BMW E46 330i ZHP Expansion Tank Removal Made Easy doityourself

[danewilson77]

It's a well known fact that the expansion tanks on E46's can be very stubborn to remove. I had read somewhere else, that pulling the "Frame", PC 10, below....then removing the expansion from PC 10, when it's out of the car...may facilitate easier removal. So That's what we did. I just took a bunch of pictures....which should describe what you need to do.

1. This is the Realoem drawing....showing the "Frame", PC 10.

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af278/nicee46/262.png

2. This is the expansion tank and "frame" as it will come out of the car.

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af278/nicee46/IMAG1057.jpg

3. So...what you will need to do...is remove two torx screws indicated on the below drawing, by the red dots.

Near the top of the "Frame"
http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af278/nicee46/IMAG1056.jpg

Below drain plug
http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af278/nicee46/IMAG1055.jpg

4. Once the assembly (Frame and Expansion Tank) is out of the car, it can be separated rather easily.

These next pics show...that the expansion is simply "Hung" on piece 10, with bottom hose connections snapped into place.

The red dots below indicate the hanger on the back of the expansion tank, and the location it is hung.
http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af278/nicee46/IMAG1051.jpg

Close up of hangar
http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af278/nicee46/IMAG1048.jpg


***This is a pretty simple writeup...but sometimes a picture (or two or three) is worth 1000 words, so I hope this helps someone.***

5. An alternate method of removal is to skip all of the above, and place a hydraulic jack under the expansion tank (may have to raise up with blocks), and simply apply hydraulic jack pressure to the location, below, indicated by the red dot. This will separate both bottom hose connections and lift it off of the "hangar" point.

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af278/nicee46/IMAG1049.jpg

Enjoy a hassle free removal of your expansion tank today.

[kayger12]

Awesome write up.

While it's simple, I have seen/read a lot of people get hung up on this step (umm, including THIS guy).

This will be a HUGE help to anyone doing this for the first time.

[danewilson77]

Awesome write up.

While it's simple, I have seen/read a lot of people get hung up on this step (umm, including THIS guy).

This will be a HUGE help to anyone doing this for the first time.

Thanks KG. That's who I wrote it for......new and seasoned alike.

[kayger12]

Looking forward to your radiator DIY. :biggrin

[danewilson77]

Ha... The radiator really just kind of hangs and is secured with a couple of Torx. I will post up some pics to make others comfortable.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

[johnnyrad]

Thanks DW great tips with pics..Love those. I will need to do this in the near future like a year or so. For now I'm doing the coolant system in halves opting to do the tstat, wp and the pulley now cause my heat is luke warm to be generous and baby it's cold outside!

[echo46]

Good stuff.

[cakM3]

Awesome writeup Dane! I will be doing this before coming down for the next Mafia reunion :)

[Oli77]

Good stuff Mr. Wilson but let me ask you this. How is the frame attached to the rest of the vehicle?

By screw #7 in the realoem drawing above?

[danewilson77]

Good stuff Mr. Wilson but let me ask you this. How is the frame attached to the rest of the vehicle?

By screw #7 in the realoem drawing above?

It is attached using the Torx in step 3, above. The top edge of frame kind of hangs on lip of radiator.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

[static667]

Once the plastic mounting plate was out, the tank came loose easily. Getting the whole mount out can be a little tricky as the screw in the second photo is in a tight spot.

[imola red zhp]

Great DW, I'll be doing this soon too as I have oredered the Rogue pulleys, did you order the ECStuning cooling refresh kit, or did you orders parts seperately, metal impellar, or composite?.... Awesome write up...

[danewilson77]

Great DW, I'll be doing this soon too as I have oredered the Rogue pulleys, did you order the ECStuning cooling refresh kit, or did you orders parts seperately, metal impellar, or composite?.... Awesome write up...

I purchased the ECS level II kit. WP has a metal impeller.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

[JohnnyGraphic]

Nice Plan B for those doing the coolant refresh!!! I did mine a year and a half ago (70k miles) and didn't know about this. I was real worried I would crack or ruin one of the other numerous plastic bits in the BMW engine bay. But, I used a rubber mallet with a socket wrench right on the red dot on the bottom of the expansion tank. I was set for a real tough go at it. But, fortunately it went Peter Pan on me on the 2nd or 3rd whack! Found the expansion tank in the corner of the garage by my son-in-law's drum set. No damage to the car! :)

Thanks for the tips!!!

Johnny

[johnrando]

Yes, thanks for the additional info!

[JohnnyGraphic]

Hi All-

Just posted this link at bimmerfest.com and I wanted to share with the family. This may be an alternative to removing the entire assembly off of the radiator. I saw this the other day and noticed that the expansion tank goes up a bit to clear the hangar part mentioned by DW, then out and then up again. Should lift out from that point with a little elbow grease. Probably a lot easier than using a floor jack and/or mallet method. Haven't tried this yet, but if anyone does, please let the rest of us know.

http://tis.spaghetticoder.org/s/view.pl?1/04/54/00

Johnny

[zj96sc]

I've done two tanks this way. First one was a breeze, 2nd one was on there pretty damn good. 2nd would've been easier and faster to go Dane's method. Guess it depends - give a couple healthy yanks - if no joy, go Dane's method.

[das boots]

Wish I could have read this DIY when I replaced my reservoir. I had to remove the reservoir from frame by whacking from the bottom with a rubber mallet. A few coolant shower drops to my arms....LOL. But installed reservoir to frame prior to install. Learn the hard way....still, no leaks.

[danewilson77]

Bumped for a friend.

[imola red zhp]

Bumped for a friend.

Thanks Dane
Jack method worked great, put a load on it and used a micarta scraper and pryed from radiator side to help on angle and even out force... It popped right off and missed the bath..
Thanks for the write up http://img.tapatalk.com/aefee008-2c1c-dfa0.jpg
The pic is after install to show where I pryed

sent from Dennis' Droid using tapatalk

[danewilson77]

OK....excellent. I thought you said...it was jacking up the car?

[imola red zhp]

Yea it was jacking the car, thats when I backed off to look for your thread, Pip helped lasted night but I decided to try again this morning after coffee and read your post again and again to make sure I was doing it right, was gonna go for method #1 but that upper torx screw would have required me to move headlight to get to it so I opted for #2 with the micarta pry...

[danewilson77]

Ok... Well done. Glad it's fixed.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

[tripod06]

Replacing the entire cooling system at home next Saturday. Will try to take good pictures of the steps if I can.

[aurelius]

Can the Torx screws in question be removed from above or does the car need to be elevated and the splash panels removed?

[Lespaulman16]

Just go straight in from the top. You can get to them both.

[aurelius]

Great, thanks. Need to replace a tank today and hoping to be able to do so w/o raising the car or doing anything from below. Coolant flushed recently and therefore no need to access drain plugs.

[WOLFN8TR]

Nice Info!

[Dave1027]

Won't coolant run out when you pull the tank loose? I would think you'd want to drain the coolant into a container first.

[aurelius]

In this particular case it was already mostly empty due to leaking. And of course everything below it was already wet, etc. But normally yes, you'd get under it and drain it at the blue drain screw.

This one was something I'd never heard of in the world of leaking E46 expansion tanks. Will probably start a new thread topic.

[WOLFN8TR]

Bump...

[ELCID86]

Anyone use a non-OEM tank? Hamman, Behr, etc.? :ducking

[Avetiso]

Anyone use a non-OEM tank? Hamman, Behr, etc.? :ducking

I thought Behr was an OEM?

"Arnold smoking a cigar in the Red Square; your argument is invalid." -Galaxy S5

[ELCID86]

I thought Behr was an OEM?

"Arnold smoking a cigar in the Red Square; your argument is invalid." -Galaxy S5
Yeah, I guess they are OEM but some ppl were complaining of Behr-China tanks. Not sure how you can tell on eeuroparts.com

[Avetiso]

Yeah, I guess they are OEM but some ppl were complaining of Behr-China tanks. Not sure how you can tell on eeuroparts.com

Check the TheBMWPartStore.com. OE parts are usually less expensive than OEM, surprisingly.

"Arnold smoking a cigar in the Red Square; your argument is invalid." -Galaxy S5

[prowlerflyer]

I just ordered the parts to do an overhaul, and did quite a bit of cross comparison. OE vs. OEM would save about $40. So I just ordered OEM for continuity. OE would probably be be comparable, probably. Best buy for me was ECS. For some reason they always end up saving me, particularly on shipping. I was surprised Turner only offered OE or similar, and not OEM on some of the components.