Coolant warning light on a 320i?

[TaitRacing]

Hello people

I'd better introduce myself. I'm now the (proud) owner of a 2 door, manual 320i and I thought it would be a good idea to get involved with an E30 site.

It hasn't been used properly for over a year, it is MOT'd etc but it has only done 5k per annum. Original toolkit, elderly owner, it even has the BMW keyring torch, no rust, fsh and low mileage. As you can imagine, I'm well happy.

There was antifreeze in the header tank, it wasn't missing, it didn't overheat and there wasn't a smell of carbon minoxide when I took the cap off but...the coolant light above the centre mirror is on, could it be a faulty sensor, maybe a common problem on the M20, I don't know!

Cheers

Adam

[koos]

Welcome buddy, I too own a (in my opinion) clean 320iSE. I'm sure you will find all you need to know and some you dont need to know.

Bridge out the plug that goes on the sensor, if the light goes out then the sensor is poked, if not then you have a wiring propblem. Probably the sensor, HTH.

Mitch

[e30bmlover]

another 320 owner!!! put some pics up mate........ here is my 320!
http://www.e30zone.co.uk/modules.php?na ... ght=320ise

[Brianmoooore]

Coolant level sensor failure is common.
There's a miniature reed switch inside the plastic centre stalk with extremely thin connecting wires. Coolant gets in and corrodes the wires.
Be sure to get the correct replacement. There are two versions available, which work the opposite way around.Wrong one will tell you the coolant is low when it's OK, and vice-versa.
GSF once sold me the wrong one - twice.

[TaitRacing]

Thanks for the advice. I'm not actually collecting it until Saturday, the interior is Pinewood Green, I've never seen it before, it was ordered from BMW Holland along with an optional LSD. I'll upload some pics next week, bme30lover, nice motor mate!

[TaitRacing]

One mroe thing...What brand/type of oil is recommended on the M20?

[Dr Firefly]

I think any brand will be ok - they're pretty tough engines. Mine was running ok when I bought it, with no sign of problems, and looking at the state of the oil I doubt it's been changed in 4 or 5 years - was so runny it looked like water! But mine's got magnatec fully synthetic oil in it now - I ran it on some cheap mineral 15w40 oil for a month to flush out all the crap, and then put really good stuff in. If you're in any doubt ask at the shop you buy the oil from and they'll know. Ask for engine oil for an old petrol BMW 3-series and you'll get alright stuff.

Congrats on the new 320i - beautiful cars, not as fast as the 325i, but the engine's way overengineered so it'll last forever if you look after it and give it a rebuild at 300k.

I got one for Ԛ£200 which hadn't been serviced in years and it's given me 10k trouble-free miles so far.

[dazleeds]

always use Duckhams Q semi synth in the sport

[TaitRacing]

Thanks lads, nice one.