Coolant level ?

If you stll have the old style "transluscent" plastic expansion tank, you should consider changing to the newer all-black plastic tanks as the others have a tendancy to rupture. (cost about £38 ).

Quote from arnie;62371

If you stll have the old style "transluscent" plastic expansion tank, you should consider changing to the newer all-black plastic tanks as the others have a tendancy to rupture. (cost about £38 ).

Any pic of that tank and where to get. I would assume that the 1991 model has the old style.

Quote from arnie;62371

If you stll have the old style "transluscent" plastic expansion tank, you should consider changing to the newer all-black plastic tanks as the others have a tendancy to rupture. (cost about £38 ).

I made that due my previous one ( translucid one ) broke while cleaning ( it was not translucid...may be "opaque"... ) ...
The issue is that you must change not only the expansion tank itself... also the new sensor and some electrical conector... ( no backward compatibility ).

Regards.

Quote from Fatandre;62377

Any pic of that tank and where to get. I would assume that the 1991 model has the old style.

Some photos here... ( old one, new one.... and all lthe required stuff ).

http://www.bmwfaq.com/f158/cam…vaso-de-expansion-379362/

Regards.

dudu
Although you may have felt unfortunate breaking the old reservoir - it was a moment of good luck!
Those bottles are known to get brittle over time (see Arnies post above) and it is highly recommended that those are replaced at the very first opportunity as they will likely burst at the worst possible moment and leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere possibly with an overheated engine.

As you have noticed, the new all black ones do not come with the sensor installed - in fact the sensor was scrapped already in 03/91 for no apparent reason.
It is unknown to me whether the wiring loom remained complete along with the sensor connector in later years but I personally would consider a retrofit of such sensor useful.

Can you explain for the non Spanish speaking parts of the community what you had to do to install a new sensor to the all black reservoir?

Cheers
Reinhard

HAha. I just broke mine. What are the odds. Where can I get this?

BMW part number is 1741167. Current cost in Germany is 47 EUR plus VAT. Used to be cheaper like so many other things.

There seems to be a float sensor which can be used instead of the screw cap at the bottom of the tank - No.9 in the picture below. No.10 is installed by default.

The cooling system has a somewhat shady history. Up to a certain point in time the top screw cap with a pressure valve in it was known to not function properly. There was a recall IIRC and most of those ought to have been replaced by now with P/N: 1742231
Nevertheless the expansion tank does not age well. This is not a big surprise given the surrounding media and circumstances and quite a few left the drivers sitting at the roadside.

Knowing this I´d personally not wait for it to happen. It is an easy fix at first and can end up in a big mess.

Cheers
Reinhard

Quote from reinhard;62406

BMW part number is 1741167. Current cost in Germany is 47 EUR plus VAT. Used to be cheaper like so many other things.

There seems to be a float sensor which can be used instead of the screw cap at the bottom of the tank - No.9 in the picture below. No.10 is installed by default.

The cooling system has a somewhat shady history. Up to a certain point in time the top screw cap with a pressure valve in it was known to not function properly. There was a recall IIRC and most of those ought to have been replaced by now with P/N: 1742231
Nevertheless the expansion tank does not age well. This is not a big surprise given the surrounding media and circumstances and quite a few left the drivers sitting at the roadside.

Knowing this I´d personally not wait for it to happen. It is an easy fix at first and can end up in a big mess.

Cheers
Reinhard

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So what is it that need to be bought from that picture? In numbers plz.

Quote from martinw

....How come I've got the translucent tank on a car manufactured in Sept '94 ...
The "sensor" mentioned for the black tank - what exactly is it sensing ?
If it was deleted in '91, is it really necessary ?

My car is also sept 94 and had the early translucent tank, which was one of the first things I changed. There was no sensor on mine and it was a straight swap. You will need a new Jubilee clip for the small hose.

#1 is the expansion tank itself but be sure to buy 2 or 3 of #3 the bleed screw.

They become brittle with age and the chances of breaking the head off when bleeding the system are measurable. Toss the spare in the car somewhere you can find it again for good luck.