AC working intermittently and Coolant hose or Radiator Broke

[x5turtle]

Hi All, haven't been on the forum for a while as I have been on my regular maintenance for the X, it's been 10 years and first sign of trouble showed up yesterday.

Living in So Cal, weather as suddently hot yesterday to about 90F, the x Runs fine and then for some reason, AC works intermittently, then I try to drive at higher rpm, it seems to help temporary, and then.... I see smoke coming out of hood and I knew either some radiator hose broke, or the radiator is broken.

I cannot relay the two events as the AC is separate from the engine cooling, but I am thinking if it is possible that the control for coolant for heat in cabin is clogged, which lead to burst of hose. I am going under the hood today to identify where exactly it leak from and planning to do a high milage service at 170K.

My plan is to replace
Fan Clutch,
Fan blade,
water pump,
thermostat,
radiator hose( need advice on how many hose, I replace two hose before, but I heard there is more in the back)
Drive & AC belt,
Put in New coolant, no need to drain :-)

What are your suggestions? I have been working on my X since its off maintenance warranty, and I have replace the pump and thermostat and belts. I have most of the tools to complete the job if required, but just want some brainstorm ideas! Any help or suggestions to links is welcome too! I can post pictures of the repair if any of you are interested if its not on forum already!

[upallnight]

Joined in 2005 and still no info about the model or year of your X. Need additional info as the engine type and year the X was built in order to provide any meaningful info.

[x5turtle]

Ha, you caught me on that. Sincere apologies, my X5 is a 2004 3.0i, production date 6/2004

Pretty cool site:

BMW Model Archive · May 2014 · bmwarchive.org

Model description:X5 3.0I
Market:USA
Type:FA13
E-Code:E53
Chassis:Sports Activity Vehicle
Steering:links
Doors:5
Engine:M54 - 3,00l (170kW)
Drive:Allrad
Transmission:automatisch
Body Color:Sterlinggrau Metallic (472)
Upholstery:Leder Dakota/schwarz (LCSW)
Production date:21.06.2004

[Qsilver7]

Thanks for the vehicle info...it definitely helps us to help you better.

If the engine isn't regulating or maintaining the correct temperature (coolant system)...it can have an affect on the HVAC system in that the aux cooling fan (in front of the radiator & directly behind the kidney grills) receives a signal from the ECM/ECU/DME when certain criteria is met from the radiator outlet temperature, vehicle speed, battery voltage, AC pressure, and catalytic converter temperature (see info below). Did you check to see if it is operating (the aux fan)?

Cooling system hoses for the M54 engine (click link below to get BMW 11 digit part nbrs for the items in the diagram)...or you may find some forum sponsoring vendors or others may sell an M54 engine cooling system hose kit (try googling BMW M54 COOLING HOSE KIT) to see if any vendors come up in a search like that.

RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 3.0i Cooling System Water Hoses



(example of cooling system kits - Level 1 kit from ECS)

[upallnight]

Find out where the smoke is coming from. Could be the hot engine coolant is not allowing the condenser to work as designed so you have no ac.

[x5turtle]

Let me look for the kit and see, I will dig under the hood to find out more today. Thanks for the suggestions!