Help !! Cooling System failure !!! with no warning lights?
 

Guys and Gals,

I used the "Search" option and I found nothing related; so please help me to understand this system:

Two months ago or so I acquired my second X5, now a 2003 X5 3.0i Sport Package (no navigation), which I had it checked by a recognized local mechanic, who gave me his diagnostic as “everything OK” including cooling system.

Yesterday I was driving trough a parking ticket boot and when I open the window, I heard knocking coming from my engine. Immediately looked at the temperature gauge, and found it all the way to red, so I quickly turned the engine off.

There was absolutely no water in the system because a hose went loose at the bottom of the radiator.

I had absolutely no warning light about low level or at least a light saying “look at your gauges, stupid”…. I remember my former 328 at least lighting the bright red square at the gauge when its radiator broke and temperature went crazy.

Does somebody have a hint about this warning system? The Dealer says (rubbing their hands) that there is no wiring going to the radiator and to wait for a penance :scared: :scared:

Help please! .....BMW Dealer here in Mexico is unfriendly and willing to take all my kid´s college savings if I let them.

regards

Well the gauge is your warning mechanism. The dummy lights are a very last resort and if you dropped a hose, fluid could leave so fast that the lights wouldn't have had time to warn you anyway. Did the hose bust or just the fastener?

Not sure what the big deal is, replace the hose, fill the radiator...job done. Unless you think you have damaged internals?? If you heard knocking I would check your oil as well.

Thanks WagnerX5, Oil was Ok... I just wander how long I drove with no water there and I hope noting else broke.

The problem, from my point of view, is that any abnormal situation should be adviced by a warning sign, like a light or a bell... I hear a bell every time I turn the X on, because the Xenons cheap retrofit.

Nobody drives around looking at their gauges. (I´m a Pilot, I know that) never the less if you are driving the Inlaws to the hospital to visit my wife/their daugther (she is ok)

There is a warning light with a little radiator there, and there should be a float or someting that triggers this light... but there is no wiring there.

What about the red light at the end of the temp gauge ?

Very wierd, sorry to insist in this.

.

If you had been driving with no coolant for some time you would have got the 'low coolant' message. So it may have happened suddenly and with a bit of luck there is no damaged to the engine.

:iagree:

Thanks guys, that´s a possibility.....

I´m picking up the X Monday, and I´ll go to compare it with another X 3.0 to see if there is a cable conected to the sensor at the bottom of the radiator; as mine is not, there was no message when this happened, and when I switch on the ignition, that particular light does not lites.

Thanks again