head gasket gone??

[innes]

i really need some help here guys, i am not re-posting just stressing and need to get this sorted.

after about a 40 mile (ave 70mph) drive last night. Pulled over to make a call and car sounded bad! (352i) very lumpy, stuttering etc. Turned it off. Left a couple of mins and turned back on seemed to fire but had to keep revs up, other wise it just died. After 20 mins of leaving to 'cool down' Managed to get the 3 miles home. Then totally died. Still turning over but only with key held in position.

NO WATER AT ALL IN THE RADIATOR!! and emulsified oil on dipper and filler cap. Filled expansion with 2 watering cans of water. Started it and moved it slowly about 50ft, it just stopped again, with a fair bit of what looked like STEAM coming from the exhaust.

What shall i do guys? i am no mechanic and simply cant afford to be ripped off. One of you guys must be able to show your expertise...?

Marc

[Martinaston]

Could be time for a new engine

If you've been driving it with sludge for oil all the main bearings will have premature wear and won't last long once you fix the head. (if its blown)

If you drive it with no water in it then the temp guage dose'nt work properly giving you an incorrect reading, so the engines probably been running at about twice its normal temperature and will have cracked the head anyway. If it wasn't cracked already making you loose the water in the first place.

Best thing to do is pull the head off and if your luckey it may just have been the gasket. (but i doubt it)

[innes]

so if the head is cracked? that means what exactly, whats it likely to cost me?

[Martinaston]

Depends how good you are with the spanners or where you take it, anywhere between £70 and £500.
Confirm the cause and if its the head chance fixing just that and hope the bottom end dose'nt start knocking or just get hold of another lump and do a swap. There's normaly one up for offer in the parts section.

[innes]

good with spanners?? NO if i was i wouldnt have let this happen in the 1st place!! got a good mechanic tho, so hopefully he will sort it for me. So it could be new head gasket you think??

[Martinaston]

No
I'm just trying to let you down gently
Head gasket is the cheapest option but it sounds like you were to late to spot it and the heads gone. If you're letting someone else check it for you its not going to cost £70 there going to charge £200 labour to tell you you need a new head that "they will supply" for another £400-£500.

[Gwynleym10]

No
I'm just trying to let you down gently
Head gasket is the cheapest option but it sounds like you were to late to spot it and the heads gone. If you're letting someone else check it for you its not going to cost £70 there going to charge £200 labour to tell you you need a new head that "they will supply" for another £400-£500.

This is why I said in the other thread you really need to think about how the the whole car is worth...Is it rusty or is it generally good condition?

If its rusty then you best bet it to break the whole car (if you can) easily get £250 for it, which can go towards another 325i.

Breaking a car is also a very good way of learning of the things work!

If the car is in //really// good condition, then its worth spending some money on it.

Sounds pretty fatal to me and I doubt you can do any more damage, don't be scared about doing it yourself, things look a whole lot more complicated in manuals and websites than they are in real life!

if you mechanic can come and have a look and confirms what we have said then the choice is upto you. If he know his stuff he will probably be able to tell if its gasket/head with out taking the head off, but I doubt its anything less serious than this.

[innes]

cheers guys, he is getting me a price today on new gasket and will pop round next week to have a look. You have to excuse my ignorance i have no idea about this! i take it then that: the headgaskets are a lot cheaper than the actual head!

the car is good low mileage and good condition, it lived in Germany until 1998 when it was re-registered over here. It was a Sgt Majors car.

Get the feeling i am gonna be asking my mechanic if i can pay in instalments!!

[Gwynleym10]

Sounds like it might be worth saving.

Honestly parts for a head gasket shouldn't top this (I have put prices on the higher side)

Gasket set £80
Water pump £30
Thermostate £10
Cambelt + tensioner £50
Fluids etc £30

You may need a rad and possibly some new pipes.
A good recon head from somewhere like www.linwar.co.uk should cost around £250, bottom end similar if you sadly need that.

Its labour which is going to get you...if you can't do it yourself.

It maybe better just to get a know good engine from the zone for about £200 and pay someone about £100 or so to swap them.

If the garage starts taking the head off etc your bill will soon add up.

[E30BeemerLad]

your engine may be goosed in more than just the head dept as pointed out.

Probably cheaper just to get an engine from a breaker.

if you need to use the car in the meantime it is worth getting hold of some of this stuff www.kalimex.co.uk called K-Seal. £8 for a bottle and pour in and forget. it really works.

Prob wanna do an oil change also.

Will keep it going probably until you have the dollars to either repair what you've got in there or source a good unit from someone on here.

[innes]

it wont drive now tho?? it turns over if you keep the key in position, but doesnt seem to pull. Will that stuff help me still??

cheers for all your imput on this one guys.

so could someone here supply and refit a new engine? if so is it gonna be cheaper than the garage doing it?

[Gwynleym10]

Lee I was waiting for you to put that stuff up!

i would say def give it a go, you have nothing to loose! Just make sure you follow the instructions carefully. You may be lucky

Clean the engine/ rad with a hose and make sure you have the heater on full blast while your doing it all.

you can buy the stuff on ebay as well.





If it does work, you then need to work out why tha car overheated, fan clutch, thermostate radiator etc etc

[E30BeemerLad]

it wont drive now tho?? it turns over if you keep the key in position, but doesnt seem to pull. Will that stuff help me still??

cheers for all your imput on this one guys.

so could someone here supply and refit a new engine? if so is it gonna be cheaper than the garage doing it?

then K-Seal stuff will only stop the water escaping from the cooling system, not sure if your engine's lack of desire to run is because it may have heat-seized or could have coolant in the bores causing it to hydraulic. Symptom is also similar the the DME relay being on the fritz. Also, probably the temp sensor if the engine has fried itself, blue temp sensor for ECU right? Brown for the gauge?

I'm sure there are some Zone heroes in your area who could help with a transplant. Maybe worth sending a PM to Ant, he'll look after you without having your trousers down on price. Prob best waiting for someone like ant to look at your car and diagnose as we're all a helpful bunch on here but, myself included, we could send you off round the houses with our keyboard diagnosis going on

[Gwynleym10]

As for a zoner coming to do it, you may be lucky, where abouts are in worcs? Don't really know anyone who would be able to do it in that area...

Give some garages a call around, tell them you think your engine is dead and ask how much labour they would charge to re-fit a new one.

You could save money by takin out the radiator, airflow meter etc etc so all the garage has to do is host the engine out and hoist a new on in.

You can hire engine hoist by the way....

[Gwynleym10]

it wont drive now tho?? it turns over if you keep the key in position, but doesnt seem to pull. Will that stuff help me still??

cheers for all your imput on this one guys.

so could someone here supply and refit a new engine? if so is it gonna be cheaper than the garage doing it?

then K-Seal stuff will only stop the water escaping from the cooling system, not sure if your engine's lack of desire to run is because it may have heat-seized or could have coolant in the bores causing it to hydraulic. Symptom is also similar the the DME relay being on the fritz. Also, probably the temp sensor if the engine has fried itself, blue temp sensor for ECU right? Brown for the gauge?

I'm sure there are some Zone heroes in your area who could help with a transplant. Maybe worth sending a PM to Ant, he'll look after you without having your trousers down on price. Prob best waiting for someone like ant to look at your car and diagnose as we're all a helpful bunch on here but, myself included, we could send you off round the houses with our keyboard diagnosis going on

To true, Ant is a little way away though... I was thinking Delmot may be closer (just...)

[innes]

just come off the phone to my local BMW Independent specialist who is convinced, without even looking that i have cracked the head! and to put in a 325engine with labour is about £800!!

shouldi still get my normalmechanic to look?

[Gwynleym10]

I assume the £800 includes the engine? That actually isn't that bad....

Def call you local mechanic, I expect £100-200 not including engine.

This engine sounds good for you its around £200
http://www.e30zone.co.uk/modules.php?na ... sc&start=0

Chris is a good bloke and won't rip you off.

[innes]

may sound stupid bu mine is an auto, is the engine the same??

[Jhonno]

engine is the same, flywheel is different, you can swap the bits from yours tho

does sound like you've goosed the engine imo also