jpc4life
05-28-2005, 11:22 PM
Well, I have read many posts addressing the infamous cooling system problems on the E-38, and now have experienced it myself. What a nightmare; I wouldn't wish that upon anyone, even my worst enemy. To that point, the car has been a dream. Runs great, looks awesome, and adds the final touch to my garage. It was a 94 degree day in Seattle of all places, and I was crusing down I-90. Immdiately after hanging up the phone from reminding my mom how warm it was and to watch the thermostat as she drove to Spokane my car dinged and read "coolant temperature" across the screen. I looked at the thermo and it was pegged to the very top. I almost crashed trying to get to the side of the freeway, but I made it and shut off the car. I called my local BMW shop which was only about 4-5 miles away and told them the great news. They drove out and informed me that is was in fact the worst case scenario; my expansion tank had crapped out. This meant I had to call a tow truck; not just any tow truck, but a flatbed truck. After waiting for a total of 2.5 hours on the side of the freeway, and about 2.4 hours of that actually inside the car, the truck finally arrived. I tried standing outside next to the car, but I fealt like an idiot with all the cars wizzing by. There were a few nice people that decided to honk and wave as they passed which resulted in an immediate reaction of flipping them off. This probably had something to do with my feeling like an idiot; go figure. So that's when I decided to get in the car. After about 3.5 seconds I tried rolling down the windows and opening the sunroof. This fealt much better, but the bugs figured it out and began flying into the car. I happen to be one of those anal retentive people who can't stand bugs in the car so I rolled up all the windows and shut the sunroof. Maybe the heat made me go crazy, I'm not sure, but with the outside thermo reading 94 it was pretty damned hot in the car. I tried turning on the vent which blew the 94 degree air into the car, but at that point it fealt like A/C. Luckily I had a micro fiber towel with me to use as a sweat rag, which worked really well at the time, but now my face hurts from all of the rubbing. Isn't this when the violin is supposed to start playing? So after a 4.6 mile, $100 tow I made it to the shop. They were supposed to close at 5 or 6 for the weekend and not return until Tuesday, which was already fully booked. Knowing me well enough to know I wouldn't want to be without my car for the weekend, they volunteered to stay until the job was done. After a trip to the local dealership to pick up the parts, they finished at about 7:15. They wanted me to go test drive the car to insure the problem was fixed. After I returned, I was informed of the total damage. After the $100 tow and the $874.58 shop bill I was on my way. Not only had my day been ruined, but I had to cancel the 4 appointments I had sheduled for the day. So, basically it cost me $974.58 plus what I missed from not working. How wonderfull is that? Well, if you made it this far thanks for hanging in there. I am not sure if these are the types of things one is supposed to post on here, but I wanted to share my experiences with someone. What's that I hear; I think the violins has finally began. Oh, if anyone wants to contact Guiness to check what the record is for the longest post on a car forum, let me know.