Cooling problem, I'm stumped!

[Bmwe5320023.0]

Ahhhh imgbb is down, can't post photos...

I took everything out. Trying to test the new thermostat I bought from bmw. I pour boiling water on it, but it's not opening. Not sure what temp it's supposed to open at? It's one piece with the housing, so makes it more complicated because the thing is so big, doesn't fit in a glass lol

[Bmwe5320023.0]

[andrewwynn]

You can use a pot to test the wax motor. I'm thinking about 95c open temp so below boiling

[Bmwe5320023.0]

Tried boiling water, no luck. As soon as you start pouring water, it's already 90C. So thermostat never opened.

Turns out you can connect 12v and it will open.
Tested the new thermostat, opened after a few minutes.
Tested old thermostat, never opened. Clearly it was broken and the wax spilled out and didn't work anymore.

[andrewwynn]

Seems pretty conclusive. Will be great to see report that it's working properly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Bmwe5320023.0]

Should've never "upgraded" to aluminum thermostat housing.

[Bmwe5320023.0]

Yea gonna put everything together now.
While doing this job I also took out all the spark plugs and poured a bunch of acdelco in each cylinder to clean the piston rings. If all goes well, this will completely eliminate the oil consumption, which is already minimal with ccv mod. Then will put some engine flush, run it for 15 min and replace engine oil.
Gotta get this baby ready for tomorrow's 250km trip!

[Bmwe5320023.0]

https://ibb.co/gmcG8ZD

Flushed the engine, replaced oil, took it for a spin, coolant temperature doesn't go over 90C!
SUCCESS!

Still lots of vapor/smoke from under the hood, hopefully it's just the coolant that leaked is evaporating.