E36 Compact Compact 328i ti M sport

[E30BeemerLad]

I was getting no warm air at the heater vents on Sunday when I filled up the coolant on the M52, gave up and moved onto something else

[sweep]

A customer rang me the other day with a rover k-series with a water leak,obviously i gave every excuse to not get involved, so he said he was going to put a egg in the coolant

[leeparkes]

Cheers for the votes of confidence lads

Left it over night with the plugs out and the system still pressurised and when i checked this afternoon there was still a little pressure in the hoses but no coolant has gone into the cylinders

I was expecting to get showered with coolant when i spun it over but nowt.

Puzzled now, i was expecting the worse.

[Rav335uk]

Checked all you pipes for pinholes? or cuts??

[Speedtouch]

I'm having similar issues with a 2-litre Fiat twin cam; compression test gives a healthy 190 psi across all four cylinders, but I'm sure there's a headgasket leak somewhere, as I have to keep repeatedly refilling/bleeding the cooling system

[zaust]

I have had this on one lump, turned out to be a cracked block, Spidered round one of the head bolt thread's and was just slowly presurising into the water jacket but not using water.

[leeparkes]

I have had this on one lump, turned out to be a cracked block

Barrel of laughs tonight eh Marc

The last thing i want to do is pull this lump back out, it only been in about 6 weeks

How straight forward is it to put the guts of an M52 into an iron M50 block, is it just the crank that gets swaped?

[Dezzy]

It is just the crank that is different between M50 and M2 iirc

[leeparkes]

Right got it all back together and correctly bled it. Fired it up and run for about 30 seconds then bled again, repeated this till it was up to temp and still no joy.

on the last opening of the bleed screw this is what was coming out and loads of it, its like the head of a pint coming out

[DanThe]

pic not working

[Simon13]

tis for me, not good!

[DanThe]

Working now, doesnt look good

[leeparkes]

That didnt last long then did it, its having a drink of K-seal tomorrow to get me out of the shit till i find a new lump.

Do you reckon the caning i gave it the weekend caused it?

[Rav335uk]

Do you reckon the caning i gave it the weekend caused it?

A very good possibility.
Not as well built as the M30.

[Jhonno]

That didnt last long then did it, its having a drink of K-seal tomorrow to get me out of the shit till i find a new lump.

Do you reckon the caning i gave it the weekend caused it?

Nope.. M52's can take massive abuse.

Obviously an underlying issue has come to the fore..

[town325i]

Do you reckon the caning i gave it the weekend caused it?

A very good possibility.
Not as well built as the M30.

I bet your eyes lit up when you seen this thread

[Rav335uk]

Do you reckon the caning i gave it the weekend caused it?

A very good possibility.
Not as well built as the M30.

I bet your eyes lit up when you seen this thread

Enginewise , maybe
But for the fact it's a problem for a zoner, and one I know, No

[leeparkes]

K-seal = fail

followed instructions but i think there's too much pressure going into the coolant for it to work.

Anyone got a 'good' M52 knocking about?

[zaust]

K-seal = fail

followed instructions but i think there's too much pressure going into the coolant for it to work.

Anyone got a 'good' M52 knocking about?

There is a couple of 525 e34's on the bay at the mo (m50) bit heavy I know but less chance of a cracked block or head.






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[DanThe]

Get the head off before you give up, could have been overheated long before you had it and as simple as a skim and gasket

[leeparkes]

I didnt think you could do a head gasket on these as it pulls the threads out of the block, can it be done?

[E30BeemerLad]

so long as it hasn't cooked, they are reported to be alright, still a bit of a gamble as you've spent all the money by that point before the torque wrench slips

[Jhonno]

so long as it hasn't cooked, they are reported to be alright, still a bit of a gamble as you've spent all the money by that point before the torque wrench slips

This..

If it hasn't boiled you *should* be ok to do the gasket

[zaust]

It's common for the head bolt's snap in the block on these too. Always worth a try and just see what happen's. As above, If they come out clean have the head and block checked and go from there. If it has had a gasket before then it could well be that the holes weren't cleaned out properly and when re-fitted creates the extra pressure and causes a "spider type crack" round the top of the thread.

[leeparkes]

If i had faith that a head gasket swap would be successful the head would be off as we speak, but ive heard so many storys of attempts to do one im going to pass and look for another engine but even that is a minefield, im so glad this engine didnt owe me a penny.

Would you lot touch a Nikasil lump? folk on e36coupe reckon if its gonna give out it would have done a long time ago but im still a bit

I do want to build the guts from this dead engine into an iron block but i just dont have the time to do it right now so the search is on (again)

Thanks for the advice so far lads

[Andyboy]

99 times out of 100, the threads will strip. If they don't on reassembly, they may well do once it's running as the head will try and lift, pulling the treads out. Really, the M52/54 is a 'use once only' engine and if it's done the head gasket, it's unlikely to be much use.

Nikasil engines are okay as long as they run okay. They're worth bugger all so are worth a go. They do have one major advantage over the steel liner units though - there's no possibility of the alloy between the liners sinking, a cause/effect of overheating.

If you want a good engine to last, drop a cheap Nikasil engine it, then rebuild your unit with an M50 2.5 iron block. £50-100 for a block, gasket set, rod bolts, lower chain and you'll have a good strong engine.

[Dezzy]

While your there look for a set of S50 pistons and get the iron block bores taken out 2mm. You will have a M52B30 very

[Speedtouch]

99 times out of 100, the threads will strip. If they don't on reassembly, they may well do once it's running as the head will try and lift, pulling the treads out. Really, the M52/54 is a 'use once only' engine and if it's done the head gasket, it's unlikely to be much use.

Shocking to think that BMW would produce such a poor engine design!

[Barx325i]

there's always a compromise between weight & longevity

[Speedtouch]

That's taking it a bit far though, if once the headgasket goes, the whole engine is scrap!

[DanThe]

Is it a steel liner block Lee?

[town325i]

From what ive read its when people use the wrong head bolts is when the problems start as the M50 bolts are shorter than the M52 ones this is when the threads get pulled of course dont take this as gosel as its what ive rear and could be complete shite

[leeparkes]

Yes Dan its a steel liner block.

[Andyboy]

Using M50 bolts wouldn't help at all. But the threads are weak once overheated - I've seen M52's where the head has started to lift with coolant running down the side of the block.
M52 blocks can be reused if they've not been overheated but steel liners ones need a skim to ensure the block face is completely flat.

Go onto E36 Coupe.com and see how many 323i/328i's are in trouble! It's odd to think that BMW made M52's for the USA with iron M50 blocks, even for E39's.

[DanThe]

Ive rebuilt into a good M52 block for my 3 litre engine, it has a 99 stamp on it and it came from an earlier car so was a replacement short engine, it hadnt been overheated or abused on the service front.
Id be a bit cautious about rebuilding an overheated engine but wouldnt rule it out