» Site Navigation | | » Recent Threads | | | 1999 M3 Swap 09-07-2023 10:10 PM 06-01-2024 03:04 PM 7 Replies, 409,890 Views | | My 318ti build 05-21-2024 04:48 PM 05-28-2024 06:42 PM 1 Replies, 3,688 Views | | OMG!OMG! 05-28-2024 08:53 AM 05-28-2024 08:53 AM 0 Replies, 1,494 Views | | | | | | 06-20-2012, 04:46 PM | #1 | Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 10 | Quote: Originally Posted by jca Do you know if the car's cooling system has ever been overhauled? | I don't believe it has. Do you think that could be the problem rather than the head gasket? | | | 06-20-2012, 08:19 PM | #2 | Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Wichita Falls, Texas Posts: 1,364 | Quote: Originally Posted by 318tom I don't believe it has. Do you think that could be the problem rather than the head gasket? | I a word, yes. A ti with 130k miles on it, is way past due cooling system preventive maintainence, so there is a very good chance the overheating is being caused by a failure of one or more cooling system components. Likely suspect is the water pump. Overheating can cause of head gasket problems, but you may not have blown the head gasket yet. Signs of a bad headgasket: sweet smelling white smoke out the tailpipe, brownish white gooey stuff on the inside of the oil filler cap (coolant mixing with engine oil), loss of coolant (into the combustion chambers, causing the white smoke), contaminated coolent (engine oil leaking into the coolant system). There is a chemical test for this. At a minimum I would have the mechanic explain why he thinks the head gasket is blown and/or I would take the car to a good indie BMW mechanic for a second opinion. You have a very desireable ti in my opinion. Lovely color and a Cali top to boot. Good luck, John | | | 06-20-2012, 08:59 PM | #3 | Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 10 | Quote: Originally Posted by jca I a word, yes. A ti with 130k miles on it, is way past due cooling system preventive maintainence, so there is a very good chance the overheating is being caused by a failure of one or more cooling system components. Likely suspect is the water pump. Overheating can cause of head gasket problems, but you may not have blown the head gasket yet. Signs of a bad headgasket: sweet smelling white smoke out the tailpipe, brownish white gooey stuff on the inside of the oil filler cap (coolant mixing with engine oil), loss of coolant (into the combustion chambers, causing the white smoke), contaminated coolent (engine oil leaking into the coolant system). There is a chemical test for this. At a minimum I would have the mechanic explain why he thinks the head gasket is blown and/or I would take the car to a good indie BMW mechanic for a second opinion. You have a very desireable ti in my opinion. Lovely color and a Cali top to boot. Good luck, John | Thanks for the great info, John. The main symptoms the car has been experiencing are: 1) very fast leakage of antifreeze (tank drains to about 2/3 empty within minutes of starting). 2) coolant dripping from tailpipe. Sounds like you've got some good experience with this....would these symptoms suggest the head gasket to you? I'll look out for the other symptoms you mentioned, which I have not specifically noticed. But eliminating them would give me some hope that the car does have life in it yet! Thank you again! | | | 06-21-2012, 02:49 AM | #4 | Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Wichita Falls, Texas Posts: 1,364 | Quote: Originally Posted by 318tom Thanks for the great info, John. The main symptoms the car has been experiencing are: 1) very fast leakage of antifreeze (tank drains to about 2/3 empty within minutes of starting). 2) coolant dripping from tailpipe. Sounds like you've got some good experience with this....would these symptoms suggest the head gasket to you? I'll look out for the other symptoms you mentioned, which I have not specifically noticed. But eliminating them would give me some hope that the car does have life in it yet! Thank you again! | Coolant coming out the tail pipe is almost certainly a blown head gasket. If you want to keep the car, take it to an established indie BMW mechanic, get him to look it over and give you an estimate for getting it in shape which would include replacing the head gasket and overhauling the cooling system, ie., new radiator, water pump, thermostat, probably new coolant hoses, and most definitely the two plastic coolant fittings, one at the back of the engine next to the firewall, and the other underneath the intake manifold. One or both of them often break sometime after 100,000 miles. Good luck, again. John | | | 06-20-2012, 08:29 PM | #5 | Junior Member Join Date: May 2012 Location: NJ Posts: 8 | If you do find out the reason for the problem, and it isn't a difficult item to DIY like the head gasket, let me know. I would then be very interested in purchasing this vehicle. To others, do you know how much it would cost to narrow down the problem? Or is this more of a "guess, replace, repeat if still present" sort of procedure? | | | 06-21-2012, 04:05 AM | #6 | Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Beaufort, SC Posts: 298 | this is actually not a hard fix, The head gasket and the cooling system overhaul. The only part i think i'd dread is having to replace the plastic piece on the back of the block. Its a tight squeeze, but manageable. glws if you were closer to SC i would jump on this | | | 06-21-2012, 04:59 PM | #7 | Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Wichita Falls, Texas Posts: 1,364 | My ti is just like this one, only without the cali roof which I would kill for. The challenge in selling the car is that it has to be repaired before it can be driven anywhere. Get a good cost estimate of the repairs then you keep the car and pay for the repairs or a buyer pays for the repairs and drives the car home. Last edited by jca; 06-21-2012 at 05:02 PM. | | | 06-30-2012, 10:23 PM | #8 | Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Palm Beach Posts: 15 | Car still available? Is there something wrong with the roof too? Any Rust? | | | 07-01-2012, 01:07 AM | #9 | Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Palm Beach Posts: 15 | We are interested- | | | 07-03-2012, 07:26 PM | #10 | Junior Member Join Date: May 2012 Location: NJ Posts: 8 | I am also interested. If you can get a quote for getting the engine back into shape, I am willing to negotiate a price on the fixed car. | | | 07-08-2012, 08:14 PM | #11 | Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Palm Beach Posts: 15 | Any update-still interested | | | 07-08-2012, 08:17 PM | #12 | Junior Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: OC CA Posts: 7 | No Replies Sent PM ans emails with no reply. Still available? | | | | | Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | | Posting Rules | You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts HTML code is Off | | | |