway when I do the radiator because I will be in that are a already. Is there a kit for that? If not it's probably all seperate I assume. I did just pull up the diagram for it on real oem. But for the leak and am sure it was the cap not on tight enough. I was able to tighten it more by hand when I got home. It must have worked more loose n the drive because it wasn't leaking when I got to the car to buy it as I checked that. But oil was heavy around the lip of the cap. Is that the only common oil leak for these? I had a bunch of oil underneath and it made a mess all the way back from leaking out that cap so once I got it in the air I had no way to see if anything else was wet because everything was wet. So if I need to watch for something else I would like to know.

I also did read that a couple times to blead the system really good. But I will find the thread and read it better. Could not bleeding it take the radiator out? The previous owner had jsut had the water pump rplaced but it probably wasnt by a BMW tech so they probably didn't bleed it good enough. I will have to certainly do that so I don't get a warped head. When it's vapor locked on this engine does the hot air trick the temp gauge and it looks like the engine is running cool enough? Also would this cause my engine to warm up fast but hold steady or do these cars warm up fast as it is? Gosh so many questions but yer a big help I really want this car up so I can go show it off.

[cooljess76]

I never suggested that your secondary air pump was leaking or faulty, aznlonewolf135 did and I was just clarifying that you and him had a little misunderstanding concerning parts.

As for the oil leak, if you're sure it was the cap leaking and you already cleaned your motor, just keep an eye on the area directly in front of the filter housing and on the side/front of the engine block. If you notice it accumulating oil, then perhaps it's time to replace the check valve o-rings and paper gasket. There's other areas that are know to leak. Second place that comes to mind are the spark plug seals. If you notice oil pooling up in the spark plug holes, that's a sure indication that one or more of the spark plug seals has failed. This also can cause a misfire if the plug wire connection becomes submerged in oil. These seals require removal of the valve cover to replace which means you'll also need to replace the valve cover gasket. Sometimes people overtorque the oil pan plug. The oil pans are made of aluminum and the plug is steel. If overtorqued, it can easily strip the threads on the pan or in some cases can even crack it. You don't want to do this as replacing the oil pan will require lifting the engine and possibly removing the transmission. It's a royal PITA, so be careful not to overtorque it. I know you said you cleaned the engine off around the filter housing, but did you clean the bottom of the engine? I ask because if you drive the car with a big enough oil leak, a lot of the oil gets swept under the car and can end up on the transmission and exhaust. This can mask or give a false indication of a rear crank seal failure. When the rear crank seal goes, you'll see motor oil dripping from the back of the engine where it mates up with the transmission.

I'd say you have a pretty good grasp at what happens during a vapor locked cooling system. You're right on spot. A vapor locked system will overpressurize causing anything weak to fail. In a best case scenario, the radiator will crack right where it meets the expansion tank. In a worst case scenario, the headgasket will fail. A vapor locked system can absolutely "trick" the temp sensor as it won't be submerged in coolant, just hot air. This can easily damage the sensor.

There's also a couple plastic coolant fittings that are known to fail. If your car is a '95, it doesn't have a "Y" fitting on the back of the head. If it's a '96 or newer, it does. They all have the "octopus" fitting on the driver's side of the engine block. These two fittings are know to crack and dump all of the coolant in a matter of seconds. I highly suggest replacing the entire cooling system all in one shot so you don't have to keep bleeding it everytime you replace something. The whole system including the radiator could be replaced for under 400 bucks over a weekend. There's a good writeup in the knowledge base called "cooling system rebuild". It has all of the part numbers as well as photos, steps etc. Don't purchase the two plastic fittings from an aftermarket supplier. Only use Genuine BMW parts on the two plastic fittings. The aftermarket ones are not a perfect fit and will leak.

The thermostat and water pump should be replaced as well if they haven't already. When you remove the water pump, you don't want to pry it out. Doing so can easily result in damaging the timing cover and/or marring the opening around the water pump. The water pump has two threaded holes designed to pull the water pump out by threading bolts into the holes. However, I've never seen this accomplished successfully. Usually the water pump housing just shatters and you still run the risk of damaging the timing cover. Trust me when I say that you do not want to replace a timing cover. Instead of using the extraction hole method or prying, I recommend using a big ass pair of channel lock pliers. After all of the bolts are removed, grip the water pump with the pliers, then rotate it side to side in a clockwise/couterclockwise motion. This will loosen the fat ass o-ring that seals it in the engine. While you're rotating it, slowly start working it forward and out of the engine.

Once you've replaced everything that you're going to replace, follow my step by step procedure for bleeding the system to the "T". It will take several attempts to get all of the air out of the system. This will require you to bleed it, drive around the block, park it on the same hill, let it cool and repeat it over and over again. Make sure you have the engine idling, the heater on full blast and the bleed screw removed while you're filling the expansion tank to the brim with coolant. Air won't start coming out of the bleed hole until the coolant reaches the top of the fill hole almost to the point that it overflows. Don't worry, after you drive it, it will level out. When it cools off, the coolant level should be somewhere around the "Kalt" line. Kalt means cold in German. You can't overfill the cooling system. I don't know where the coolant goes, but it always seems to level off. If everything was done correctly, you should have super hot air coming out of your heater vents. You shouldn't be able to keep your hand in front of the vent for more than a few seconds without it getting too hot. That's how you know you've done a good job. On the other hand, if you ever notice that the air coming out of your heater vents only gets warm, then you probably have started to develop vapor lock. If the airflow is weak, you probably need to replace the cabin filters.

And finally, just a heads up, the power steering system doesn't use power steering fluid. It uses automatic transmission fluid(ATF). I don't know why, but our steering racks use ATF. The brake and clutch still uses regular brake fluid, so don't get the two mixed up. Power steering resevior is located in front of the alternator and the brake resevior/master cylinder is located on the brake booster mounted on the firewall.

[Caliburnes]

Originally Posted by cooljess76

I never suggested that your secondary air pump was leaking or faulty, aznlonewolf135 did and I was just clarifying that you and him had a little misunderstanding concerning parts.

As for the oil leak, if you're sure it was the cap leaking and you already cleaned your motor, just keep an eye on the area directly in front of the filter housing and on the side/front of the engine block. If you notice it accumulating oil, then perhaps it's time to replace the check valve o-rings and paper gasket. There's other areas that are know to leak. Second place that comes to mind are the spark plug seals. If you notice oil pooling up in the spark plug holes, that's a sure indication that one or more of the spark plug seals has failed. This also can cause a misfire if the plug wire connection becomes submerged in oil. These seals require removal of the valve cover to replace which means you'll also need to replace the valve cover gasket. Sometimes people overtorque the oil pan plug. The oil pans are made of aluminum and the plug is steel. If overtorqued, it can easily strip the threads on the pan or in some cases can even crack it. You don't want to do this as replacing the oil pan will require lifting the engine and possibly removing the transmission. It's a royal PITA, so be careful not to overtorque it. I know you said you cleaned the engine off around the filter housing, but did you clean the bottom of the engine? I ask because if you drive the car with a big enough oil leak, a lot of the oil gets swept under the car and can end up on the transmission and exhaust. This can mask or give a false indication of a rear crank seal failure. When the rear crank seal goes, you'll see motor oil dripping from the back of the engine where it mates up with the transmission.

I'd say you have a pretty good grasp at what happens during a vapor locked cooling system. You're right on spot. A vapor locked system will overpressurize causing anything weak to fail. In a best case scenario, the radiator will crack right where it meets the expansion tank. In a worst case scenario, the headgasket will fail. A vapor locked system can absolutely "trick" the temp sensor as it won't be submerged in coolant, just hot air. This can easily damage the sensor.

There's also a couple plastic coolant fittings that are known to fail. If your car is a '95, it doesn't have a "Y" fitting on the back of the head. If it's a '96 or newer, it does. They all have the "octopus" fitting on the driver's side of the engine block. These two fittings are know to crack and dump all of the coolant in a matter of seconds. I highly suggest replacing the entire cooling system all in one shot so you don't have to keep bleeding it everytime you replace something. The whole system including the radiator could be replaced for under 400 bucks over a weekend. There's a good writeup in the knowledge base called "cooling system rebuild". It has all of the part numbers as well as photos, steps etc. Don't purchase the two plastic fittings from an aftermarket supplier. Only use Genuine BMW parts on the two plastic fittings. The aftermarket ones are not a perfect fit and will leak.

The thermostat and water pump should be replaced as well if they haven't already. When you remove the water pump, you don't want to pry it out. Doing so can easily result in damaging the timing cover and/or marring the opening around the water pump. The water pump has two threaded holes designed to pull the water pump out by threading bolts into the holes. However, I've never seen this accomplished successfully. Usually the water pump housing just shatters and you still run the risk of damaging the timing cover. Trust me when I say that you do not want to replace a timing cover. Instead of using the extraction hole method or prying, I recommend using a big ass pair of channel lock pliers. After all of the bolts are removed, grip the water pump with the pliers, then rotate it side to side in a clockwise/couterclockwise motion. This will loosen the fat ass o-ring that seals it in the engine. While you're rotating it, slowly start working it forward and out of the engine.

Once you've replaced everything that you're going to replace, follow my step by step procedure for bleeding the system to the "T". It will take several attempts to get all of the air out of the system. This will require you to bleed it, drive around the block, park it on the same hill, let it cool and repeat it over and over again. Make sure you have the engine idling, the heater on full blast and the bleed screw removed while you're filling the expansion tank to the brim with coolant. Air won't start coming out of the bleed hole until the coolant reaches the top of the fill hole almost to the point that it overflows. Don't worry, after you drive it, it will level out. When it cools off, the coolant level should be somewhere around the "Kalt" line. Kalt means cold in German. You can't overfill the cooling system. I don't know where the coolant goes, but it always seems to level off. If everything was done correctly, you should have super hot air coming out of your heater vents. You shouldn't be able to keep your hand in front of the vent for more than a few seconds without it getting too hot. That's how you know you've done a good job. On the other hand, if you ever notice that the air coming out of your heater vents only gets warm, then you probably have started to develop vapor lock. If the airflow is weak, you probably need to replace the cabin filters.

And finally, just a heads up, the power steering system doesn't use power steering fluid. It uses automatic transmission fluid(ATF). I don't know why, but our steering racks use ATF. The brake and clutch still uses regular brake fluid, so don't get the two mixed up. Power steering resevior is located in front of the alternator and the brake resevior/master cylinder is located on the brake booster mounted on the firewall.

Wow thanks you really know your stuff.

I did spray off the bottom of the engine. I work at a ford dealer and was able to use one of the lifts there. I thought about that and cleaned as much off the bottom as possible because I had no way to tell if anything else was leaking due to so much oil being blown all the way back to the tranny.

I am certainly going to bleed the system because I see the gauge get "hot" but the engine really isn't because the heater is blowing normal air. I did just pick up an almost brand new radiator today that has about 100 miles on it. I think my radiator is leaking from the corner right next to the expansion tank where the aluminium attaches to the plastic.

I had read about those two hoses and plan on changing them along with the radiator. Mine is a 97 so it has both. I did find the cooling system rebuild post and have read through it. The water pump was replaced just before I bought it and the pulley is still shiny. I didn't check all the pages yet but is the bleed procedure you said in the cooling system rebuild thread? I can't find it when searching either.

[cooljess76]

Cool man, I think you're gonna love working on this car. I've got my hands dirty on all sorts of cars, but the 318ti is one of the easiest and most enjoyable cars to maintain and wrench on. There's been times when I didn't have a good understanding on how something worked or functioned, perhaps it wasn't covered in the manual, and I just had to wing it. I've found that in most cases, I just think of the most logical way it should function and sure enough, that's how BMW engineered it, lol.

It seems like you're headed in the right direction too as far as maintenance/preventative maintenance goes. Most people get these cars and the first thing they concern themselves with is making it look better or making if faster. I like the fact that you're doing your research and you have access to a shop/tools/lift. Anyway, here's the bleed procedure:
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=27983

[teetime4one]

Originally Posted by Caliburnes

I think my radiator is leaking from the corner right next to the expansion tank where the aluminium attaches to the plastic.

there is an O-ring at the bottom of the expansion tank that will leak. that's the culprit here.
sounds like you will solve the problem with the new radiator tho.

[Caliburnes]

I have only done a couple minor things to the car but so far I do agree it is easy to work on. I do enjoy working on cars anyway. I gotta say this is actually my first car that I own and bought myself. Every other car I have had was either a loaner or I got my wifes neon when we got together and I got an explorer for her when I got deployed. Everything before that was just friends cars I used for a bit and the explorer I drive but it was for my wife and daughter to have a reliable car while I was gone. So I think I made a great choice one a car here I can proudly say I paid in full with my hard earned cash.

I have not seen any oil leak since tightening the filter cap. Is there an easier cap to buy that has a ratchet slot on it or something? I used the claw at work from our lube bay to tighten this and it was still slipping off. Or is there a socket that fits them?

As for the radiator I will be replacing that yes. I don't think the oring is the problem. It split at the seem right at the top where the air would collect at. So I'm guessing it was driven after the water pump was installed without a proper bleed. Then the air acumulated by the bleed screw and split the seem. I think the bleed screw was bad anyway because it doesn't tighten it just spins. Radiator may be the original I'm not sure.

The next thing I need to get is hatch shocks and I found the thread on that one.

[cooljess76]

When I first got my car, the radiator was cracked in the same place you're describing. I think that's a common fail point. If you don't end up buying that used radiator locally, Behr makes OEM radiators which cost under $150.

You can find the oil filter cap wrench at your local auto parts store. There's different sizes, our cars use a "B". It cups over the filter cap and it should have a 3/8" drive so you could attach a ratchet to it, here's what it looks like:

[Caliburnes]

Originally Posted by cooljess76

When I first got my car, the radiator was cracked in the same place you're describing. I think that's a common fail point. If you don't end up buying that used radiator locally, Behr makes OEM radiators which cost under $150.

You can find the oil filter cap wrench at your local auto parts store. There's different sizes, our cars use a "B". It cups over the filter cap and it should have a 3/8" drive so you could attach a ratchet to it, here's what it looks like:

Oh I did get the used radiator and it's in sweet condition. $50 well spent I think. Today the radiator was pooring coolant out of the crack so I guess I will be putting the new one in this weekend.

For the oil filter cap I will be getting that tomorrow. I found the autozone part number and will get it cheap.

I guess I havn't looked for this one but do these have timing belts or chains? And how often should they be replaced? Ok I found the timing answer being a timing chain but is there a recomended replacement time?

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by Caliburnes

I guess I havn't looked for this one but do these have timing belts or chains? And how often should they be replaced?

Chains and I've never heard of one breaking on these cars. The plastic guides or front crank seal will likely wear out long before the chain snaps or stretches, at which time you could replace the chain at the same time.