E30 Zone

Hi guys,

My e30 had what we like to call an 'episode' last night and blew a radiator hose. It's split clean down the middle as if it was cut open so i'm thinking it was fatigue on the parts rather than anything else. Either way the massive steam cloud was quite impressive!

The hose at fault is the hose to the water pump:
Number 3 in this diagram...
http://static.bmwfans.info/images/epc/NjEzX3A=.png
Or labeled in this picture...
http://i25.tinypic.com/xmv4no.png

Do any of you know what the likely casuses of this could be? (faulty fan was my 1st thought since it blew while stationary on my mates drive!) Is it a case of just fitting a new hose, refill/bleed the coolant and drive off or could this have had more serious effects I need to be wary of?
Finally, is it worth upgrading the hose while I'm there or is there no point on an almost standard engine?

Thanks!
Simon

The cause could well have been a faulty viscous fan coupling, as you suggest, if no one was keeping an eye on the temperature gauge, so check it out when it's back running again.
Equally, it could be just a 20 year old hose giving up the unequal battle, or even a coolant pressure cap that still hasn't been replaced under the 1996 safety recall. Lack of fan shroud won't be helping either!
Upgrade? You have a BMW. There are very few components that you can 'upgrade', considering the quality of BMW OE components.
If you shut down immediately, the engine will probably be OK, so get it back together and find out, although M20's aren't exactly tolerant of being overheated.

Very detailed reply, thank you!
I'll just replace the hose with OEM and hope for the best then.
Your comment about the fan shroud confused me for a second there. To clarify, the engine in the photo isn't mine, I just stole a photo off the net to illustrate my point.

Simon

This is what I found when I looked under the car...
http://s1226.photobucket.com/user/Simon ... ort=3&o=16
Seems like that would have taken A LOT of pressure to blow a chunk out of the hose

Proper shat itself that has