That's good to hear :)
So it obviously had to do with how the hoses were hooked up then ? I imagine the bypass coolant that would normally go to the oil cooler was going through the radiator instead?

Clock spring is usually more to do with air bag light ??

It would be could to know exactly what the problem was so it could help out others reading this (maybe even the other V8 thread.) The radiator can't produce heat by itself so it must be something to do with how it was hooked up, maybe something with the oil cooler. Pinching off the bypass or branch that goes to the rad and/or oil cooler might be a good way to diagnose if that's the case.

The tech that replaced the radiator said that it didn't have the hose that is supposed to be on the radiator that the first shop installed. He also thought it might have had a defect in the internal barrier in the radiator that separates engine cooling from transmission cooling. I'm not quite sure what to make of this since the radiator replaced by the first shop did work through the winter of 2023. The replacement in March may have been defective, the incorrect one (even thought the same p/n) or an error in hose routing. I have the the "old" one that was replaced and will be discussing with the first shop. At least they should send it back to the radiator supplier for evaluation, since bottom line I now have heat.

The clock spring problem was livable except for the 4X4 fault light that stated coming on every time. The tech asked if someone else had been in the steering column, since the flex circuit seemed mangled. Maybe before I got the car in 2015, but otherwise it only received the airbag recall done by the dealer.

Problem is I'm not sure what will fail next so I may be trading it.

Thanks for the update! :)

Since your rad includes the oil cooler then it's a maybe a little different setup than my older one with the oil cooler on the oil filter housing. IF it works like mine then the change up radiator that leaves the bypass hose off should work even better than the original as long as the right hose gets replaced and/or installed or modded to work with the updated rad. The way the original is branched it does depend on some "soft" factors to not get too much of the bypass coolant going through the rad. It's really crappy that the rad numbers stay the same and there isn't more information included with the update unless maybe only the aftermarket (I used Nissen) did the update and BMW never actually did??

If you had the car since 2015 then you likely have most of the bugs worked out, plus you never know what you are getting into if you trade it off onto something else that you just might be starting over with fixing problems. Most cars get traded off for the same reason that you are considering trading it for! ;)

Ironically shop #1 started as a radiator repair business but they didn't make my radiator, rather purchased it from a company called APD. I had a discussion with them and dropped off the unit that shop #2 replaced. They said they would flow test it to see if it is separating the trans oil cooler portion from the engine coolant portion like it should. I did notice that shop #2 replaced the expansion tank (probably a good preventative, it was the original) and 11 53 7 609 944 coolant hose. My new radiator is 17 11 7 585 036.