96 323 Radiator

[davidaln9]

I was just looking through some old posts and saw a pic of your clean engine 96_323
Well 1 thing I noticed is your radiator expansion tank is on the right hand side where mines on the left so whos is standard lol

[96_323]

Cheers, when i bought it a year and half ago it was spotless but gave it a clean the day i took that picture. Wasn't too much work either, i tend to avoid puddles and mainly do alot of motorway driving so it just doesn't get that dirty.
Is yours a left hand drive or right hand drive?

[davidaln9]

Right hand also stupid me didn't at first notice till after I had written the post yours is a coupe where mines a sedan but then I also read somewhere they were spose to be identical upto the A piller ... maybe thats just the panels and not whats under the bonnet

[96_323]

Yea i heard the same thing but it must be just body work that is the same.
You would imagine they would use the same layout radiator for the coupe and the saloon.

[davidaln9]

Speaking of radiators how do you bleed the system do you know?
I get a messaget to check coolant level everytime I start and stop the car it goes out after a few seconds just annoying has always done this since I got the car. Fluid level is ok and temp gauge sits at 12 oclock.
I read that it needs bleeding several times after changing.

[96_323]

Yea if you fill up the system completely
1) Put the pressure cap back on the radiator
2) Start the engine
3) open the bleed screw beside the pressure cap and let it sit for a while
4) give the car a slight bit of reving 1500-2000rpm
5) let engine idle for a while till its warm and then final reving to 2500-3000rpm
6) Close bleed screw
7) once the engine is cold check the coolant level and top up whats needed to get it too the -COLD- level mark.

Have you done a coolant flush at all recently?

[davidaln9]

just bought the car from car yard and they had given it a service or so they said ... oil was still red anyway..... so I guessing they did coolant to theres plenty in the reserve bottle

[96_323]

Most garages will say they have done a service on it but really all they do is do a fluid change on it.
Iv always insisted that unless the service stamps are from a BMW dealer dont belive them. When i was working in the garage i used to bring my mates cars in for a service and if they were missing any stamps i would stamp them for them and im pretty sure im not the only person in the world that does that.
If i ever buy a 2nd hand car the 1st thing i do is get the seller to knock €200 off the price of the car, oil, brakes, filters (oil, air, fuel, pollen etc etc) Fluids alone can run a bill as high as €200. Then when i get the car i wont push it hard till iv done a complete check of the car and a thorough, competent service. Its fairly pointless pushing a car to its limits when the fuel filter hasn't been changed since 2001 or the coolant is a winter mixture thats been in the car for 3 years.
Pushing a car thats regularly serviced to its limits on a weekly basis is fine. Pushing a car to its limits when it hasn't had a proper full "service inspection II" done in half a decade is just down right stupid and will end up with a premature death of the engine or diff or gearbox.

[davidaln9]

And who fully trusts a used car salesman ay ..... I would be guessing that they have just done engine oil and maybe the radiator fluid. Just looking at the engine oil on the dipstick is a fairly good clue that thats been changed it was a nice clean red colour. After a couple of thou K's it still fairly clean looking not to bad for a car thats done 160K .... well compared to jap and aussie cars that damn near turn the oil black in the bottle b4 you put it in lol.
But back to the service thing it was done by a well respected euro specialist in town but like you say only 1 way to be sure and thats to do it all yourself.
It's nice to have a car again that I can give a bit of a service to I remember my FTO it couldn't even do the plugs it was a V6 and the inlet manifold injectors etc was covering the rear bank so it was a major job to change them.

[96_323]

Its really up to yourself to judge, personally i don't trust anybody thats in the position to make money or save money by telling me a little white lie. If you have written proof of it been serviced then a little phone call to the garage wouldn't hurt. Just pretend your looking to buy it and want to confirm a recent service done on it by them.
Yea iv the same engine in my Mitsi Legnum VR4 and the back plugs take a good 20-30mins work just to get to them.