I just test drove a '96 740iL w/150k, and the radiator neck snapped on the test drive! I floored it, and it snapped immediately, I didn't notice 'till I wound it up to redline and let off. It gushed a lot of coolant, but I don't think I ran it long enough to do damage. It was a short burst, and I shut it down quickly.

I'm new to BMW, but I've have run several quattros to over 200k. My 200 lost it's radiator neck in Chicago many years ago, I reattached it and limped 180 miles home. It's still like that, holding up well at 250k.

I called the owner, helped him stick the hose back on and clamp it, filled the radiator (a bit over a gallon), and he's on the road again. His wife drove it around, no problems apparently. He want's to get it to the dealership, won't let anyone else touch it. I offered him $6500 as is, he accepted, but pending his getting the title from his main home, maybe next week.

I think this is a good deal, he's maintained it meticulously with all synthetics and all dealer service, extra wheels with winter tires, hardly a blemish in or out.

What do you think? How much for a radiator installed or parts and I install?

This is VERY common. In my experience, these Radiators are good for 30-40 months, that's it.

Rads are available for about $150 and Expansion tanks (do it at the same time) are $50 or so.

DO NOT DRIVE WITH THE HOSE REATTACHED TO THE BROKEN NECK!

Can you suggest a vendor for a new radiator & expansion tank? Has anyone come up with a fix for this? I know these hoses get powerful flow and pulsing at high RPMs, the elbow supported by a plastic tube seems like a bad design. Replacing the radiator with another faulty design doesn't seem like a fix. I have full access to a fairly sophisticated machine shop, maybe I can make an inner sleeve for that neck, or build some kind of support for the neck and hose. The radiator looks pretty straight-forward to replace, anything tricky? I've read the expansion tank is a potential problem, what goes wrong with it?

Some of the Vendors on the forum must have them, check Bimmerzone.com I'm working on a group buy on Aluminum radiators, gotta gauge interest first but they will be in the $450 range.