Hi All,

Radiator failed on my 06 550i driving home from work the other night. Stopped immediately and has it flat bedded in. Thank God for AAA.

Per my indie, apparently a split in the aluminum developed in the upper hose coupling. Thought it was unusual that the radiator would just fail like that as the car only has 89k miles on the odo at the moment. Anyone else aware of this as a common point of failure? The mechanics at the repair shot indicated that this problem is not unusual with BMWs.

Thanks!

 

you know, you can call a tow company without having aaa.

 

Thank you Captain Obvious!

 

It's a common issue with newer radiators as they use aluminum, it's sell expensive than copper.

 

Copper rads used to crack on tanks and necks would crack at solder joints. Al rads actually go longer before they do it and also run higher pressure radiator caps (actually tank caps in our cars).
The part that is frustrating to me is that for the 30 years that Al cores with plastic tanks have been around and have been cracking tanks, cracking hose necks, and leaking at crimp of core to tanks I figured the all aluminum radiators would do none of that......I guessed wrong.

 

Wife's 2009 X5 with 70K miles is on its third radiator. No off-road use and no accidents. First replacement was under warranty. Second replacement was last year out of warranty. X5 radiator is expensive compared to E60. But, at least it is easy to replace.

 

Of all the components under the hood, the radiator is one of the last things one would expect to outright fail given current automotive engineering knowledge and technology. As much as I love driving this car I'm having serious second thoughts around it's longer term viability as a daily driver.

 

And to add insult to injury, the PDC is now malfunctioning. I suspect something got disconnected during the replacement of the radiator.

 

and i'm hesitant to get a newer bmw, since all the motors are turboed now. just think of all the turbo, injector, and fuel issues that will come with those, as they get some miles on them. heck, i've heard of many low mileage ones already having these issues.

 

Wanna know how BMW is getting 40mpg+ out of that little turbo four cylinder?

They're running them super hot. Most people know that engines run more efficiently the hotter they run. BMW currently has the N20 thermostat set to open at 250 degrees F. I hesitate to buy one too, as running a motor that hot is not a recipe for longevity.

My next car will likely be a '13 128i. After that I'm going electric, hopefully with a Tesla Model 3.