Coolant Leak

[thesilversurfer]

Hi i hope u guys can help me. i got a 98 318ti and just yesterday i was driving home from work and from under the hood white smoke started coming out so i pulled over imediatley, but the car wasnt over heating the temp gauge was in the middle. so i put some coolant in, which was very low. as it started 2 fill it started leaking like crazy, i had a small pond of coolant under my car. it seems like its leaking from under the car in the middle about where the dash or seats would b. i hit a curb earlier that day on the front drivers side so im guessing this is what caused the problem, cuz ive never had this problem before. so idk any advice or info would be apretiated. thnk you

[CirrusSR22]

http://318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16068

[thesilversurfer]

Thnx! But I have a few questions. On one of the pics posted it shows the parts and where there located and the pic says it's a pic of a e36 I believe, but I have a 98 318ti which I believe is a e44,right? So r these parts on both a e36 and e44. Also do u know what the steam or white smoke was and do u think I did any damage 2 my motor. Cuz it was driving and sounding normal. Thnx again if u can help answer these questions

[CirrusSR22]

E36 is the "chassis code" for all 3-Series cars from essentially 1992-1998. M44 (not E44) is the code for the engine you have - the 1.9 liter, 4 cylinder. So yes, this does apply to you.

If the leak appears to be from near the firewall (closest to the cabin) then my guess is the plastic connector on the back of the head failed. The steam is "normal" when you get a quick coolant leak while at operating temperature. It's just a bunch of super-hot coolant/water mix condensing I believe.

If you really shut the car off immediately and didn't let it overheat, you certainly may have not caused any damage to the engine. But it doesn't take much driving after it blows the coolant to seriously damage the engine - like under a minute. Absolutely do not drive it until you can get this fixed. Don't even risk it. Overheating in these engines is BAD news. If this is what indeed did fail, the good news is the part is under $20 from the dealer. The bad news is that it's labor intensive to replace so if you're gonna pay someone to do it, expect a hefty labor charge.

I would get the leak/part fixed first and then hope the engine runs fine. If all is good, you lucked out. If it doesn't run right it probably got overheated and then you'll have to look into a bad head gasket or warped head cause by the possible overheat.

[thesilversurfer]

Alright thnx! Srry I'm a little bit of a newb lol. So do I get both if the pieces or just one, cuz I think in one of the post it said if u have an m44 than u just need one of the pieces. When I do get the leak fixed, how will I know if there was damage to the engine, just by how it runs?

[jca]

Originally Posted by thesilversurfer

Alright thnx! Srry I'm a little bit of a newb lol. So do I get both if the pieces or just one, cuz I think in one of the post it said if u have an m44 than u just need one of the pieces. When I do get the leak fixed, how will I know if there was damage to the engine, just by how it runs?

There are a number of symptoms of blown head gaskets. If your car runs smooth and doesn't overheat or smoke after you get the leak fixed, chances are you have done no damage. Never let these cars overheat if you can help it. Best way to do this is to keep all components of your cooling system fresh. By fresh I mean replace all coolent system components as they get near the end of their operational life. Don't wait to let any of them fail! There are lots of threads on this issue. John