Help, Coolant just leaked out of my 4.6is

TheKingSim0n · #1 08-17-2009, 07:15 PM

Im at 116K and the same thing happened to me about 2 weeks ago, i first got a check coolant level light and then i stoped by a gas station to see whats going on under the hood and i saw a huge leak, since it was night time i couldn't really tell where it was coming from but it was ALOT of antifreeze leaking...

I put some antifreeze in it just to make it a mile to get to my house, i got to my house and waited til the morning, i took it to a local shop and saw where the problem was, a hose.... basically a hose had a hole in it and caused all this crap problem, I replaced the upper radiator hose for $9 and its been 2 weeks now and im good to go. I hope for you its a hose as well

Good luck! =)

spamking98 · #2 08-17-2009, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheKingSim0n

Im at 116K and the same thing happened to me about 2 weeks ago, i first got a check coolant level light and then i stoped by a gas station to see whats going on under the hood and i saw a huge leak, since it was night time i couldn't really tell where it was coming from but it was ALOT of antifreeze leaking...

I put some antifreeze in it just to make it a mile to get to my house, i got to my house and waited til the morning, i took it to a local shop and saw where the problem was, a hose.... basically a hose had a hole in it and caused all this crap problem, I replaced the upper radiator hose for $9 and its been 2 weeks now and im good to go. I hope for you its a hose as well

Good luck! =)

I hope its a hose too, I am not very mechanically inclined so I have know idea where to look..

ARTRIGA · #3 08-17-2009, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spamking98

I hope its a hose too, I am not very mechanically inclined so I have know idea where to look..

Just pour some in, till it starts dripping on your toes. Wear flip-flops and you will then be able to trace the leak down to the culprit.

spamking98 · #4 08-17-2009, 11:08 PM

thanks you guys for all your advice.. I just had the X towed to concord bmw.. I contacted BMWNA just in case... I hope the stealers are happy now, I guess they decided I didnt pay enough the first time around...

spamking98 · #5 08-31-2009, 04:15 AM

I just got my x5 back from concord bmw, and they told me that the water pump failed and thats what caused the coolant to leak out, so they told me that i had to replace the coolant reservoir as well and tensioner and pulley and belt... they told me it would cost around $1500-1600 to repair,I told them i would have the x5 towed to another shop. I paid about 1400 all together at the indie shop. I have around 76,000 miles is this normal for these things to fail..? I am really thinking of getting rid of the X5...

chilliwilli · #6 08-31-2009, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spamking98

I just got my x5 back from concord bmw, and they told me that the water pump failed and thats what caused the coolant to leak out, so they told me that i had to replace the coolant reservoir as well and tensioner and pulley and belt... they told me it would cost around $1500-1600 to repair,I told them i would have the x5 towed to another shop. I paid about 1400 all together at the indie shop. I have around 76,000 miles is this normal for these things to fail..? I am really thinking of getting rid of the X5...

Quite common for this to happen around your mileage. I actually read about this happening to several members so I researched and decided to address in advance of potential failure, replacing the water pump, pulley's, belts, valley pan etc...around the time of my inspection II (60k miles).

m5james · #7 08-17-2009, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ARTRIGA

Just pour some in, till it starts dripping on your toes. Wear flip-flops and you will then be able to trace the leak down to the culprit.

These cars require pressure to get coolant to flow at the highest parts of the heads aka combustion chamber, so running the car w/o this required pressure is a risk I wouldn't wanna take. Depending on where the leak it, the car may have to be up to operating temperature for the thermostat to open, and even then it may not open soon enough since the coolant pressure isn't there to push the coolant around to all its proper passage. I've already replaced one motor at the tune of $11k, so I'd personally not risk letting it run and possibly overheating the heads and burning up the headgaskets because of hotspots due to lack of flow/pressure just to find a leak. I'm not sure of the OP's mileage, but it sounds he's due for a complete "preventative maintenance" overhaul anyways...waterpump/thermostat, hoses, valley pan/valvecover gasket seals along w/ an expansion tank and a complete flush.

Quick shortcuts and constantly overheating cars is why people are selling 5's and 7's nowadays for next to nothing...because they don't fix them the correct way, then sell them off for next to nothing because "they're unreliable and constantly overheating". Do it right, keep the X's running in tiptop shape and help us retain what's left of our reliability and resale values.