OT: BMW radiator help..., coolant leak on my e30... Options

[cha914]

So my e30 has always had a slow coolant leak, never really thought much of it, would just add a little bit when it got low, but now it seems to be getting worse...

So I get the car up in the air and start poking around and find two open ports on the drivers side of the radiator???WTF??? There are no disconnected hoses, what the hell are these for, and why arn't they capped off?

My best guess is that this is a replacement radiator that is setup for a different car, auto tranny cooler maybe? Should I just cap them off, and if so, do I need any special caps? First watercooled car, still donno shit about the new fangled things (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/tongue.gif)

Thanks for the help, here are the pics:

From the bottom of the car you can see where the coolant was leaking onto the plastic undertray:

[cha914]

Here you can see both ports open...can't believe I have never noticed these before...one is on the bottom third of the radiator, the top one is up on the top third, mostly hidden by the airbox...

[iiibdsiil]

Auto tranny cooler, don't worry about plugging them.

[cha914]

How come they don't need to be plugged?

And if those arn't the cause of my leak, then where else should I look, all the hoses are in good shape, there was a small drip around the drain plug, but that didn't look bad....any other failure modes for these things?

Thanks for the help.

Tony

[iiibdsiil]

If they are auto tranny lines, which I am 99% sure they are, then the fluid that goes through there is seperate from you coolant. It should be sealed from the coolant. If it isn't, then you have a problem.

Do you smell coolant burning? If so, I would check your waterpump. The resivoir bottle could have a crack, one of the radiator hoses could be cracked, or something could just be not tight.

[cha914]

No, I don't smell coolant burning, and I definately see leaking (plus water pump is only 2yrs old), but it seems to only happen after I top up the system...it probably is the catch tank, or one of the lines, I will run through the system again tomorrow. It just freaked me out when I saw those open ports.

Thanks again,

[iiibdsiil]

You could check your heater core too. You should see water lines running into your firewall. Check for a wet passenger side floor. If it is leaking, you will probably see some wet on the car/motor.

[Kargeek]

Is your E30 a 318? Some of the 4 bangers had a problem with a "profile gasket" on the front of the engine. Get a pressure tester and see if you system holds pressure at both hot and cold. DH

[cha914]

Kargeek,

Its a 325, so I have the six, but I should probably test the system anyway, thanks for the tip...


iiibdsiil,

I will run down the heater core also...just hit 145K on this car, so i am sure there are some other items I am neglecting, luckly I was smart enough to do the timing belt/water pump right after I got it...now its just the little stuff...


Thanks again,

Tony