Overheats, repairs, and preventative maintenance
BMW six cylinder cooling systems have had premature failures since the early 1990’s, despite several redesigns. Occasionally we see failures before 60,000 miles, but after that mark you’re on borrowed time. Additionally, BMW engines are particularly vulnerable to meltdowns and other collateral damage as a result of cooling system failure. When you think home is just a couple of minutes away, driving with the thermostat in red is a fast track to severe engine damage.
The water pump, thermostat, thermostat housing, belt pulleys/tensioners, expansion tank and related components all have plastic parts and any of them will leave you stuck on the side of the road without notice. Every 60,000 miles or 6 years—whichever comes first—we recommend a coolant system overhaul with only BMW genuine parts, which of course we stock for multiple and all contemporary BMW models. Additionally we recommend a coolant system flush, including draining the engine block coolant, every 2 years. This will give us the opportunity to pressure test the system and look for leaks.
The maintenance costs of this coolant system overhaul is cheap compared to the alternative. We would like to reiterate that this recommendation is preventative; if your overheated BMW comes into Avus Autosport with a split expansion tank and an original water pump or thermostat we would recommend an entire system overhaul. Instead of trying to piecemeal what has already failed, we suggest taking advantage of the overlapping labor involved with replacing related components.
