Broken trans oil cooler

[KelvinD 25]

As the title states i broke my trans oil cooler when installing back to the car, dumb mistake on my part. Anyway i was wondering if anyone has or knows of a 540i Auto with the M62TU engine they are parting out. Im after the plastic thermostat piece that sits on the cooler - not the actual cooler. Part number 17211437772 , any leads would be appreciated. Otherwise ill be biting the bullet and buying one from fcp euro, just shipping is near the cost of the actual part. Thanks

[andrewm 236]

PM me if you go for FCP euro, I will order some small stuff and split shipping with you.

Did you have clay like gunk in yours? I found it was the cause of my trans cooling issue so cleaned the crap out and replaced this part, voila no more harsh downshift in traffic.

[KelvinD 25]

I havent taken the cooler part off as its still connected to the trans lines, the overpriced plastic piece on top on mine was clean as a whistle but so was everything else coolant related, i just put too much pressure on the fitting trying to route it behind the crank hub and it broke off. I do get it lurch forward sometimes coming to a stop but im yet to investigate that, wish it was as simple as a bit of crud in the cooler. I will get in touch if i go with fcp, im trying to find one in nz first for a decent price if there is such a thing

[andrewm 236]

When you do get that off make sure to shine a light inside the cooler, all 3 540I m62TU's ive worked on had some level of crud buildup in there.

Also make sure to get the O rings for the thermostat, from memory my new thermostat didnt come with them - i ordered them seperate.

Edited January 4, 2019 by andrewm

[KelvinD 25]

20 minutes ago, andrewm said:

When you do get that off make sure to shine a light inside the cooler, all 3 540I m62TU's ive worked on had some level of crud buildup in there.

Also make sure to get the O rings for the thermostat, from memory my new thermostat didnt come with them - i ordered them seperate.

I'll have to take a look next time im under the car, it's easy enough to see inside without removing but never even gave it a thought, thanks for the tip on the o rings, if there is crap in there what did you do to clean it out?

[andrewm 236]

I did mine at about 9pm under jack stands with a phone torch so cant remember if it was easy to see, remember that the hose didn't initially flow well through.

I set the hose to jet and blasted it as best I could from both sides for probably 5 minutes on an off each side, that got most of it out.

I did fill it with a citrus based all purpose cleaner and left for 10 mins before I blasted it again but not sure that did anything extra.

 

Edited January 4, 2019 by andrewm

[KelvinD 25]

Sounds easy enough, well compared to the timing chain and guide job i just done anyway, it makes sense for the crud to settle there the more i think about it, after all its the lowest point in the cooling system.

[KelvinD 25]

Ok so i found a used one on facebook, shipped to me overnight so no mucking around, my actual oil cooler only had a few bits of debris in the radiator side that i could see like silicone and what looked like leaf stems? Picked them out and washed it. When i went to istall the replacement thermostat to the top it would not fit so im thinking wtf! The holes where too far apart to fit on the cooler. So i played with it a bit and i could compress it together as its 2 pieces but just not enough so i thought what the hell ill take it apart, only then did i see what you mentioned before about the clay like substace that builds up in there, this thing was blocked and so badly it was preventing the pieces mating together, i checked my old one and it was clean as a whistle. So im glad it didnt fit at first or i never would have looked, I cleaned it all out, installed it and it now works great, and learned my lesson not to put a long bolt through the front mount that will crack the housing. All up and running now, on to the next project.