E30 Zone

Hi Guys my car over heated today out of the blue!

Every time i fill it back up it over heats with in about 2 miles

of driving! Any ideas? The fan still comes on when driving!!

But only leaks from the bottle when over heating!!!

Please help!!!!!!!!
Cheers

could be all sorts.. air lock? water pump?

what engine?

Noticed this dude lives in Ware, isn't that where Nelly lives?

Neil's a handly lad and may be able to help quickly diagnose the problem

In the hot weather were roughly should the temp gauge sit.

wiledw wrote:In the hot weather were roughly should the temp gauge sit.

Mine sits on the middle regardless of wether its hot or cold out. Driving in stop start traffic sends it up a bit on a hot day but soon cools down again on a run and never goes past 3/4.

Its a 325i !!

march109 wrote:

wiledw wrote:In the hot weather were roughly should the temp gauge sit.

Mine sits on the middle regardless of wether its hot or cold out. Driving in stop start traffic sends it up a bit on a hot day but soon cools down again on a run and never goes past 3/4.

So dead centre is correct for normal running then?

wiledw wrote:

march109 wrote:

wiledw wrote:In the hot weather were roughly should the temp gauge sit.

Mine sits on the middle regardless of wether its hot or cold out. Driving in stop start traffic sends it up a bit on a hot day but soon cools down again on a run and never goes past 3/4.

So dead centre is correct for normal running then?

Normal for mine at least.

myn sits between half and threequarters depending on what I'm doing. But NEVER above threequaters.

everhard wrote:Hi Guys my car over heated today out of the blue!

Every time i fill it back up it over heats with in about 2 miles

of driving! Any ideas? The fan still comes on when driving!!

But only leaks from the bottle when over heating!!!

Please help!!!!!!!!
Cheers

When you say only leaks from the bottle when over heating, which bottle are you referring to?

Do all the water pipes heat-up?

Do the heaters blow hot air inside the car?

where is the temp gauge reaching (3/4, red???)?

More info please.

The gauge starts half way then creeps ups it creeps faster if driving!

Theres no hot air out the heater!! It leaks from the bottle you fill !!!

Pipes fill and heat?

water pump?

Would the water pump not make a noise if was going or gone?

system is pressurising is it not?

sounds like an airlock..

have you changed the coolant recently? Tried bleeding it?

Has it gone into the red yet? Dont mean to be a scaremonger by M20 heads/gaskets dont like getting hot..

Sounds like either water pump or airlock/blocked pipes.

I have in the past seen a car overheat (not an e30) and it turned out that the piped were blocked...a quick clean and back to normal.

If you're not getting hot air to the heaters, then i'd take the pipes off and give them a good clean (if they seem dirty/blocked) and if it still happens, then possibly a faulty water pump

Cheers guys i'll take the pipes off tomorrow its beenin the red

twice today

Cheers guys i'll take the pipes off tomorrow its beenin the red

twice today

Jack the front of the car up when you're refilling the system, and then be sure to bleed the system well and see how it goes.

This works for me so it probably should work for you:

If your stuck in traffic and the car is over heating, just switch the heating on and you'll notice the temp go down, and when you switch your car off bare in mind the engine temp goes up before it goes down, so dont switch your engine off if its near the red zone.

You probably already know it but I thought id say it anyway lol

if there is no heat coming out sounds def like a air lock and the fact you have refilled it you must bleed the system and let the air out ...you will have to run it and let air out ...run it some more top it up ...have you found the bleed nipple you dont need to remove any hoses

It wouldnt just randomly get an airlock though. Would it guys?

It shouldn't just randomly get one...there's usually a cause, no matter how tiny.
Could be that the last person who bled the system (might have been ages ago) missed a bit of air and it's finally worked its way around to a position that screws you over, or maybe there's a tiny leak in a hose, or you unknowingly let the coolant level get too low.
My M40 overheated recently, and apart from spending the best part of a day bleeding the damn system I couldn't find any other cause than the last one. No leaky pipes, no screwed radiator, no sticky thermostat, or anything else I could come up with, no matter how obscure! I may still replace some bits (thermostat, water pump, maybe fan), but so long as it continues running as it should that will remain a job for a weekend when I actually have the time to do a proper job of it.

you really dont wanna let it get into the red part of the guage especially repeatedly, you'll knacker your head.

for info, my temp gauge sits between quarter and half and will sit on half when being pushed damn hard in boliing weather. never over half unless theres a prob.

tailoutcharlie wrote:you really dont wanna let it get into the red part of the guage especially repeatedly, you'll knacker your head.

for info, my temp gauge sits between quarter and half and will sit on half when being pushed damn hard in boliing weather. never over half unless theres a prob.

This is true with both of my tech1's. Usually the needle sat just over a 1/4 and with hard driving it may go up to half way. But never over half way.

Water Pump or Thermostat. As above would need to be a fairly substantial air lock for it to be happening repeatedly (even with E30 bleeding being awkward)

I'm not 100% but the overflow pipe (the small one up to the coolant bottle) take than off and direct it into the open neck f the bottle (so no mess) then start the car up. If nothings coming out of that apipe its 90% the water pump thats faulty. (May be that the impellor has broken)

My temp guage sits around the half way, sometimes a little under sometime a little over and in stop start traffic will sit midway between half and 3/4.

A little off topic but Its done that for a year so figure either the nut is loose on the back or its just what it does! Tried getting to the nut to tighten but couldnt get sanner to it with out taking dash out!! So havent done it yet!!

Sounds more like the viscous fan has failed so it isn't spinning fast enough to cool the radiator down....... wants changing to avoid radiator and head gasket failure.

just out of interest how much for a new viscous fan and how easy a job to remove / replace?!

sounds like a blown head gasket or a cracked head, had this on mine, changed absolutely everything and still no better, get it tested before it gets any worse

trigger wrote:sounds like a blown head gasket or a cracked head, had this on mine, changed absolutely everything and still no better, get it tested before it gets any worse

Sounds like a bit of a harsh diagnostic for a slight temperature related issue !!

Change the viscous, it'll make a fair bit of difference. Put a post up in the wanted section as I'm sure somebody will have what you need..

Oh yes, it's mighty easy to change. You'll need a 32mm spanner and a hammer to remove it. It's a left hand thread, so you'll need to turn the 32mm nut the opposite way to remove it. First though, put the spanner on nut and give the spanner a good whack with the hammer. It will then be loose enough to remove.

my point wasn't harsh just seems rather more sensible to get it tested rather than keep changing parts in the hope of finding the problem and wasting money on stuff you probably dont need .

i wouldnt call constant boiling up of the coolant a slight temperature related issue either if its doing that then something is obviously causing it internally

trigger wrote:my point wasn't harsh just seems rather more sensible to get it tested rather than keep changing parts in the hope of finding the problem and wasting money on stuff you probably dont need .

i wouldnt call constant boiling up of the coolant a slight temperature related issue either if its doing that then something is obviously causing it internally

Trigger, I'm owe you an apology. I've just realised that this thread has a whole first page that I've just noticed, and I thought that you were referring to Rugbydave's slight overheating problem on the second page.

Sorry dude...

whose rugbydave?!

and indeed my fan enquiry was merely a enquiry!