New E30 - Disaster!!!

[Daryll]

Good morning all,

Well I when and bought a 325i in Birmingham on Saturday and what was supposed to be a fantastic day for me turned out to be a nightmare and I could do with your advise. This is long winded so bare with me.

Got to the car, started her up straight away and left her idling for 45 minutes (temperature fine)
Went for a 20 minute test drive (BMK driving HARD) temperature fine
Let car idling on drive for another 30 mins (temperature just crept up over half way but nothing major)

Leaves the guys house after handing over the money 5 mins into journey realise I need petrol. Pulls into garage and notice steam. Open the bonnet to discover the pipe going into the thermostat has split. So BMK cut the end off and re joined it, fills it up with water turns it over and after a couple of mins the temp has rised to over 3/4.
Now I am no expert on engines so we ring the AA out. He said that the viscous fan is knackered and the head gasket might have gone, oh and the water bottle cap needs replacing. Someone else said it is the thermostat, someone said it might be a cracked head. I don't fancy ringing a BMW specialist and getting mugged off and have to pay for a new head so can someone tell me what it might be.

The oil is fine
The water hasn't become 'baileys'
The temp creeps up when idling or driving.

In the end after I found out I didn't have relay coverage despite having platinum cover with the AA, I drove home with the bonnet open, the heaters on full and all the windows open to prevent getting fried. We stuck to a steady speed of 50mph pulling over 6/7 times when the temp went over the 3/4 mark....it took over 6 hours to travel the 140 miles but got home in the end.

Please give me so advise as I am clueless. To same I am gutted would be an understatement I was so looking forward to becoming an E30 owner again, but within 10 minutes of buying one I have lost heart already.




Cheers

Daryll


There are a shed load of other problems with the car non as major as this which I will posting the technical section for you all to laugh at me about.

[Simon]

Sounds like a couple of things, but I wouldn't worry about the head just yet, try other things first, after you'd realised the pipe had split, did you bleed the system afterwards? If not this would have casued the guage to go up over the 3/4.
The thermostat would cause some overheating problems too, so change this and the viscous the same time and I bet everything would run ok afterwards.

[Daryll]

No we didn't bleed the system actually, but it had pretty much lost all the water/coolant in there anyway. So we toped the water up and let it cool for half an hour. When we turned it over again the temp was 1/4 which then steadily increased back up to 3/4 again after 5 mins.

The visous fan requires a specialist tool to replace doesn't it?

[johnono]

water gets hotter than coolant doesnԚ´t it?
mabey if u put too much water then its temp threashhold is lower (mr sceintist )

[Simon]

No we didn't bleed the system actually, but it had pretty much lost all the water/coolant in there anyway. So we toped the water up and let it cool for half an hour. When we turned it over again the temp was 1/4 which then steadily increased back up to 3/4 again after 5 mins.

The visous fan requires a specialist tool to replace doesn't it?

After you had run the car again, the temp dial in the car should have been on red (warm air) and you should have bled the system the same time, this would have expelled any air in the system, this is what was causing the guage to rise probably, the screw on top of the thermostat (8mm) is the bleed screw.

To change the viscous you need a 32mm spanner available fro Halfords for a couple of quid, and don't forget it's a left hand thread.

[Daryll]

Cheers Simon, will change the Vicious as I like to call it and the thermostat.

Is Eurocarparts the best place to get them from? And is there an electric alternative to the viscous as I can see it being a nightmare in the summer in traffic jams.

[Simon]

Cheers Simon, will change the Vicious as I like to call it and the thermostat.

Is Eurocarparts the best place to get them from? And is there an electric alternative to the viscous as I can see it being a nightmare in the summer in traffic jams.

ECP or GSF are both good places to get these parts from, the viscous works very well in the summer with a coolant system that's in good order, fitting an electric fan is a good idea though as it will free up some power.

If I was you, I would change the viscous, water pump, timing belt, tensioner, thermostat, and the 2 temp sensors (blue and brown) to do all this shouldnt cost more than about Ԛ£80 to do yourself, and is a relatively simple job for the DIY mechanic. I mentioned the timing belt as this is something you can't trust and it has to come off anyway to change the water pump.
When it's all apart, flush the radiatior out, and get some water running through the block to flush this out too.

[Daryll]

Nice one thanks, will print this off order the parts at lunch and get me mate to do it whilst i supply him with a few cups of earl gray..

And congratulations by the way Simon, your team done you proud at the weekend. Me best mate went back home to Bridgend at the weekend and travelled to Cardiff to watch the game. Never seen him looking so happy in work on a Monday.



Daryll

[Quaser]

timing belt would does not need to come off when changing the waterpump, but it's a good idea to change it as you only just got the car!

Q

[Simon]

OK I should have worded it better, but it wouldn't make sense to change the waterpump by removing all the dizzy and timing covers, and not change the timing belt for an extra Ԛ£20.

[Daryll]

I'm just about to complete my order on ECP, the only thing I can't find is the fan.

I have found:

BMW FAN BLADE -Ԛ£15.84 is this all I need do you think?

Daryll

[Simon]

I'm just about to complete my order on ECP, the only thing I can't find is the fan.

I have found:

BMW FAN BLADE -Ԛ£15.84 is this all I need do you think?

Daryll

You don't need a new fan blade, unless you're original has some blades broken/missing?

You can unbolt your old one and re-use it!!

[Daryll]

What part is it I need to replace though. The AA guy said it was dead, I'm pretty sure he said it had lost it's tension and was sloppy???

[Simon]

What part is it I need to replace though. The AA guy said it was dead, I'm pretty sure he said it had lost it's tension and was sloppy???

The viscous coupling is the part you need, this attatches to the pulley, and the fan blade connects to the viscous.

[andyp]

it still sounds like its got air in the system to me, and needs bleeding first,

[Daryll]

I'll bleed the system tonight when I get in then if that fixes the problem I will send my ECP order back, just really want to get it on the road....so gutted.

Just been to Hellfrauds but they don't have any 32mm spanners only a deep socket. I got that just incase but I'm sure someone is going to tell me there is a clearance issue on the nut I need to un do, which if the this the case I will lob the said 32mm socket at the little scroat that opens up his 12cc hairdryer dirt bike past my house every night at midnight.

[Simon]

I'll bleed the system tonight when I get in then if that fixes the problem I will send my ECP order back, just really want to get it on the road....so gutted.

Just been to Hellfrauds but they don't have any 32mm spanners only a deep socket. I got that just incase but I'm sure someone is going to tell me there is a clearance issue on the nut I need to un do, which if the this the case I will lob the said 32mm socket at the little scroat that opens up his 12cc hairdryer dirt bike past my house every night at midnight.

The scrote on the bike is going to get it then! They should have the 32mm spanner in the bike section.

[Daryll]

I asked one of the morons in there if they sell 32mm spanners and he just looked at me and said 'Dime Bar'....I had a look round but was too scared to walk over to the bike section as I would have had to walk thru the Chav Chinse section, and there were a few double hard gary boys in there looking at some tupaware storage boxes to stick on the bonnet, so I gave it a swerve.

Will pop into my local motorshop on the way to picking my new rims up and get one.

[E30_320i]

that just sounds like a normal trip to halfords daryll!

the most useless people to have ever walked the earth

[BMK]

Mate what a day it was!!

We (I) did bleed the system through I'm pretty sure its just the viscous and thermo.

Yeah spanner def needed to take off old coupling the ECP part no. is 206 11 0020 Ԛ£32 from Euro's

Dont worry mate it'll be running sweet soon!!

[Daryll]

Crap I bought the 206110021 is that the wrong one then?

See I told you I'm clueless!

[BMK]

Crap I bought the 206110021 is that the wrong one then?

See I told you I'm clueless!

Not wrong just not Boge or Sachs, it'll be ok

[Daryll]

Phew!! lol

You have a text and an email mate.

E30 Genuine BMW Arm rest!!! hahahahahaha

READ IT & WEAP FATBOY!!!

[BMK]

Well there ya go........Ive never seen one of those before!! If it was grey leather i'd consider it

[Daryll]

If I didn't have a stingey wife I would have bought it by now

[BMK]

well buy it anyway and say it was a gift...from work