[crosbycail]

I recently purchased a 2018 F32 440i and has so far been great... other than coming across a small hole in the front radiator that feeds coolant through the air to water intercooler. The main expansion tank appears to be holding its coolant level, however, the smaller tank for the intercooler pretty much drains minutes after being filled through the hole in the front of the radiator. My main concern, as I have been driving the vehicle like this and presumably so was the previous owner before I bought it, will this damage anything to have the second loop for the intercooler running dry? I’m not sure how these two loops that go to the intercooler, motor, and 2 separate radiators are plumbed. Just don’t want to damage the electric water pump or any other components before I can repair it, or replace it. Any insight will be appreciated, thanks!

[cfm56d7b]

Anything can be repaired but the larger question is whether the repair will last.

Suggest to replace it as soon as possible.

[jackstrath]

Car will get high intake temps but i suspect the ECU will pull timing and protect its self and shut down the engine if it was getting that bad.
IIRC the pumps are brushless so chances of them getting damaged are slim.

Best getting a new intercooler rad and fitting the rock gaurds that came on the later cars to stop this from happing.

[crosbycail]

Originally Posted by jackstrath

Car will get high intake temps but i suspect the ECU will pull timing and protect its self and shut down the engine if it was getting that bad.
IIRC the pumps are brushless so chances of them getting damaged are slim.

Best getting a new intercooler rad and fitting the rock gaurds that came on the later cars to stop this from happing.

Yea that’s what I’m thinking I’m gonna have to do as well. I’m going to give the dealership that I purchased the vehicle from a call to see if they will fix it, though not holding my breath on that one. Thanks for the info

[2017F30]

Best of luck OP hope it works out in your favour.

Made me place an order for a set of rock guards.

[vmaniqui]

good luck mate. I heard about that issue with the B58 so when I got mine, I decided to do a DIY rock guard for the radiators. here's what I did... I got a metal screen off the networking rack door and bought a rubber side clip off amazon to put all around as the sides are sharp with all the cut metal screen then I zip tied them.

[crosbycail]

Yea, think I’ll probably end up buying the OEM rock guards pictured here along with the position 2 radiator. I’m assuming they just screw or snap onto the plastic end caps of the radiator? Hope it’s not too much of a pain in the ass to get to this radiator if I end up doing the labor. Can’t find too many DIY’s for these cars.

[cfm56d7b]

crosbycail, what is the production date of your vehicle? BMW did include radiator guards after a certain production date. I suggest to call your local BMW dealer parts department to verify.

[crosbycail]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

crosbycail, what is the production date of your vehicle? BMW did include radiator guards after a certain production date. I suggest to call your local BMW dealer parts department to verify.

03/2017 is the production month & year, right at the beginning of the LCI models I believe. The part number for the radiator does not change on Realoem between the model with and model without rock guards. I’ll be buying a new one anyway though most likely so I should have to most recent part if any revisions were made.

[2017F30]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

crosbycail, what is the production date of your vehicle? BMW did include radiator guards after a certain production date. I suggest to call your local BMW dealer parts department to verify.

Just a matter of looking through the kidney grill and confirming whether they’re installed or not. Can’t miss.

[Boiler340]

Just went through something similar as the OP. No engine overheating, but no AC. Something pierced the low pressure radiator, driving a replacement (to include installing a rock guard).

Insurance covered some (comprehensive), but that was a tough bill to pay.

Hope you're able to get it squared away.

[crosbycail]

Does anyone know the location of the electric auxiliary water pump for the intercooler loop? I can’t find any pics online of a diagram that calls out where it’s located, although I’m assuming it’s probably not very fun to get to.

[crosbycail]

Originally Posted by Boiler340

Just went through something similar as the OP. No engine overheating, but no AC. Something pierced the low pressure radiator, driving a replacement (to include installing a rock guard).

Insurance covered some (comprehensive), but that was a tough bill to pay.

Hope you're able to get it squared away.

Yea I thought about that too, gave my insurance company a call to see if they’d be able to cover it under comprehensive coverage and the way they made it sound although they’ve yet to call me back to confirm, it isn’t covered. I’m taking the car back to the dealership where I bought it from next week and they’re going to do an inspection and *hopefully* repair it (on the house). If not I’ll have a fun little job to do

[colin2211]

this honestly should be a recall.....ive been dealing with this since day 1 on my 340.....i bought it brand new in 2017. Never got through one summer with out it failing

my 340 has had 4 intercoolers on it, basically 1 per year .....some lasted as little as 5k miles before i had another hole and my a/c was no longer working
you need a rock screen .....i pretty much gave up. Sad BMW never addressed the issue , ive filed many complaints with BMW NA....they just dont care especially since I now have 162k miles on mine. But then again they didnt care at 60k miles.

I'm due for another intercooler to make it #5 ....i didnt bother replacing it over the last 8 months because it was winter and the rock screen was back ordered from germany

[crosbycail]

Originally Posted by colin2211

this honestly should be a recall.....ive been dealing with this since day 1 on my 340.....i bought it brand new in 2017. Never got through one summer with out it failing

my 340 has had 4 intercoolers on it, basically 1 per year .....some lasted as little as 5k miles before i had another hole and my a/c was no longer working
you need a rock screen .....i pretty much gave up. Sad BMW never addressed the issue , ive filed many complaints with BMW NA....they just dont care especially since I now have 162k miles on mine. But then again they didnt care at 60k miles.

I'm due for another intercooler to make it #5 ....i didnt bother replacing it over the last 8 months because it was winter and the rock screen was back ordered from germany

I was luckily able to get mine replaced through the dealership I bought it from. It took no convincing surprisingly and they actually replaced my auxiliary radiator and main radiator in order to fit the new end modules necessary for the rock guards to snap in to. But I agree, it really should be a recall as more and more people are seemingly having this issue. Bought my car nearing the end of winter and didn’t really have any issues with the intercooler coolant system being dry until recently when it started warming up and got a few low intake air temp messages. I have 2 rock guards if you need them, currently in the process of returning but I can cancel it if yours are back ordered.

[colin2211]

Originally Posted by crosbycail

I was luckily able to get mine replaced through the dealership I bought it from. It took no convincing surprisingly and they actually replaced my auxiliary radiator and main radiator in order to fit the new end modules necessary for the rock guards to snap in to. But I agree, it really should be a recall as more and more people are seemingly having this issue. Bought my car nearing the end of winter and didn’t really have any issues with the intercooler coolant system being dry until recently when it started warming up and got a few low intake air temp messages. I have 2 rock guards if you need them, currently in the process of returning but I can cancel it if yours are back ordered.

the inter-cooler requires 2 rock screens? 2 pieces right ? Will they work , I still have the original primary radiator on mine
thanks

[Billfitz]

The lack of any meaningful protection for the radiator etc. is why I did this:

[im_an_alien]

I've always thought the grilles were too open too, a trip to home depot and some zip ties fixed that...

[Livetodrive]

im_an_alien - what screening did you use?

[im_an_alien]

Originally Posted by Livetodrive

im_an_alien - what screening did you use?

Did this in 2019, can't quite remember what it's meant for, but it's plastic and came in 2ft by 3ft IIRC. Just look up plastic hex mesh grill, there are tons of them..

[dmaxdmax]

Originally Posted by im_an_alien

Did this in 2019, can't quite remember what it's meant for, but it's plastic and came in 2ft by 3ft IIRC. Just look up plastic hex mesh grill, there are tons of them..

If you don't mind, I'd love the crib notes for this. I'm in a 2016...do not like that the OE fix requires, seemingly, the removal of radiators. Yours looks perfectly functional and discrete. Nicely done!

Pop grills out, ziptie hex grid in, covers back on?

[im_an_alien]

Originally Posted by dmaxdmax

If you don't mind, I'd love the crib notes for this. I'm in a 2016...do not like that the OE fix requires, seemingly, the removal of radiators. Yours looks perfectly functional and discrete. Nicely done!

Pop grills out, ziptie hex grid in, covers back on?

Removing the grilles would probably require removing the bumper, so my approach was to do it from behind (lol). For the lower center grill I went in from the bottom, removing the belly pan and placing the plastic mesh behind the grill then zip tying (after measuring and cutting to size of course). For the fog light grills I turned the wheel to create some space, then removed the wheel liner. If you have an aux radiator just unclip it and move it out if the way then place the mesh behind the grill then zip tie. The kidney grills are easiest, just pop one out and insert a rectangular piece and zip tie it to the V bar.