Burst coolant pipe on a diesel

[W37V]

Little PSA…for any x5 diesel friends.

As these cars age, this stupid coolant pipe is about to burst (part number 11127810707). If you are doing carbon cleaning on the intake, it is HIGHLY recommended to replace the pipe as it costs only ~$20 at the dealership. Otherwise if you have sudden coolant leak, this is your most likely culprit.

If you have older car, higher mileage and about to go on a longer trip, I would suggest getting it done. (I sound very paranoid, but trust me… this was not fun experience).

I think that with right extensions you could swap out the pipe itself without removing the intake.

Btw. N57 has mechanical water pump (not electrical), so coolant bleeding process is different.

Mine burst exactly as the one in the video (same spot).

Oh and get your intake cleaned. Cylinder 1 is probably completely clogged)

Edit:
Apparently, they sell this as well that can be used for intake cleaning. I didn't know about it until now.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/pro...i-moly-lm20208

[Clifton]

Thanks for sharing this! What's the mileage on your d?

What did you end up using to clean the intake plenum?

Any other replace while you are in there items and could you share the torque specs for the reasembly?

[Harv]

Great advise.

John

[mrrsharma@yahoo.com]

Had this pipe crack on me 6 months back. Probably should be changed every 100k miles, the coolant tank reservoir is probably going to be next, those crack too.

Also there are 3 bolts holding this together, the third bolt is under the intake, don’t think there is a way to get to the third bolt without taking the intake off.

[W37V]

Originally Posted by Clifton

Thanks for sharing this! What's the mileage on your d?

What did you end up using to clean the intake plenum?

Any other replace while you are in there items and could you share the torque specs for the reasembly?

I am at 96k miles. Cleaning intake is not difficult, but it is SUPER MESSY. I mean.. it been a week, and my hands are still have some residue on it. I threw away anything that I used to for the cleaning job. Super dirty job.

I ended up using down dish soap, pressure washer, and gasoline.

My process was: scrape off as much as I can with various tools, sticks, etc. (i think there was over a pond of gunk removed like this), then I let the intake soak in gasoline (I had about 5 gallons of old gasoline sitting around). I used brush to agitate and remove as much as possible. Then, I pressure washed everything. After pressure washing I soaked the intake in soapy water. It removed EVERYTHING. I think if you used dawn by itself, you could get 95% of everything removed. After soaking in soapy water, I washed it off with pressure washer again. Intake was spotless. It looked brand new.

I did not clean valve intake ports as I did not have means to do it properly. I just scraped off as much as possible of gunk with my little scraper tool.

I replaced all gaskets. Gaskets were pricy for what they are. Each gasket at the dealership is about $20 while websites sell them for about $14 each.

For tq specs... I didn't bother. It's a plastic intake with metal sleeve for each bolt. You can feel them getting snug, so don't over tighten them. I think official specs are fairly low, which does not surprise me.

I used this video as a guide for intake removal and as a part list:

[jbfrancis3]

Great PSAs and info here!

[Harv]

Added that coolant tube to the to do list as the dealer fixes my failed egr cooler and intake.

John.

[F15GorDe]

Thanks for a nice write up on this procedure.
Quite a few of us are going to need this done very soon if it hasn’t been completed already.

[Kakalika]

I hope the aftermarket come up with an aluminum pipe to replace this plastic junk soon.