[tlow98]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

I think you made a good choice on sourcing it. Sometimes you just pay the extra and know what you're getting...

Agree. I shipped 3 radiators to my house. The first two were smashed. Some parts, it’s just easier.

And in the meantime, it’s not dead air space and you don’t have a car on blocks…

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by tlow98

Agree. I shipped 3 radiators to my house. The first two were smashed. Some parts, it’s just easier.

And in the meantime, it’s not dead air space and you don’t have a car on blocks…

The last radiator I ordered from FCP came banged up. They shipped me a replacement really quick, but yeah, still extra down time. How many must they have to replace each year... seems like a new packing system should be devised!

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

The last radiator I ordered from FCP came banged up. They shipped me a replacement really quick, but yeah, still extra down time. How many must they have to replace each year... seems like a new packing system should be devised!

So strange. I wonder if it’s the dims of the box that is some anomaly within the shipper’s system that causes issues. Then again, you can twist and contort these rads pretty easily - they’re certainly not a structural member.

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by tlow98

So strange. I wonder if it’s the dims of the box that is some anomaly within the shipper’s system that causes issues. Then again, you can twist and contort these rads pretty easily - they’re certainly not a structural member.

In my case above, I'm pretty sure UPS packed it laying down flat with a lot of boxes on top of it. Then drove the whole mass around like that for three days. The weight just pushed the hose nibs through the box and ground them down. The rest is fine, in fact I still have it as an emergency back up that I could probably smooth down and use in a pinch. But in my case those connection points were the problem and packaging needs to be improved to protect them.

[cosmo325xi]

It’s funny I’m at 140k miles on mine and my original radiator started leaking in the exact same spot I replaced it last weekend.

[sabino56]

Apparently a common failure point. I just replaced mine yesterday after driving several weeks with the epoxy patch which held up great. I appreciate the group advice on that.

Not a bad job if you can get hoses off. I couldn’t get lower hose off radiator even with heat gun but since I was replacing radiator was able to pull radiator with hose attached. Super easy to reattach hoses. I can see why BMW designed this way - optimized for manufacturing line in exchange for a pain taking apart old connections.

Only problem was after topping off the antifreeze I noticed the tip of of the float rod broke had broken off (which I read is also a common failure) and I had to pull the expansion tank to get that stupid piece out!