[wildcat293]

Just a heads up to anyone on the fence of getting $40 or $80 expansion tank -Uro parts might not cut it.

I went with the Uro because its the only one autohausAZ had (they had a killer deal on stewart EMP water pump at the time) and I figured it had to be pretty damn similiar. 1.5 years later and it exploded on me. Happened close to home, I feel lucky I'm only down another expansion tank and another weekend ripping out the cooling system again.

My hope is someone looking to save $40 does a search for Uro parts and finds this thread!

 

[Optio]

URO Parts are Chinese:bow:

 

[Sansho]

When I replaced mine, I bought a BMW expansion tank from a discounting BMW dealer. Figured they'd worked out the bugs by now (not always the case on all parts, though), and I'd seen how some non-BMW units were failing within a year of installation. I just checked two discounting dealers, and they want $65-$67 for the tank.

 

[323iINt.o]

I replaced mine with a 'coolmax' unit. Also to save a few bucks but justifying it by considering the oem units fail anyways, right?

Wrong. 5 months later, the crappy aftermarket sprung a leak where it meets the lower bracket. Replaced it with an oem unit. Lesson learnt.

 

[Solidjake]

Uro sucks

 

[bmwguru]

My name is Danny from URO Parts. FYI...our expansion tank is manufactured in the same factory and on the same tooling as the Behr tank. I have been there and seen it myself. Pick up a Behr tank and check it out for yourselves. Also, not to say that this is the case here, but take a look at this post from last year and look at the ***UPDATE*** in red. Sometimes retail companies switch brands on their website and when you look back at it later you think that's what you purchased when in fact you purchased a different brand.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=764945&highlight=

I had to look up what b2b was...bet you had fun. I'm at the Paso Robles Inn...it was next door to where my car broke down...



I used a URO Parts tank...***UPDATE*** I did not have a URO Parts tank. It was an MTC with a 12 month warranty. Read below to see how URO stepped up to support their product when that's what I thought I had.



I just looked up my order and the warranty...I ordered May 14 2008, It made it to May 16 2010. URO Parts carry a 24 month warranty. I'm writing the emails now to see what they'll do.

Bird

wildcat293's claim may be 100% legitimate so please don't think I'm saying it's not. Without getting the part back there's no way for me to tell. What I can tell you is that we have had very few warranties on this item within our 24 month unlimited mileage warranty and if you choose to go out and spend more money you may be receiving the exact same part. However, there are also other brands (as mentioned in the above referenced post) that are clearly not made in the same factory.

wildcat293 if you want to PM I will make sure your tank is covered under our warranty assuming it is our tank or get you a replacement if necessary.

 

[Optio]

The factory BMW branded OEM tank is made by L&R in Germany.......

 

[wildcat293]

The 2 year warranty and great service are reasons to get a Uro over anything that isn't genuine BMW

However I installed an expansion tank from BMW because I still think the quality is suspect. Looks like my tank was made by Uro. I will certainly update when the BMW tank explodes! At least I have a spare now =)

My guess is this internal component melted causing the rupture:

Or the tank swelled and the alternator pulley rubbed on it (would have had to expanded pretty far - I think the rubbing occured after the rupture)

 

[drummr8]

Thanks for this posting wildcat... I was just about to purchase all my parts from AutohausAZ and then saw the Uro Parts expansion tank and felt a little uneasy. Where is the best place to get everything in one shot for a decent price? Or am I better off piecing it together from different sites?

 

[Sansho]

If you want to go with a BMW tank, sponsor ebmwparts.com has some of the best discounting dealer prices, and BMW parts come with a 2 year warranty. I've used them, communication is great, shipping fast.

 

[Alexotronic]

I noticed a visible difference in material between my (current.. uh oh..) URO tank and my stock BMW tank. It was almost like URO was made out of some sort of composite material (swirly complexion on surface)

 

[drummr8]

I noticed a visible difference in material between my (current.. uh oh..) URO tank and my stock BMW tank. It was almost like URO was made out of some sort of composite material (swirly complexion on surface)

Hmm... I haven't taken my old tank out yet, but the new one looks like what you just described. It is supposed to be a Genuine BMW that I ordered from ECS Tuning...

 

[wildcat293]

The genuine bmw has a bmw logo stamped into it, and should come in a "bmw group" box

not that it can't be faked, but that was the main difference I saw between the two.

 

[drummr8]

The genuine bmw has a bmw logo stamped into it, and should come in a "bmw group" box

not that it can't be faked, but that was the main difference I saw between the two.

Well I guess it is BMW then... There's a sticker on the box saying BMW Group and it has the BMW stamp. Maybe BMW's quality has gotten crappier j/k

As long as it lasts 60k, I'm happy. I probably won't even have the car for 60k.

 

[tonykim]

the real problem is that the BMW oem design is insufficient from an internal pressure point of view. of the two failure modes I've seen and from 1 decade as a design engineer in the cooling system industry I can say that the rib design doesn't cut it. so anyone who attempts to replicate the design with less wall thickness or less material stiffness will yield bad results. My OEM tank failed at 100k miles. My 1st replacement was a cheapy off ebay and it failed in 20 miles at the vibration weld. I now have a Behr unit I believe and after 10k miles no problems. tick tock tick tock.