Laydeekrunk 0 Report post Posted August 25, 2012 I bought an e36 a couple of months ago. Was in bad shape when i bought it, the front bumper had been rear ended causing the radiator to be bent in at the bottom. Only recently i have noticed the radiator leaking from the bottom where the coolant/ water tank is on the side of the radiator. Is this fixable with a DIY kit? Have looked at replacing the whole radiator as I have to check the coolant and water level every day now. Car has overheated before but did bleed it out and top up the fluids. Any advice? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thorburn 120 Report post Posted August 25, 2012 If it's been overheated you might want to get a sniffer test done to make sure you don't have any combustion gasses in your cooling system. Maybe a leakdown test would be usefull as well just to make sure your headgasket and head are in decent condition I'd be replacing the radiator. Changing the radiator isn't overly hard if you've got the time. Plenty of DIY's out there Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Laydeekrunk 0 Report post Posted August 26, 2012 Cheers Thorburn. Will ask my mechanic to run those tests. I'll swap out my radiator with another one. Are there any cons to using a second hand radiator? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thorburn 120 Report post Posted August 27, 2012 The plastic and seals on the side tanks and expansion tank get brittle over time. The cores can get full of gunk(I think this is the technical term for it). Damaged fins reduce the efficiency of the radiator. Probably other cons but I think that's enough reason You could get lucky and get a good quality cheap second hand radiator. You might not be so lucky and overheat the engine again and blow a headgasket and/or warp the head. All depends on how much you have to spend and if your paying someone to replace it Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
