[Jester236]

Hello, it appears my tank is suffering from the common leak. It appears I've caught it before it's done any damage to injectors or coils. I see there is a new part number for it, however I'm out of warranty. Had anyone changed it themselves and also refilled/bled coolant after? Not too worried about getting the part out and replaced but not sure if I'd have the proper equipment to do the bleeding, vacuum filling, etc.

[pbonsalb]

You don’t need any special equipment. But have things on hand to plug the hoses when you take them off. Cork type plugs. Put something underneath like a towel to reduce any spillage that will drip down to the injector area. Be patient wiggling and pulling the hoses off after lifting the retaining clips. I changed both the engine and intercooler tanks and caps. I also added reflective heat tape to the bottoms of the tanks.

[Jester236]

Thanks for the info, did you have to bleed or vacuum fill once you replaced the tank?

[pbonsalb]

No. You won’t lose enough coolant to creat air pockets in the engine. The tank is above the highest point in the motor and it is self bleeding. Just try to have corks for all the sizes of lines to limit the coolant loss.

[Stück]

Be extremely careful changing the tank. I had mine changed under warranty, and the free $125 coolant tank ended up costing me 4 injectors, 3 coils and 3 spark plugs.

Incompetent BMW Dealer technician spilled coolant into the injector shafts, causing injector failure months later.

The repair instructions explicitly call out the dire importance of NOT SPILLING COOLANT but DeAlEaR TeChS can't be troubled to do anything beyond a half ass job chasing those precious tenths.

[Jester236]

Noted, we have an excellent local Euro mechanic I'm going to call in the morning. If their labor rate for the job is not bad I may just get them to handle.

[Demon Barber]

I paid out of pocket to have mine replaced with the new updated part number, just because I know it was a ticking time bomb. Had my trusted independent shop do it, and had them change the engine and turbo coolant at the same time.

[Jester236]

Don't have to answer if you don't want, but happen to remember the approx cost so I can gauge what these guys quote me? Thanks!

[Demon Barber]

Yeah, around 1k for the whole job. OEM BMW coolant was used.

[Justao]

I’ve recently changed one with new part number… it was 5min job and garage charged me £20… didn’t lose much of coolant, probably had to top up around 50-100ml

[NoMods]

I wonder if the the dealer will pre-fix it if I ask nicely 😁

But seriously how bad was it, was it dripping down to your floor or just white staining near the tank?

[Justao]

Originally Posted by armoredsaint

I wonder if the the dealer will pre-fix it if I ask nicely 😁

But seriously how bad was it, was it dripping down to your floor or just white staining near the tank?

For me I didn’t notice any leak at all… the coolant was simply disappearing after some time.. I had to refill around 500ml every 2-3months… after replacing the coolant reservoir the issue is gone

[Jester236]

For anyone else running into this, my local shop will do it for $250. That's parts and labor. It looks like to buy the part, some coolant, and some proper hose clamps to keep it from leaking would run me $200 so I'm just going to get them to do it. They also confirmed the new part number as well. Hopefully that gives some context for anyone else curious on pricing.

[NoMods]

newbie question as i never paid attention and i know there are 2 coolant tanks, is there one specific one you check and i assume if it's low you'll be alerted on the iDrive?

[pbonsalb]

The one on the driver’s side is the engine coolant tank. It seems to be the more common problem. White residue is a sign of leaking. Inspect carefully all around since some say there were no obvious signs on the top or front.

[NoMods]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

The one on the driver’s side is the engine coolant tank. It seems to be the more common problem. White residue is a sign of leaking. Inspect carefully all around since some say there were no obvious signs on the top or front.

crap, i do have very little white residue but never saw any wet spots under the car as I've always had a vinyl autoguard mat under it

[Jester236]

Welcome to the club haha. Good news is that it doesn't look like a super expensive fix and hopefully the updated part number solves it for good.

[dcohen13]

Originally Posted by armoredsaint

crap, i do have very little white residue but never saw any wet spots under the car as I've always had a vinyl autoguard mat under it

assuming you have a 2022 as your profile states, it will be under warranty. Easy fix, as I did mine a few months ago at my dealer.

[norbtx]

What's the new part number?

[Demon Barber]

Originally Posted by dcohen13

assuming you have a 2022 as your profile states, it will be under warranty. Easy fix, as I did mine a few months ago at my dealer.

I just want to throw out there that I took mine to the dealer (under warranty) and told them about having to top off coolant multiple times, that there's a new part number, I saw white residue around the tank, multiple reports online of the old tanks leaking, etc. They told me they could find no leak, didn't offer to replace it at all, and charged me $200 for nothing. I was pissed.

So, I just went to my local independent shop and said please order this new part number, install the new tank, and flush/change the engine and turbo coolant (separate systems). Cost me about 1k for all of it. I also had them change the spark plugs while they were in there for an additional $600. Here's the kicker... The indy shop mechanic said some of the spark plugs were finger-loose from where the dealership changed them the first time and didn't even bother torquing them down. WTF.

[Demon Barber]

New part number is 17-13-7-889-450

[WayneM3]

I don't know why I did not see this before when searching about the tanks.

I already had mine replaced under warranty and it became a big issue a few months later after it had leaked on the injectors and they failed. The dealer blamed my tune and said I had a blown head gasket which caused "overpressurization" of the tank. They wanted $9,000+ to fix it. I brought it to BMW of NYC (which is owned by BMW) and they fixed it under warranty and confirmed that I did not have a blown head gasket.