heads up on potential collateral damage for loose radiator hoses
 

I just wanted to put this out there so maybe someone else could avoid the pain and frustration of my mistake. I did the water pump/thermostat repair on my 2008 3.0si. Got everything back together, double and triple checked. All was good. Repair was finished last night around 10:30PM, took me about a total of 12 hours over the past few days when I had time, after much cursing and being creative with my tools, I finally pulled off the repair.

So driving to work this morning, everything seems to be working fine, car running smoothly, all of a sudden I hear this loud popping sound from the engine compartment and steam coming from under the hood, immediately pulled over and waited a few minutes before opening the hood to avoid getting a steam bath, coolant pretty much all drained out on the side of the road. So I open the hood and notice the radiator outlet hose going to the thermostat blew off the radiator, when that happened the hose hit the cooling fan (which is made of very cheap, brittle plastic) and subsequently shattered the fan, and parts of the fan ended up hitting the radiator and the radiator has a pretty decent sized hole in it. Apparently the radiator hose was not secure, even though I know I pushed the clip down when I put it back on last night, but the clip does not seem to do a very good job of making sure the hose stays on the radiator. So now I have to replace the radiator and fan. Thankfully the fan assembly is still good and the fan looks like it attaches with 3 hex screws, but the radiator, well that wont be so cheap and not to mention another $40 or so for BMW coolant. You would think if you put a radiator hose that close to a cheap plastic fan, then you would do a better job making sure the fan has a more protective shroud to avoid this problem and avoid more major repairs. So if anyone removes the radiator hoses for any type of repairs, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to put some real screw type clamps on the hoses to keep them secure, tried and true technology that has been around longer than I have been alive, curse you BMW Engineers!

Sorry for the rant. Just wanted to share info and possibly help others learn from my mistake.

i understand where your comming from mate those hoses when pushed on seem like they are in place as the clip can be pushed down but not always,its a funny design from bmw.

Sorry to hear this. After securing the clip, I always grab the hose and attempt to pull it off. More than once I've snapped the clip down only to find the hose isn't fully seated.

Does anyone know thew part number for the fan? I just need the blade part, not the entire fan assembly. Any help would be appreciated.

I would not expect the blades assembly to be separately available for the difficulty in balancing.

RealOEM.com - Online BMW Parts Catalog

The hose fitting design is sound. The clip should be seated (in latched position) BEFORE the hose is installed. When you hear the click, you know the fitting is seated. Unfortunately, the issue was caused by operator error.

FYI you may be able to get the radiator repaired. I had to do it on my motorcycle a couple times (I rode A LOT) it was like $35-40 if I brought the radiator to the shop. They would pressure test it when complete. Beats buying a new radiator everytime a rock slings up and busts a hole in it. Just a thought

I am not denying responsibility for it, I know it was my doing, I just wanted to help other not make he mistake that I did. I do feel like the fan could have been a better design or at least be better protected from potential damage. Unfortunately there are no cheap options to replace the fan, and apparently I have to buy the entire assembly, haven't seen anything under $500 yet, not even used. I may just finish out the winter without fan, wonder how that would work out. Lol