Saturday, October 1, 2011

A Pesky Coolant Hose

A coolant leak developed recently in the hose from the water pump to the intake manifold, evidenced by antifreeze leaking on the engine.  Feeling around, I detected what felt like a pinhole underneath the hose.  I was too annoyed to a photo of the old offending piece but did order the replacement, shown here as # 2. 

Parts diagram 

What arrived was a straight piece of hose, not the one pictured above. It seemed to fit but looked awkward. Sure enough, upon installation, the neck began to leak at the manifold.  I wondered at first if the neck had cracked but that wasn't the problem. The hose didn't join to the manifold properly and was sent straight back to BMW.

A second attempt to order the correct hose (#11531266474) brought us an S-shaped item, designed for later manifolds.  Not serviceable either.  So BMW stocks two different hoses with the same part number, neither of them useful.

The mechanics at Eurocar Service custom-cut another piece of hose, a longer one.  That fit nicely and the leak stopped. I should add that they used some sealant as well.  Given that they initially installed the wrong hose I wasn't charged for the work.  A good deal all around.


The new hose; the damned camera flash sure makes the engine look rusty

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