Head cracked or gasket?

[tomski]

My 1990 325 tourer is using an expansion tank full of water every 200 miles. The car does seem to have alot of steam out of the exhaust when cold but it doesnt overheat and there is no gunk in the oil. Am I right in thinking that if the head had cracked the water would mix with the oil and I would find some mayo under the cap. The car runs very well, started from cold or hot
Thanks, Andrew

[powelly]

My 325 steams a lot, unfortunately I haven`t had long enough or driven it enough yet to know how much water it`s using, if any.

[marty1979]

Hi Andrew, I had a similar problem with mine, lots of white smoke and loss of water but no sludge anywhere in the cooling system or in the oil. I know I had a leak because when the car was running at normal operating temp I could see steam coming from the front of the car but couldn't find where it was coming from, so I put that down to the loss of water. Maybe you could have a good look around the hoses when it's running to see if there's water leaking from anywhere.

HTH

[Brianmoooore]

Sounds more like a simple water leak to me, rather then head/engine trouble.
Water pump and electric heater valve are chief suspects.
Use an ultra violet lamp to look around the engine bay in the dark. Antifreeze should glow under UV light.

[win]

I had a similar problem but with mine i found out that the coolant temperature sensor was'nt tightening properly and water was escaping there. Once i changed that its fine now.

[miniblob]

Had that problem with mine!!!!

Spent ages looking for a leak, bleeding, etc!!
Wasn't steaming out the exhaust, wasn't creamy, didn't overheat (although i did keep it topped up and bled!), no puddles!!!!
Went on for ages!!!

Then it slowly got worse!!
Prob put about 8k miles on it while it was getting worse but eventually it was steaming/smoking, very VERY creamy, using a good couple of litres of water every 100 miles, using a litre of oil every 500 or so - but still started on the button and drove really well!!!!! Then it began to sound like a sewing machine and started misfiring!!!! Sounds really rough now, but still starts on the button and drives (just)!!!!

Oh well, throw it away and drop in a 2.7 - job's a good'n!!!!
Haven't had it apart, but i'm assuming the head is cracked!!

Hope your's turns out to be a little leak - but if you can't find a puddle......

Hope you get it sorted, car looked good when i saw it!!!

[tomski]

Thanks for the replys on this guys. I will have to have a good look and see if I can find a leak. If I have to have a new gasket fitted does anyone know a rough price, is it worth doing on a car that has done 160000 miles and cost £600?
Cheers, Andrew

[cass1_5503]

speak to ajme30 (adam) he will give you a good price mate and hes local

[Brianmoooore]

Thanks for the replys on this guys. I will have to have a good look and see if I can find a leak. If I have to have a new gasket fitted does anyone know a rough price, is it worth doing on a car that has done 160000 miles and cost £600?
Cheers, Andrew

What it cost is irrelevant - it's the condition that matters.
Medium mileage engine like this is well worth a head gasket and a tidy up of the head as well while it's off - valve guides replaced, valves refaced, seated and lapped.
All this lot, including all the gaskets you need will cost about £300 to get you to the stage of a head ready to go back on.
Bottom end of a 160k engine should be virtually as new.

[magnumlove]

This happened to mine. Couldn't work it out and was nearly about to get shot of the car. Took it to a garage who presurised the system and steam poured out of a split hose at the back of the engine that I presume goes into the heater matrix. Cost me next to nothing

[e30_widebody]

im gettin the same problem.. no over heating, cant find a leak and the oil looks ok.. but i still have to put a few pints of water in every other day... as my computor shows me the soolent light on... the head gasget has been changed 500 mils ago.. so what could it be??????

[Brianmoooore]

Took me eighteen months to catch the water pump "in the act" on my wife's touring. Hasn't used a drop since it was changed.
Pull the rubber overflow pipe from the coolant bottle back in through its hole in the inner wing (assuming it's a six pot), and tie a polythene bag loosely over the end. Drive it as normal, and see if the bag fills with water.

[dumpydave]

i had same sort of problem wiv mine though it didn't turn out to be gasket or a crack. The head had corroded away around the water ways. Started to pressurise water system then developed a miss fire which was when the water went in the oil. Head corroded probably due to previous owner not using anti freeze.Got a second hand head for £60 down the local breakers so didn't turn out to be as expensive as i first thought