High Tide Aquatics

An UnChristmas Story

patchin

patchin

Supporting Member
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What a day!
Background
Bought an Audi A3 on a whim a while back. Very fun to drive, wonderful acceleration and cornering, but very noisey and uncomfortable for me. It's gone. I found the car I was looking for the whole time. A BMW 530i, silver, manual, sports package, cold weather package blah, blah. Low mileage. Snapped it up. In the last 5 months of ownership I've replaced the alternator, the DSC/ABS module is most likely out, the overflow tank for the radiator was just replaced along with a radiator flush (yesterday), and today the radiator blew apart, the plastic end blew off, on the freeway.
My last car was a 528e that was wonderful. No problems at all. My friend bought a 99 528i that has been the best car he's ever owned. Oh, well.
The other bad thing is that the radiator sprayed antifreeze on the alternator, so it may go out too.

Enough tale of woe
Merry Christmas to everyone. Stay safe in tomorrow's rain. Enjoy family and friends and the new year.
 
Thanks for the offer. I don't know what to do. My friend might sell his 99. Might stick with mine or check out new cars, Sonata or Subarus??????
 
I don't know much about cars, but I never thought the expansion tank was pressurized. Last week it cracked and spewed junk all over the passenger side of the engine. After it's replaced, the radiator blows apart???? Sounds like there's something wrong that they didn't catch. The mechanic seems very good and is Diamond Certified.
 
Hey Steve, I checked with my BMW friend this evening.

He said that on late model 530's, the plastic parts of the radiator system pretty much go out at between 5-7 years of age. Particularly if the car has gone a long time without coolant change. The coolant gets acidic over time and the plastic gets weak and brittle. Classic failure for the neck where the hose connects to break off.

Also, sometimes when mechanics flush a system and remove/install the radiator hoses to burp the air out, they retighten the hose clamps too much and the necks will snap off. But pretty much at 5-7 years you can expect the plastic parts to begin failing regardless.

He said he's never seen ABS or DSC modules to go bad. Usually it's the sensors or wiring. He's also seen where the reluctors fill up with brake dust. The high metallic content of the BMW pads affect the signal, and the sensors won't read it properly. The fix for that is to clean all the brake dust out from the teeth or whatever it is that's rotating to generate the signal for the ABS/DSC to know wheel speed.
 
seminolecpa said:
You are welcome to drive my Subaru if you want Steve. Great all around car for family, carting stuff, dog, and skiing.
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Thanks for the offer. I'll take you up on it. Which one did you buy and which package, ie trans and engine. Did you take a lot of Christmas pictures with the little one??
 
Have you thought about an Acura? I absolutely love my TSX, and have a few friends who've owned the RX, and TL with nothing but good things to say about them. My TSX is a 2004, and has never given me any trouble whatsoever.
 
patchin said:
seminolecpa said:
You are welcome to drive my Subaru if you want Steve. Great all around car for family, carting stuff, dog, and skiing.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the offer. I'll take you up on it. Which one did you buy and which package, ie trans and engine. Did you take a lot of Christmas pictures with the little one??
Click to expand...

2010 Outback 3.6R Limited. the one with the 6 cyl
 
Yah, I checked out a couple TSXs and TLs before and the ones I drove had a lot of road noise. Just the tires on those cars, I don't know. Definitely reliable cars, though. Don't want to go through this again.
Is your TSX fun? Corner well?
 
seminolecpa said:
patchin said:
seminolecpa said:
You are welcome to drive my Subaru if you want Steve. Great all around car for family, carting stuff, dog, and skiing.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the offer. I'll take you up on it. Which one did you buy and which package, ie trans and engine. Did you take a lot of Christmas pictures with the little one??
Click to expand...

2010 Outback 3.6R Limited. the one with the 6 cyl
Click to expand...
Also been looking at that one. AWD would probably be nice out here in the winter too.
 
seminolecpa said:
patchin said:
seminolecpa said:
You are welcome to drive my Subaru if you want Steve. Great all around car for family, carting stuff, dog, and skiing.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the offer. I'll take you up on it. Which one did you buy and which package, ie trans and engine. Did you take a lot of Christmas pictures with the little one??
Click to expand...

2010 Outback 3.6R Limited. the one with the 6 cyl
Click to expand...
gas mileage with the bigger engine?
 
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