Radiator or expansion tank??

[dva99999]

Hi all,

I’m having trouble finding where the leak is coming from. It’s obvious it’s coming from one point but looking at the other end of the radiator it looks like more fluid is coming from there albeit slowly.

Is this the symptom of an expansion leak?

I noticed that the fan shroud hadn’t been fitted properly on the driver side so it looks like at some point someone has had this off.

I’m based in Wirral if anyone is local or can give me a pointer.



Thanks in advance

 

[patriot66]

Had exactly this conundrum with mine only a few weeks ago. Eventually found the radiator was weeping from the join between metal and plastic about 3 or 4 inches up from the drain plug as indicated below. It was the original '03 radiator. Fitted a new EIS radiator from EuroCarParts

 

[dva99999]

Thank you…how easy was it to fit the new radiator? I have an auto.

I also noticed there was no overheating when I’ve been driving it and no sensors have picked anything up.

 

[patriot66]

Thank you…how easy was it to fit the new radiator? I have an auto.

I also noticed there was no overheating when I’ve been driving it and no sensors have picked anything up.

Depends how handy you are with the spanners. You'll have to remove the top rad shroud, jack the car up, undertray off, drain coolant. Unclip all hoses, remove expansion tank, remove fan shroud and fan assembly (one piece and easy enough) then you can remove rad. The auto gearbox has a small intercooler that clips on a bracket down on that corner of the rad in your photo which is the only difference from a manual car. Reassemble everything, fill with coolant and bleed the system. If it's just dripping/weeping and the coolant level doesn't drop enough to trigger the level sensor then it won't put the warning light on. It will only overheat if the loss of coolant is quite significant

 

[dva99999]

Sounds good….if that’s the case I’ll do the OFH gasket at the same time. I did this on my Z3 2.8 and a 5 series so my guess is that the procedure won’t be that much different. PITA getting the fan off and on though
Thank you