coolant loss

[steve_k]

Bit stuck here folk's.

Went to give the car (90 G reg 325i) a once over the other day (oil, water, etc) & i noticed that the coolant level had dropped a fair bit (below min mark) & i was just wondering if it could be to do with the fact that head (which has been welded before) might have cracked again?

if it has then what's the worst that can happen?

also please bear in mind that the engine doesn't overheat at all so i'm at a loss (no pun intended) as to what's going on. & there seems to be a fair amount of steam aswell but like i said it doesn't over heat.

if the head has gone again then how long will it last? got a spare head i need to strip & rebuild & get a new gasket set so i'm hoping it will last while i get that done as it's also my daily.

at most it's going to be a month or two before the spare head is ready to bolt down.

help me out here folk's as it's doing my head in now

[kam-325i]

where was the original crack ?

[steve_k]

where was the original crack ?

iirc under cylinders 5 & 6 (just like most seem to crack).

[steve_k]

What i can't suss out is the car run's fine, still pulls good & strong just this coolant problem

[kam-325i]

Like this ?





mine ran fine, lasted about 200 miles of constant topping up of water and getting hot. ended up cooking the head.

If you have a spare one, get the stuff ready to swap it over.

[steve_k]

sorry kam it's under the camshaft.

also forgot to mention that the heads been on since the start of 2009 after i got it from trev (B7) at the end of 2008 so not to bad before it went again.

it's going to be a month (or two) before i can get it swapped over so fingers crossed it holds out till then, thankfully i'm only using the car 1 to 2 times a week.

[KimH]

Mine did that for a good few months; a pint every month or so; no overheating; no visible leaks.

Seemed to be rough in idle on cold start and for the first mile or so but then ran perfectly.

Then one day a coolant hose blew, followed by another a month later. When I removed the coolant cap cold each morning to check levels - which by now I was doing daily - there was a rush of air out of the expansion tank signifying something was amiss. Oh, and the coolant hoses were rock hard when warm.

Yep, head gasket was gone allowing Cyl 1 to pressurise the coolant system.

New head gasket and coolant 25k miles ago and no more problems.

Good luck with the replacement head.

[Brianmoooore]

Bit stuck here folk's.

Went to give the car (90 G reg 325i) a once over the other day (oil, water, etc) & i noticed that the coolant level had dropped a fair bit (below min mark)

Does it continue to go down if not topped up? I've found over the years that the official 'level' mark on BMW coolant tanks is a bit high, and that the level (on an E30 6 pot coolant tank) will happily settle at about half an inch lower than it should be.

[Ajsingh]

Bit stuck here folk's.

Went to give the car (90 G reg 325i) a once over the other day (oil, water, etc) & i noticed that the coolant level had dropped a fair bit (below min mark)

Does it continue to go down if not topped up? I've found over the years that the official 'level' mark on BMW coolant tanks is a bit high, and that the level (on an E30 6 pot coolant tank) will happily settle at about half an inch lower than it should be.

Thats what it does on my e30. I have never needed to top it or anything

[SGP]

Same here. I've found that if the expansion tank is slightly overfilled, it spits out a bit more through the overflow and leaves the level below the max.

[SGP]

Also had a small leak from an alloy coolant junction at the front of the block (m20), the coolant evaporated off so it wasn't a visible leak, it was discovered when the belt was changed.