M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => Engine + Driveline => Topic started by: rycar550 on April 13, 2011, 05:49:10 PM
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Hey guys,
I have a 91 318i and had a major coolant loss yesterday. The shop says the Water Pipe Connector is cracked (11-53-1-714-738) and needs to be replaced. The part is around $20, but they are quoting me $700+ to take the intake manifold off an replace this part. Kinda seems ridiculous...
What have you guys paid to have this done?
Has anyone done this themselves? If so, how difficult is it and is there a write-up anywhere?
Many thanks,
Ryan
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Isn't that like $15 at Pelican? It's not hard to replace just be sure you have the right o-ring and that it seats properly. Bleeding the system can be difficult as well. I haven't done this myself, but I'm thinking that it'd be a lot easier to pull the manifold like they're saying. You'd need an upper gasket for that. No need to pull the throttle body (those gaskets are metal and often re-usable), just disconnect the throttle cable & have at it.
I suppose I should ask "What kind of jobs have you done on cars?" before I advise you to try this. If you do it wrong & the motor overheats, it'll crack the head & you'll really be out some money.
This isn't a difficult job. It's just hard to get at the pipe, maybe the shop is adding the usual surcharge for old cars that fall apart when you try to fix them. Most posts I've seen here are related to the famous "hose delete mod." (http://www.m42club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2742) That pipe cracks all the time. You might want try that all at once...it's not too difficult if you have a pretty good selection of tools.
BMW OEM from Pelican is $19 + shipping (http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/more_info.cgi?pn=11-53-1-714-738-M9&catalog_description=Water%20Pipe%20%22Connector%22%20NOTE%3A%20Also%20use-%20%281%29%2011-53-1-709-157%20o-ring%2C%20Z3%201.9). The generic is only $11. I'd go with the OEM, some have reported that the generic doesn't fit. The necessary o-ring is $1.50 (http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/more_info.cgi?pn=11-53-1-709-157-M17&catalog_description=O-Ring%20for%20Water%20Pipe%2C%20Z3%201.9). I'd also consider some water wetter ($10), I have it running in my car and it seems to help. Beware that the water wetter may make the temp gauge read a little higher. Mine sits reliably between the half and 3/4 marks all the time.
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Pipe is easy to replace and might be accessble without taking intake off, but you will need to remove airbox, alternator and oil filter house. You only need to remove the upper intake if you go that route. You just have move room with the lower off. Search here or the ho-to section for it.
Once you start just label everything and take picture of the before. We are here to help.
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Having just replaced all my coolant and heater hoses, I'd say remove the entire intake manifold to make it easier. Just a few more nuts, but it will save huge time.
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Use your digital camera heavily and that should help on re-assembly...
Dave
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+1 on the camera use. I had a hard time squeezing everything out of the way to get the throttle body back on, that probably took the longest. But if you're adventurous enough and have about 4-5 hours (just in case) I'd say take the manifold off and replace everything that's down there. That was the first thing I had to do to my car. In terms of skill, prior to that I had never done anything but change my oil! It took a while but it was worth it.
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...and when you get in there, you'll find you end up spending hundreds on things that
don't work. DISA valve. Hoses. Cracked knock sensors. Breather hoses...
blah blah blah. It adds up.
Stupid plastic hose...
t
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No knock sensors, no disa valve. Do the mess under the intake modification and replace the pipe with an OEM one, never look back!
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i think there's a company out there make metal water pipe.