Triumphrat

Pinballer

Hello,

Getting my recently acquired 02 955i ready to ride. Radiator was full, cracked the drain bolt and no coolant came out, bolt is dry.

I drained all the coolant by removing the hose. I flushed out all old coolant (got some rusty water at the end), and flushed and refilled.

Warmed bike up. Coolant level is fine. Warmed up again until fan came on to make sure the thermostat opened. Still no coolant from the cylinder drain.

Bad thermostat? Bad water pump?

Bike has 2195 miles on it.

Any ideas?

ckassen

Remove the thermostat.

Pinballer

Weird, I can run and warm the bike with that bolt out and nothing comes out. All hoses are getting warm. Water pump is working as when I have the radiator cap off and rev it, the coolant does move.
So, I will replace the thermostat and see if that does the trick?

Is there an alternate thermostat? I read something about a Stant 13009

rickster

There could be some rust, scale, etc. in the hole above the plug; not and uncommon thing, especially in a location that's at or near the bottom of the engine. Take out the plug and run a piece of wire up into the hole and see if you can cleane it out. And I wouldn't remove the thermostat permanently.

__________________
"The older I get, the faster I was".

Pinballer

Thanks. I removed the thermostat and it tested good right at 190.

I ran the bike for a few minutes without the thermostat and still no good. I will carefully run some wire up and see if it is clogged. There was rust colored coolant in that area.

Pinballer

That was it. There was some black crud clogging the drain hole. It was very compacted and took a stiff wire to penetrate. I opened the radiator cap and it belched it all out of the hole.

Thanks everyone!