330i 05 Coolant not being pumped around

pepsilol

pepsilol

pepsilol

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Joined
26 Jun 2011
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What would cause this? The water just sits in the expansion tank. Thermostat and waterpump are fine.

Fill the expansion tank, run the engine and absolutely nothing happens, both hoses cold, water doesn't even get into the radiator..

On a side note we replaced the thermostat because it looked like it had a leak that was fixed with radweld...
 
acemastr said:
Thermostat opens on the first quarter mark iirc
Click to expand...

No, the thermostat opens at a much higher temperature than that. The gauge itself is damped anyway to show the centre point when within normal ranges so you cannot judge thermostat operating point from the gauge.

The car might (Unless it's a Ci rather than an i) actually be an E90 anyway which doesn't have a gauge.
 
acemastr said:
Thermostat opens on the first quarter mark iirc
Click to expand...

The thermostat and the coolant temperature gauge are quite possibly not taking their readings from the same sensor either. I'm not sure about this specific car but commonly the thermostat is mechanical based on the melting point of a substance and starts opening around 80ºC while the temperature gauge (if present) will be driven from a coolant temperature sensor, which is electrical and will give a precise temperature reading (to the degree).
 
I can only think to try removing the stat from its housing, put the housing back on and check that the coolant tten flows. To the best of my knowledge there is no reason water shouldn't then move around as the pump is mechanical not switched. If it doesn't I guess you need to start looking for blockages due to the potential radweld
 
Are you actually letting the engine get up to temperature? The thermostat will be closed until warm, so water won't start circulating until it's heated will it?
 
Well, did it this morning with a stone cold engine,

Everything went to plan.

Probably wasn't doing something right as it was a long day yesterday.
 
Last edited:
on the expansion take does it say cold level or min?
you shouldnt have the tank maxed nor should you open or adjust the level until the engine is stone cold, u may need to bleed the system.

as for the thermostat, how do you know its opening? take it out put it in hot water and make sure it actually does open.

as for water pump also how do you know its working? the impalas can snap off and you will then over heat the engine.
 
Eh, I just started the whole filling and bleed procedure all over again.

I was probably doing something stupid last night as it went like clockwork today.

I've done it countless times so I really don't have a clue what I was doing to screw it up so bad that I needed to make a thread :o
 
We replaced the thermostat and I was doing something wrong last night when bleeding.

Did it again this morning with a fresh head and it went like clock work.

That's it really.
 
I found my 330 a bit weird to bleed when i replaced its expansion tank & radiator, i filled it up, ran it for ages, bleeding out air through the plastic bleed screw on the top of the expansion tank, and the level never really went down.

I think in the end i only had to top it back up with about 100ml :confused:
 
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