Wolf Larson Posted January 18, 2017 Report Share Posted January 18, 2017 ...have a feeling my thermostat is sticking. My car has always taken a good while to warm up (a lot longer than my E36 petrol) which I put down to being a characteristic of diesel engines (this is the first one I've owned), but was focussing on it today and noted it sat below a quarter for ages. After a good 20mins of driving and with it fully warmed up the needle was still way below half way and the coolant temp read out from my ODBII was 66 C. I replaced the EGR thermo a while back as its tip exploded, but haven't looked at the main one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerFish Posted January 18, 2017 Report Share Posted January 18, 2017 If the EGR thermostat has been done, then it's time to replace the main one if that's all it's reaching. Wolf Larson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dontpannic Posted January 19, 2017 Report Share Posted January 19, 2017 Yep. Mine sits at 90c constantly. When I first got it it wouldn't go above 68c. Replaced both stats and now it's been perfect. Wolf Larson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Larson Posted January 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2017 Thanks both - I'm getting close to being on first name terms with the blokes at my local ECP! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerFish Posted January 19, 2017 Report Share Posted January 19, 2017 Generally recommended to avoid ECP thermostats (I've had a bad experience on my old Golf, but that said, the one in my e30 seems fine). I've gone for genuine thermostats on mine. When I bought it, I got the seller to throw in a new thermostat - it came from ECP. I opted to not use it and transplant the new(ish, but fully working) 'stat from my first 330d into the housing off of my new one, rather than risk the ECP one failing. My point? Be wary of non-genuine thermostats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Larson Posted January 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2017 ...and it's a good point, had the same issue in the past myself. I'll see what brands they sell, as I usually buy Bosch from them (the EGR I got from them was Bosch IIRC, it leaked from new and I had to strip/reassemble and fit a new o-ring to make it work...forgot about that) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dontpannic Posted January 20, 2017 Report Share Posted January 20, 2017 I went for the Hella EGR stat from ECP at the time, on which the O-Ring failed after 14 months (now replaced by BMW OEM). I went for the Facet main stat from ECP at the same time, which is still working fine. Neither were ECP's cheaper options! However the EGR stat from BMW was £3 more expensive than the ECP one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerFish Posted January 20, 2017 Report Share Posted January 20, 2017 Don't forget though - BMW parts (when bought through BMW at least) come with a two year parts and labour warranty. You fit the part yourself, and it fails within two years? They'll replace it for you, FOC. Well worth the £3 (in this case) extra IMO. The cost of the lost coolant would be greater than £3 if you had to drain the system a second time due to cheap parts - BMW would cover the new antifreeze etc for you. JasonK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Larson Posted January 21, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 Thanks - didn't know that! I stopped buying spares from my local BMW garage a year or so as they were so consistently up-helpful, walked away empty handed so many times after being told they couldn't find/didn't stock part(s) I needed and I should look on eBay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerFish Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 Yep, my local (tring) isn't great here. Coldswold do a great online service though with postage. (They're a sponsor on here , and many other forums) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayartibee Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 Whenever I look around online though, I come up with two styles of main stat. For an e46 M47, which is it? One has long arms, one has short Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayartibee Posted January 26, 2017 Report Share Posted January 26, 2017 anybody got an answer on which is the right sort? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Judge_ Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Not sure which is the right one but if you use realism.com you will get the exact one part number you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayartibee Posted January 30, 2017 Report Share Posted January 30, 2017 Thanks - but that web site seems mainly to do with 3D modelling of proteins... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Streek Posted January 30, 2017 Report Share Posted January 30, 2017 Try realoem.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayartibee Posted January 30, 2017 Report Share Posted January 30, 2017 That makes more sense! Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Judge_ Posted January 30, 2017 Report Share Posted January 30, 2017 Doh - sorry, autocorrect fail (!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooge Posted February 2, 2017 Report Share Posted February 2, 2017 On 20/01/2017 at 10:05, TriggerFish said: Don't forget though - BMW parts (when bought through BMW at least) come with a two year parts and labour warranty. You fit the part yourself, and it fails within two years? They'll replace it for you, FOC. Well worth the £3 (in this case) extra IMO. The cost of the lost coolant would be greater than £3 if you had to drain the system a second time due to cheap parts - BMW would cover the new antifreeze etc for you. I hate to say it but that may be a dealer perk. My local BMW dealer (Ocean) have told me that to test if my genuine thermostat, bought 6 months ago, is faulty I have to stump up £99 for a diagnostic. If it turns out to be faulty, they will refund me and replace the part. Of course, I told them no thanks. I have deleted the entire EGR with a custom pipe as well as modified a few other bits so their answer to the fault would always be 'The EGR thermostat is missing.' I sound quite jaded, but I have had similar problems claiming on warranty for a failed seal on a rear coupe LED light cluster which was 9 months old. Their warranty, as far as I am concerned, is frankly dogpoo. Ive had a cheap stat, it used to get to 86 real quickly but never further unless you were pushing it. It eventually failed and when it would only get to 80 I changed it for a genuine BMW one. Bled it several times but no joy. Even got a local indi garage to bleed it, exactly the same. It will get to 90 but only after driving that makes the engine work a bit, I.E. anything over 50 or going uphill. Not happy but can't keep forking out for s**te overpriced parts. Next time Ill look at Meyle or similar, at least I can take it back in and they may listen if its faulty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerFish Posted February 3, 2017 Report Share Posted February 3, 2017 When I took mine in, they made me agree to up to one hour's diag. fee (£80?), which would only be paid if it was damaged as a result of incorrect fitting (I was confident it wasn't my fault, given the nature of the failure). If it was part failure then the fee would be waived. Good points though - I hadn't considered that when I typed it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
