busted leveling switch in expansion tank - problem?

[KevinC]

So last night I fired up the heater in my ZHP, a very rare occurrence. Moments later, my coolant level idiot light came on. This happened a couple of summers ago out of the blue. I topped up with a bit of distilled water, haven't seen any light since.. till last night.

So tonight I check the coolant level, sure enough it's low, and I added about 10-15 ounces of distilled water, till the float switch thing popped up (#5 in the diagram below).



But then the cap wouldn't go back onto the expansion tank, as if it were hanging up on something. Took it back off, found this at the bottom of the filler neck...



That piece had busted off. I managed to fish it out of the bottom (wasn't easy!) and get the tank closed properly. Do I need to be concerned about replacing the thing right away? It's not an expensive part, and part of it is still attached, but not sure if I need to deal with it immediately or not. Advice?

[ELCID86]

I'm glad you got it out! Are you on the original ET? That float rod has bad color deterioration. Bruce tells me that's a sign it's time for a new ET.


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[KevinC]

After posting that and reading some other cooling system threads, I decided that I'd do a minimal cooling system refresh. I'm at 76k miles and I'm sure that tank is original. I'll replace it, the water pump, and the large hoses, and possibly the thermostat, if my indy thinks I should.

[stephenkirsh]

Yes on the thermostat. That was the first thing that failed on my cooling system. It even failed before the expansion tank!

[ELCID86]

+1 on thermostat. Do the tensioners and idler pulleys too. I guaranty at least 1-2 will be bad. Ask Daniel who only has 65ish k on his '05.


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[KevinC]

Dropped the car at my indy today, as he was working on a BEAUTIFUL '72 '02 that was once his project, now belongs to a customer. He said nyet to both the thermostat and water pump, saying he sees virtually zero problems with them at this age on E46's.. unlike the crappier water pump on the E36, which he acknowledges is a turd. So it'll be new expansion tank, new plastic cowl cover thingie under the windshield that always disintegrates after a few years, and back on the road I'll go.

[KevinC]

Interesting comment on the tensioners & idler pulleys being toast at 65k. Why should I assume that mine should fail so early too? Is there a documented history here (ZHPM) of more similar failures at similar mileage, or just this one mentioned? If so, I'll call him back and have him do them too.. though I tend to trust his years of wisdom, and he's telling me not to sweat the other stuff.

[danewilson77]

Interesting comment on the tensioners & idler pulleys being toast at 65k. Why should I assume that mine should fail so early too? Is there a documented history here (ZHPM) of more similar failures at similar mileage, or just this one mentioned? If so, I'll call him back and have him do them too.. though I tend to trust his years of wisdom, and he's telling me not to sweat the other stuff.

It happens, a lot. 65k may be a tad premature, but you're coming up on failure point. Batteries are about a 5-7 year swag, along with some other e46 common failure items.

"No flamesuit required"

[stephenkirsh]

I'm shocked he said no to the thermostat. I thought "conventional wisdom" had us doing the whole cooling system at once, together, instead of piece mealing it.

A pulley on my dad's N52 was already starting to go at 50k. Two of mine were done at 98k on my e46 325. They just suck.

[danewilson77]

I'm shocked he said no to the thermostat. I thought "conventional wisdom" had us doing the whole cooling system at once, together, instead of piece mealing it.

A pulley on my dad's N52 was already starting to go at 50k. Two of mine were done at 98k on my e46 325. They just suck.

Right. No biggie. To each their own. Kevin knows his shit.

"No flamesuit required"