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I am a relatively new owner of a 2001 325xi with about 150k miles. The previous owner was the first owner and she kept very good care of it and documented all repairs.

I took my car to the shop after the low coolant light had turned on and they said that my radiator had a crack in it. He quoted that the install would cost around 500 dollars.

I am new to cars but I enjoy DIY's and consider myself extremely handy. The only thing is, since i am new to the auto scene, i dont know too much on the subject. My father knows a ton about cars and has a garage FULL of tools, so i am confident that anything i will need, he will have.

I was searching through the forum about replacing a radiator but i did not find any threads. I did find a post by someone saying that a radiator cost around 140 dollars. I was wondering if anyone would know where i could purchase a new radiator and if they had any tips on installing it.

Also, not sure if this is typical, but since there is a crack in my radiator ill go ahead and say it anyway: every so while driving i hear a loud long beep and then on my LCD display i see a temperature (typically around 37 degrees) flashing. What temp is this for? and is that related to my radiator being broken?

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[TR4G-]

I just bought mine from AutohauszAZ for about $150. There are plenty of DIY guides around here, and its very easy you can do it yourself.
I'm replacing mine this weekend and it has a crack in it as well.
The noise you here is the car alerting you it is 37 degrees outside and to be aware of black ice because thats the temp it starts to form.

How did your mechanic diagnose the radiator is leaking? Usually the don't leak and its usually a cracked expansion tank that leaks.

Not sure about the nature of the crack, but my BMW is at home right now, so i'll check myself tomorrow when i'm done with exams. I couldn't find any DIY's on it. Would you be willing to document your change out of the radiator with pictures? Or do you possibly have a link to one already on this site?

Thanks for the reply

 

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Awesome, I just read through that other DIY, so I'm also going to check through my previous owner's records and check when any other related items were replaced. Also so I've been looking around and all the replacement radiators seem to be made by behr and all have this in the description "but does not include provision for the proprietary drain petcock baffle assembly. A standard drain plug is used in place of that assembly." does that mean you have to remove the petcock baffle assembly or is that part of the original radiator?

 

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Ok so I was driving it today and i noticed the temp gauge was all the way up in the red so i pulled over and let it cool down for a couple of hours. I then checked the coolant and it was almost empty. So i then filled it up and drove it home and everything seemed fine. However 3 hours later i then drove it again and it over heated. I checked the coolant and it was fine. Is this just because of the crack in the radiator?

 

[TR4G-]

Is the temperature gauge electronic? Does the temp read even while the car is off or is the needle supposed to be all the way to the left?

 

[TR4G-]

Ok. So I haven't been driving my car around but I have noticed that when I turn on the car, the temp is all the way to the left (cuz it's the middle of winter). BUT, nonetheless ., when i turn it on, the red light behind the red on the temp gauge lights up.... I'm pretty sure it's not the blue also lightingup. Does this mean anything?