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Showing results for tags 'leaking water pipe'.
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Damaged alluminium housing for water pipe! HELP! It still leaks, how to fix this? Here is the problem. Rather than on the R33 this time, this one is on the wife's car, an E46 BMW 3 Series. Long story short I, for reliability, decided to replace the whole cooling system of hoses, plastic pipes, radiator etc (BMW use shitty plastic which fails over time).One of the plastic heater pipes goes into an aluminium housing into the engine and thanks to 13 years of heat cycles it was firmly stuck in and infact sheared when I finally removed the pipe. Despite being as careful as I could the housing was inevitably damaged when I removed the fused-in remaining plastic and this is a major problem as the new pipe and 2 O-rings needs a perfect fit otherwise it leaks. Naturally this is all under the intake manifold system which to remove and refit takes between 1/2 to 1 Days work. I've now attempted to fix it 3 times and am getting quite tired of doing this. Each time it will still end up slowly leaking and usually in the process will swell the o-ring and I need to purchase new ones for stupid prices at BMW. Here is what I've attempted as a fix. 1 - Installed new pipe with some windscreen silicon jammed in between the 2 O-rings. (leaked) 2 - Cleaned area and gave a very light sand to smooth the housing, new O-rings and refit. (leaked) 3 - Cleaned up area, new O-rings and used a stack of RTV silicon gasket (leaks, but less) Which this most recent fix has it leaking the least, its still not a permanent fix due to its very slow propensity to leak. I don't want to have to buy a new timing case panel (which incorporates the housing) as even through my cheap online place, its around $500! A used one will no doubt have the same damage, plus doing this is more major engine work which I don't have energy for. So, my question to you all; What PROVEN methods do you have for this situation? What have you done that has worked? I know it happens that people can damage the water pump surface etc when trying to remove, eg, thermostat, water pump etc so surely there is some wisdom out there. What is a reliable fix? Thanks! Oh, as a bonus, an error code has just come up indicating the knock sensor is faulty, so that's gotta be swapped too. Where is that, you ask? Its that cable and bolt to the left of the BMW stamp in the photo below. So I have to take who whole inlet system off agaaaaaaaaain anyway *sigh*.
