Water hose came off this morning - damage? UPDATED

Post Tue May 17, 2005 8:28 am

Ongoing saga of my waterworks! Coming into work this morning, doing 80+ down the dual carriage way. First thing i notice is the coolant warning light coming on, then i realise i cant see out the rear window due to masses of white smoke. Then i see the temperature guage creeping up. As i was only about 2 miles from work, i decided to risk it and limped in, driving as gently as i could. The temperature guage got up to about 3/4 maximum. I put the heating on inside the car full blast to try to help cool things down, but that ran cold very quickly - no water in the heater matrix obviously!

Anyway, the car got me to work ok and didn't sound any different. On opening the bonnet, i realised the problem - one of the hoses that comes from the thermostat housing had blown off completely. Perhaps i hadn't tightened it up properly.

Question is, have i done any damage to the head/block do you reckon?

Post Tue May 17, 2005 8:34 am

Hi Pete,

Unfortunately, it's quite possible you have warped the head

The problem with massive coolant loss, is that the temp sender cannot measure what is not there. It may have only read 3/4 on the temp gauge, but the actual head probably didn't have any water in it.

I guess it's a 'time will tell' sort of thing. Fill it back up, and see how it goes.

Ian.

Post Tue May 17, 2005 8:46 am

this sounds very similar to the build up to my head cracking...

as above really, fill her back up, bleed the coolant and keep a close eye on things. (check for oil in the header tank too)

hope all is well...

damn stupid place to have a temp sender really, there shopuld be a second sender lower down in the block, or reading the block or head core temperature... this would save a lot of m20 heads!!!

Post Tue May 17, 2005 12:30 pm

Good point - hadn't thought of that! Thanks for both responses.

My cylinder head has been under suspicion of being cracked for a few weeks now anyway, so perhaps this will seal it's fate. If it's just the head that's damaged, i wont be too disappointed.

I'll reconnect the pipe, top it up and pray that it will get me home again this evening.

Post Tue May 17, 2005 1:36 pm

One of my radiator hoese exploded! on the A1/M about a year ago, the pipe actaully split... RAC man said ihad def blown the head gasket at least.

Well my car does over heat a bit, never more than three quarters mind, and that only on a hot day in london traffic...i.e been crawling for 2 hours... but other than that its fine. If my car does have a blow head gasket, oh well i have a new head which i'm porting anyway.

But i did stop straight away, trying to keep as much water in the sytem as possible, before i stopped the engine. This is what causes crack etc, the difference in pressure between the cyclinder and the waterways.

Post Tue May 17, 2005 1:59 pm

Well, i put the hose back on, filled it up again (about 5 litres of water!!), beld the system at cold, then started her up. Seemed to run ok at idle, but when it got up to temperature after about 10 minutes, steam or smoke (difficult to tell really) started coming from the drivers side of the engine at the front - difficult to tell exactly where from. Bled the system again at hot, but did the same thing again after a few mins running. Bled the system a couple more times and it's still doing the same. Temperature guage is reading just over half way. When i took the oil filler cap off, there were wisps of smoke coming from there too.

Now i'm wondering whether it's safe to attempt the 12 mile journey home. I'm not in the AA or RAC, so to get it lifted and taken home would cost a fortune.

What do you reckon?

Post Tue May 17, 2005 2:13 pm

well if its fooked its fooked, you could try driving it the 12 miles, just make sure you have loads and loads of water with you! Sounds like a head gasket etc. make sure the oil is topped up as well

However, you may end up doing bottom end damage. Rescue could end up costing the same as an m20 engine.....Depends on how you were thinking of doing it.

How about asking someone for a tow----even if its part way?

Post Tue May 17, 2005 2:20 pm

Where abouts are you Pete??? One of us zoners must be close enough to give you a tow.

Post Tue May 17, 2005 2:22 pm

Pete, get a mate to follow you home.....who is in the AA/RAC as its the card holder who is protected not the car, even if they are a passenger...if it does not look good, call them in and your friend can go with the truck and you can drive his/her car home!

Post Tue May 17, 2005 2:57 pm

Good suggestions there - thanks. My wife was with the RAC, but let membership run out because of a unresolved dispute with them. I have a mate at work that lives near me, so i think i may get him to follow me home and tow me if the worse happens. Other than that, i'll just have to drive home in sections, leaving it to cool down every now and again.

Why would the head gasket or head cause the engine to overheat though?

I had just changed the thermostat, so i'm beginning to wonder if i've done something wrong there. I'm sure i put it back in the same way as the old one came out - with the spring side inside the main housing and the shorter end in the end cap which comes off with the three bolts. This is right isn't it?

Post Tue May 17, 2005 3:05 pm

Luckily you only have to drive it 12 miles. I had the same problem and had to drive 160 miles after buying the damn thing! Took me 6 hours to crawl home with untold number of stops.

Post Wed May 18, 2005 7:40 am

Update: I spoke to the service manager at my local BMW garage, who has been very helpful in the past. He reckoned these M20 engines should run with the temperature guage at the centre position, or even just over, which mine was. He also said the steam/smoke coming off the engine would just be the water that was spilled over the block steaming off.

Anyway, i very gingerly drove it home last night with a mate from work following me - seemed ok to drive and didn't overheat, even in traffic. Got it home and drained some of the water off to replace it with antifreeze/summer coolant as i'd only filled it with pure water before.

Coming into work this morning - no dramas - took it easy, but it behaved itself ok. I've still got a bit of smoke/steam coming out of the exhaust for the first few miles, so i reckon i've still got the original problem (most likely cracked head), but otherwise it seems to be back to normal.

Phew!!

Thanks for all your support guys.

Post Wed May 18, 2005 7:54 am

hey pete!
sre you sure its a craked head mate? i mean if its only doin it for the first few miles isnt it just condensation in the exhaust or something. i mean, if it were, wouldnt it be doing it all the time?.tbh with you im no mechanic but from what ive picked up in a few posts on this forum that this could be the case.
by the way how quickly does yours get up to temperature?

elliot

Post Wed May 18, 2005 8:01 am

Hi Pete,just to give you a bit of confidence,i've REALLY fried quite a few engines on some of my more questionable cars,and only one did I actually cause any real damage to.
The rest of were fine,that includes a nicely fried aluminium V8.
I think engines can take more abuse than people realise when it comes to over heating them

Post Wed May 18, 2005 12:24 pm

My touring did the loads of steam thing when cold for much longer than I expected.

Thought it might be the head gasket but turned out to be a shagged thermostat. (previous owner had taken the middle out!!!)

Thoughts of a duff head ran riot, but replaced it now runs good as gold whatever the weather just to one side or the other from the mid point on the gauge.

Good luck though

Post Thu May 19, 2005 7:59 am

elliot wrote:hey pete!
sre you sure its a craked head mate? i mean if its only doin it for the first few miles isnt it just condensation in the exhaust or something. i mean, if it were, wouldnt it be doing it all the time?.tbh with you im no mechanic but from what ive picked up in a few posts on this forum that this could be the case.
by the way how quickly does yours get up to temperature?

elliot

I think the combination of the steam, water loss, rough running when cold and poor mpg all point to water getting into at least one of the chambers via a cracked gasket or head. I'm going to run it for a while longer though and see what happens.

It takes a good while to get up to temperature - say about 5 miles of 30-40mph driving.

Jesus - many thanks for your words of encouragement. I am pretty amazed that it has survived, but i guess you're right - they can take a fair amount of punishment.

SVBMW - i just replaced my thermostat and nothing has changed since i did, so i dont think it's anything to do with that in my case unfortunately. In fact, the only thing that has changed is that it now runs warmer, so perhaps the old one was a bit loose.

Post Thu May 19, 2005 6:21 pm

Pete start driving the other touring and strip/repair yours at own pace! u know it makes sense.

U must be pulling your hair out with this and the newly born!