E36 troubles with my rad

[bimmerE36]

Hey guys quick question. The past couple weeks ive been driving my car one day i see smoke. Pop the hood and the upper part of the rad hose popped off. So I put it back on and tightened the hose clamp and filled. Lately every couple days that hose pops off. I bought a new hose clamp and tightened it and it popped off again this morning!!!

Ideas? Suggestions? Thoughts?

[E36is]

is the rad neck still intact and measures 2" in length? if not, then somewhere down the line the neck cracked and the barb end is missing so that is why its sliding off. (common problem with e36 rad necks)

[BmW1819]

order up a rad

[1BADBMR]

Replace your rad with an aluminum one. My car had 230,000km when the neck of the rad cracked and left me on the side of the road.
While your at it, change your thermostat housing to an aluminum as well

[bimmerE36]

Wheres a good place to get a rad decently priced?

[DANIMAL]

+1 on aluminum rad. Its a bit more expensive but well worth it. I would also second the need to replace the thermostat housing with a alu one.

While you are in there check that the thermostat itself functions and is not stuck. As well check the water pump (some on the E36 are plastic and tend to disintegrate) replace with metal or composite version, even if its not broken (only a mater of time till it does). These are well known failure points on the E36 cooling system.

[E36is]

oem rad i got mine for 150.00 (behr), aluminum 2x that price.

[dcramer]

While you've got it all apart make sure the water pump doesn't have a plastic impeller as well.

Also I got my OEM rad from bimmerspecialist, at the time they only charged 6 bucks for shipping ( I'm sure that was a mistake,but it was in my favour)

[bimmerE36]

Alright will do. Thanks guys

[bimmerE36]

What is a good brand for rads? Nissens? Behr? I am looking at a couple online. What size do I need?

[dcramer]

goto bimmerspecialist.ca I just checked shipping is 10 bucks, Behr rad is 223 for an e36 M3

[bimmerE36]

That Rad will bolt into a E36 328i?

[dcramer]

Just go on their site, put in your car model and year and search cooling system for rad. Then you will get the correct rad. Only problem with bimmerspecialist is it will take at least a week to get it to you.

And I just happen to have 2 upper rad clips if you need them. Changing the rad is actually pretty easy, it kinda just slides in there.

The other stuff is harder to do, although once you get the fan off it's pretty straight forward. If you are gonna do it all, make sure you get the thermostat housing gaskets, new thermostat, aluminum housing. The pump is a crapshoot, you may already have a steel impeller in which case you don't need a new one.

[SiR]

make sure you order those two hoses...and new clamps...and well..you should probably do the water pump,tstat,tstat housing etc while you are in there.....id get a new expansion tank too etc....