have I wrecked my engine?

[McMucker2]

Hi all
been a while since I posted here.
last time was on old forums and I cant seem to use my old account here so I had to reg this new one.
anyhow..... HELP!!!
Just got home after an uncertain incident
was driving my 88 318i at 65 on motorway listening to loud tunes.Went to accelerate to pass a car and noticed lacking in power. I hit the pedal a few times and then also noticed slight metallic rattling noise as I depressed it. Looked at the temp gauge straight away and it was through the roof. totally extended to the right past the red limit. I stuck on the hazards switched off engine and pulled over. Opened bonet and seen a little smoke from cylinder head area. Looked around the block and some oil was out around the right of the filter area. and a little on the ground.At this point I thought it was totally dead. I let it sit for 25 mins and checked radiator. It was very low but no sign of loose pipes.I refilled radiator and started engine to cycle ythe water breifly. It hesitated to start but did after a few seconds. I then let it sit some more and started it again whichstarted straight away. The noises seem to have gone and the temp gauge was almost normal. I drove it to the garage to refill bottles. The gauge stayed fairly normal. I then drovre home 10 mileon motorway again keeping revs down. Gauge stayed just over half way on the journey. I revved it a little and overtook a lorry t 70 before pulling off motorway. and shortly after that the temp rose agaiun to just under red. I now have it parked outside. I am gonna inspect formore oil or water loss but the oil level seemed to be okwhen i first stopped.
When I changed the oil last. I think i may have overfilled by 1/2 litre.
wouldthis cause a prob?
Iam hoping that I just let the car run dry over time in the water department and that now I have refilled it may be ok .
what you guys think?
Ineed to be at airport early in morning and am unsiure whether to drive it

I will go for a quick drive in 30 mins after inspection and see if it overheats.

ypou think ive wrecked it?


is it possible to have partially seized and have it seem ok after?

[Zayyan]

88's changover point, so is it an M10 or M40?

[A1BMW325iSport]

sounds like your head gasket has gone mate

[McMucker2]

um M40 i think

anyhow just ran it after flushing collign system with fresh water
no oil in waternd vice versa
ran it 20 mins and temp remained below normal
shouldbe good for now
Ill keep a closeeye and bottled water and toolkit handy
must be a slight leak somewhere i missed

cheers

disaster avoided.. for now

[McMucker2]

the spewed out oil i seen afterfirst stop coulkdbe just fro mhigh pressure and oil temp.. not necessarily blown gasket right?

if gasket had gone surely I would see allot of oil in water yeah??
or only a little?
i'll keep a ver yclose ye on the condition of both.
imdoing this diy mechanicthing right eh??

guidance apreciated.. im learing all this the hard way.
my first car

[Zayyan]

Well, good luck

I've always got loud-ish music (only way to disguise the tappets! ) but am very paranoid about the temperature guage.....keep an eye on it and you'll be fine

[A1BMW325iSport]

sounds to me like early signs of head gasket going, you will not be able to drive that far without overheating as the gasket breaks down more oil and water will mix

[GeoffH]

u don't neccesarily get water oil mix, the gasket could have gone between a clinder and a water jacket but this will normally pressurise the system, if you get lots of steam this could be the answer, head gasket not a big job

Geoff H

[A1BMW325iSport]

correct sorry yes could have explained better,


thanks GeoffH

[jonbuoy]

Head Gasket gone(DON'T DRIVE!) Had same problem with my M40, u can try anything and everything. Still BOILES down to the same thing.

[Richy325iTouring]

had the same prob with my old one an it wasa missing thermostat
but could be the head as well though