busted head gasket.......

    Well.... I just got a disturbing phone from the BMW garage today.
    On monday I had my radiator replaced because it was leaking, yesterday the car was leaking again so I took it back because I thought it was a leaky hose.
    They called me today and said that the radiator was busted again and that one of the head gaskets are probably busted. causing the cooling system to overpressurize.


    I guess I have to put the car away and tear the engine appart.


    So, question no 1.


    Is the garage right, is it the head gasket?


    no 2.
    can any headwork be done to a M70 5.0l?


    no 3.
    What other funny things can be done to this engine while it's i pieces???


    Guess the car will be parked untill next year, and will emerge with a overhauled engine and freshly painted.

    -Egil (thats my name)

    1990 850IA Hartge SC
    2012 M550d Touring

    If I misspelled a word it's because I'm Norwegian, so bear with me.

    I am in somewhat of the same boat ....my car has started using water . I would have thought that a pressure leak test would prove the head gaskets. Thats what I am planning to do

    From an earlier post:Performancewise, there is little to be found in those heads so a standard quality rebuild will be sufficient, possibly with some CSi or Schrick cams, and some honed intakes but don't expect too much. A good heads rebuild with seats etc done will give you more power, but only back to as it was when new.


    8Tech.


    Regarding the head problem. Mine was loosing water with no trace, turned out to be the thermostat.Not saying its the same prob but worth looking at.
    Les

    Noggie,


    Sounds like a blessing in disguise! As you are supercharging the car anyway, you can now do a build for a forced induction motor.


    To answer your questions, you could do a leak-down test to check the cylinders or even use a fibre optic probe to look in and see if you have a cylinder coolant leak. If the cooling system pressurises quickly from cold then I would suspect a headgasket failure.


    Now you can remove the heads, sell the Hartge cams, "O" ring the block, skim the pistons or chamber the heads to lower compression, widen the valve seats, fit nimonic valves and stock cams, uprate the valve springs and you're done.


    Rob750


    Check EVERYTHING else first, the last thing you want to do is take those heads off then find it's a hose leaking!


    8Tech.

    removing the heads in vain is my greatest fear.
    The water was under the front left part of the car.
    I just replacd the Radiator with a new one because the old failed along the top, but we thought it was from old age.
    When the water appeared after only 10 days, I thought it as a porly mounted hose.
    They called and said the new radiator was "blown" and it probably was the head gasket..... or.. one of them.


    The car does not overheat and the exhaust is not putting out eccessive white smoke either.
    If there is a leak it must be a one way leak.
    I'll check my oil and water for contamination.


    As for the charger..... it might have to wait a bit now....
    will keep the hartge cams I think.
    Thought there was little that could be done with the heads.


    I think I've heard that the block cannot be bored.... i that true?
    thought about going to 84mm bore if possible, and would love a 6.0l kit :)

    -Egil (thats my name)

    1990 850IA Hartge SC
    2012 M550d Touring

    If I misspelled a word it's because I'm Norwegian, so bear with me.

    I would presume that if they didn't do any real testing they diagnosed it as over pressuring the cooling system just because it started leaking and it couldn't be their fault.


    I have heard of a new radiator leaking within days because the seal under the plastic end caps had dried out from sitting on the shelf for a long time before sale. The first I heard of was new stock from BMW.


    If it is leaking at the radiator neck check the motor mounts--the V8 is especially bad at that because the top hose is almost too short to begin with. I do imagine that the V12 could also suffer some degree of the same problem with bad mounts.


    All black overflow tank? Pressure cap has a raised 200 in the center?

    It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others. Mine sometimes feels that way.


    Terry


    1995 840Ci
    1991 850i
    Woodland Washington USA

    I too pressume they just assumed that since the radiator was new ithad to be the head gasket.


    Today I checked the following.
    Oil - low level, so the car has used probably one liter of oil over the past 1000km. Oil was not white from water comtamination.


    Coolant - level is where it's supposed to be.
    -did find some foamy stuff on the inside walls of the coolant tank, no foam on the water though.
    Drove it and it got quick up to working temperature but did not exceed that level.
    Cot back home and while the engine was running i carefully opened the vent screw on the tank, coolant started spraying out around the vent screw.
    Stopped the engine but it was still spraying coolant.


    I released the pressure from the system 15 minutes after the engine stopped. The coolant looks ok, still a greenish colour and no obvious traces of oil. No exhaust or burned smell, just the smell of varm coolant.


    The cap is all black with "200" written on top.


    I will have to check the radiator myself, but it sounded to me like it was a small hole in the new one.
    Engine mounts are a bit worn, but I have new ones.


    Thought about taking a compression check on all the cylinders.

    -Egil (thats my name)

    1990 850IA Hartge SC
    2012 M550d Touring

    If I misspelled a word it's because I'm Norwegian, so bear with me.

    A little update on this matter.

    I've had the car in the shop for a few days and they have tested the car and the head gaskets are ok.
    New radiator and new radiator cap has been installed, so lets hope it holds up this time. (3's a charm)

    Also did an MOT, had the Phoenix camberplates installed, a wheel alignment, and changed the belts on the engine.
    The shop had also messed up one control arm last time, took only 1200km to break, this was due to not preloading before tightening.

    I will pick her up in a short while, hope shes as good as I hope she is :)

    -Egil (thats my name)

    1990 850IA Hartge SC
    2012 M550d Touring

    If I misspelled a word it's because I'm Norwegian, so bear with me.

    I had quite a long drive in her tonight, and she is wonderful, everything is nice and crisp compaired to last time I drove her, however there were some things that bugged me.
    The feel of the brake pedal was not good compaired to the M3, which made me consistantly brake to little, also the engine felt "flat" and powerless....
    I guess this is the downside to having an M3 as the other car.....
    It sets the bar pretty high....

    But she is very very good, the camberplates really helped the cornering abillities, however I was unable to get an identical right/left camber, currently I have 1.5 degrees on the left and 2 degrees on the right side.

    Now the question is, do I do something about the power output or not??

    -Egil (thats my name)

    1990 850IA Hartge SC
    2012 M550d Touring

    If I misspelled a word it's because I'm Norwegian, so bear with me.

    Zitat von bradc;54913

    Twin Supercharger :D



    Supercharger has been planned for a while, but things got put on hold while I had the radiator problem and suspected the head gasket to be busted.....
    Now its winter so the car goes into storage soon until April/May.

    So there is really no rush yet.

    -Egil (thats my name)

    1990 850IA Hartge SC
    2012 M550d Touring

    If I misspelled a word it's because I'm Norwegian, so bear with me.

    Zitat von Koizumi;54922

    Good news man!

    I wish I could S/C my car but the damn emissions laws in California don't allow it for the 8 (unless it was done back in the 90s). :banghead:



    Laws???
    S/C is not allowed here either.... and to be honest, my 8 is no longer legal.
    -My wheels offset is outside the legal limit, and they are custom buildt so no TUV/DOT sertificate for BMW e31
    - the Eibach springs are not in the cars registration papers, nor the wheels.
    -The phoenix camber plates has made the wheel alignment impossible to get within the legal limits.

    Then there is the chance of being caught with this mods.
    I have driven cars for 12 years, and during this time I have been pulled over 3 times, all were alcohol checks.

    At for MOT.... well.... I know people at two shops... so no problem.

    IF you get pulled over, do you really think that the guy checking your car know the engine configuratinon in every single car ever produced, and can point at something and say "thats not stock"... I don't think so.

    For my 8 I have planned the folloeing illegal mods.
    -tinted windows.
    -tinted FTP and rear lamps
    -de-cat exhaust
    -supercharger.

    And I really dont believe thet I will ever get caught.....

    -Egil (thats my name)

    1990 850IA Hartge SC
    2012 M550d Touring

    If I misspelled a word it's because I'm Norwegian, so bear with me.

    Similar things happen over here, but it sounds like they have taken things a bit further with limitations on camber, lowering springs and tinted windows.

    Glad New Zealand isn't like that (yet)

    Zitat von bradc;54994

    Similar things happen over here, but it sounds like they have taken things a bit further with limitations on camber, lowering springs and tinted windows.

    Glad New Zealand isn't like that (yet)



    The DMV over here follow the manufacturers specs.
    For wheels you can have a +/-7mm offset change than what BMW spec as stock. Is it more you need a TUV/DOT sertificate.

    Suspension kits must have a sertificate, and both wheels and suspension must be written into the cars registration papers.

    Tinted windows are not allowed, the reason is because the film may get scratched an impare visibillity.

    I have papers for the suspension, but if I take it to the DMV the car will fail due to the wheels and the camber plates.
    And I will need to come back again with these items fixed.

    -Egil (thats my name)

    1990 850IA Hartge SC
    2012 M550d Touring

    If I misspelled a word it's because I'm Norwegian, so bear with me.



    If you think it's bad in Norway, try Switzerland :(

    Zitat von Argonaut;55027

    If you think it's bad in Norway, try Switzerland :(



    It's probably much the same..... all mods need to have a certificate.
    even bodykits.

    -Egil (thats my name)

    1990 850IA Hartge SC
    2012 M550d Touring

    If I misspelled a word it's because I'm Norwegian, so bear with me.

    Zitat von Noggie;55035

    It's probably much the same..... all mods need to have a certificate.
    even bodykits.



    Same sort of story yes, everything needs to have a certificate and there's loads of stuff that isn't possible anyway. Like you I've a few mods that I didn't even bother to try to get appproved - all of them are reversible if required for testing anyway....

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