Upgrade your coolant flange (Mickey Mouse Flange) Just Do It

[jdog006]

I have an N54. I changed my coolant flange today. I'm not here to pat myself on the back. I'm here to encourage you to do the same thing. The stock coolant flange is made of plastic and it is absolutely guaranteed to fail. It is right on the front of the engine next to the oil filter housing on the N54. But I'm pretty sure that it is the same on all N5X engines.

When I pulled my stock coolant flange out, it completely crumbled. I think that I am very lucky. I feel like I was one foot step away from a very very bad day.

We all know that FCP Euro has great stock of OEM parts. But at least for my car, this is one part that they don't even offer the OEM part. Probably because it would be more expensive and far inferior to what they do offer.

A good quality upgraded aluminum coolant flange is only going to cost you $25. It will save you $100's (or even $1000's) of dollars in repairs and being stranded on the side of the road. It is a minor investment that will repay itself multiple times over.

There are cheap aluminum flanges that you can get on Ebay and such for $10 or less. But I have read bad bad things about fitment (impossible fitment). A good flange is already real cheap. There is no reason to penny pinch on this.

I think that it would probably be possible to change without removing the radiator fan. But just remove the radiator fan. If the 5 minutes that it takes to remove the radiator fan saves you 15 minutes of frustration trying to get at the flange, it's worth it. Just pry the old flange off (if it doesn't crumble) and pry the press fitting off of the hose and BADA BING BADA BOOM, you're done.

[krhodes1]

I don't think there is an OEM part per se, it's part of that hose, so you get a new flange when you buy the hose.

[ShocknAwe]

Rein makes an OEM level replacement hose and flange unit.

Easy to change the whole thing out if you have the thermostat and water pump out for replacement. Highly recommend.

What's better? You can get it from FCP Euro. No brainer.

[e4603]

Shiny new flange on a 10+ years old hose… are we just moving the failure point from one component to another?

[jdog006]

Originally Posted by e4603

Shiny new flange on a 10+ years old hose… are we just moving the failure point from one component to another?

Yes. But one is going to fail before the other. I'm sure that it has happened. But I have never seen a hose fail when the plastic flange was still holding up great.

And it will lock you into some kind of aftermarket hoses. Since an OEM hose is just going to set you back to square one with another plastic flange.

Getting to the thermostat and water pump is not an easy feat. Putting that off as long as possible is a win. But it only makes sense to upgrade all the lower coolant hoses and water pump/thermostat at the same time.

There are a lot of good aftermarket options for our cars. Every upgrade makes the car a little better. But there is always another failure point to address.

[blue135]

I kind of look at this as "I don't know what I don't know". I know the flange will fail sooner or later. And given Murphy's law, when I am 423 mi from home and it is 38 degrees. I don't know when the hose will fail, but everything I see says it has a longer life than the flange. So, yes, you are right, another component will fail after the flange is replaced. But do you know enough to know which component it will be and when, most of us do not.

[jdog006]

Don't worry about the mule going blind. Just load the wagon.

[JustAnotherSportsCar]

I replaced all coolant hoses and the flange when I replaced my turbos. New water pump and thermostat. Also did all new vacuum lines and new turbo oil lines. Oh, and all new sensors and vanos selenoids… Overkill? YES! But I don’t want to rip into it again for a long time.