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I wouldn;t worry about it. This is what I did (m) (archive)
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Posted by 93-318is on July 15, 2001 at 21:12:43:

In Reply to: Re: Good for you. I did the same thing, just in ca posted by JBoz on July 15, 2001 at 20:55:29:

Bought the car, then drained radiator & filled with prestone flush & water. Ran it for 10 minutes, then drained & replaced water pump, then drained the block. (Not much was in the block after the pump job.) Then added 50/50 distilled water and havoline 5-year coolant. Then drained that off after a few days & repeated. (since I was going from unknown coolant to havoline, figured the xtra 6 bucks was worth it.) Then I added a bottle of Prestone water-pump lubricant, the good stuff.

Call me compulsive.

BTW: Far as I can tell & contrary to popular board opinion, ain't NOTHIN' wrong with Havoline extended-life coolant. Phosphate & silicate free, just like the doctor ordered.

Just make sure you bleed properly & keep an eye on & top up the coolant level over a few weeks and there's NO way you won't get the right amount in there.



Yes - drained the fluid both from the radiator and the engine block. Not too much seemed to come out of the radiator, maybe only 3 quarts or so. A bunch from the engine block (a gushing mess).

My plastic impeller was in fine shape too. Then I found out that it's apparently more of a problem on the 6's than the 4's. But hey, who wants to risk blowing the cooling system in the middle of nowhere?

Did you drain coolant from the radiator AND the block drain? If not, that could be where you're short.

Now, If I could just figure out if the reman compressor I just installed has a bad bearing. (sounds like a WWII vintage lathe at idle)

Not that anyone cares. Car was running fine and I replaced the sucker because I had no idea if it had already been done. Sure enough, still the plastic impeller in there. To my surprise, it was in perfect shape. Car is a 93 325is w/59k miles on it. Here are some thoughts.

Toughest part of the job is getting the 32mm fan bolt thingy off. People have commented on this before. I tried to make a tool with my dremmel last night (didn't work) to hold the water pump pulley. Instead, I just used a large flat bladed screwdriver (almost broke it - wear safety glasses). The rest of the job is a peice of cake. Took me 2 1/2 hours start to finish, and I changed both drive belts as well. Just forget about catching the fluid that you drain from the block. Impossible. Coolant is pretty sweet.

Now I am having trouble filling the system back up. I have bled it a few times but right now I have only been able to get 1 gallon of coolant and 1 gallon of water into it. By my calcs that is about 2 quarts short. I guess I'll just keep checking it.





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