head gasket

[edward]

Hey Guys,

I am sure I have a head gasket leak, lots of white smoke and I am going through alot of coolant. The car still seems to run fine and no oil in the coolant. I went through the archives and found a great post by shogun and he confirmed my diagnosis.

My car is not long for this world, so I am wondering do I just drive it till it dies,
and how long will it go in this state. Or do I tear into it and hope it is just the gasket and not a cracked cylinder head etc.

Also will the spark plugs give me a clue to which cylinder it is, I think that is where I am going to start.

Thanks,

Edward

[Ferret]

What car/engine?

The HG is only severely prone on the M5x engines, by comparison M30/60's are quite rare. The M30 is dead simple to HG change, you just need two sturdy blokes or an engine crane to do it in a days DIY. The M50 is less simple, but still doable in a weekend the first time around, but requires some specific tools.

Additional items needed for either: Broom handle, roll of string/twine, (M50)torqx sockets, (M50)very narrow body torqx sockets for the front of the head and tiewraps to fix the chain to the top sprocket.

If it has blown and you keep driving it, it -will- crack the head, no questions asked, in a matter of hours.

They -could- easily be unrelated - during winter time the E34 is prone to billowing steam out of the exhaust anyway because it's got an absoloute monster of a double skinned exhaust system on it which can take more than an hour to come up to full temperature. There's millions of places coolant can go missing too...

[Ross]

The plugs will tell which cylinder(s) are ingesting coolant. The coolant effectively steam cleans the combustion chambers, including the spark plug.
You are probably also pressurizing the cooling system with combustion gas getting past the head gasket's fire ring. Loosening the radiator cap to relieve pressure could slow the coolant usage as it won't be blown out the overflow as much and will be less likely to flood and hydro-lock a cylinder after the engine is shut off and heat soaks.
You don't state which engine you have, some are more prone than others to head warping or cracks. If you are overheating it one of those conditions will certainly arise regardless of type.
No need to write off an otherwise good car for this. A head gasket repair is a DIY for most with some skill and tools.
Good luck

[sal_park]

Have a look at my thread (http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42347)

What engine ?

Get a cylinder compression test done.

Get a coolant pressure test done.

change the boots on the plugs. (bad rubber here can cause the white smoke, although this wouldn't explain coolant loss).

If you're going to do it DIY get hold of a bentley.

For the M50 you'll need (at least) the following tools:

Cam locking tool (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290349144515&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT), Cam timing tool (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230376968308&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT), thin torx (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380187514016&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT) and torx set (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260528362500&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT)

[Ferret]

Have a look at my thread (http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42347)

What engine ?

Get a cylinder compression test done.

Get a coolant pressure test done.

change the boots on the plugs. (bad rubber here can cause the white smoke, although this wouldn't explain coolant loss).

If you're going to do it DIY get hold of a bentley.

For the M50 you'll need (at least) the following tools:

Cam locking tool (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290349144515&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT), Cam timing tool (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230376968308&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT), thin torx (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380187514016&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT) and torx set (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260528362500&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT)

Never bothered with the cam tools, straight edged steel rule did for me :)
However, I'll concede I've never done a VANOS engine - I've heard they can be... tricky.

[edward]

engine is m50.

thanks for all the quick replies. Will start with a compression test. Let the games begin.

Edward

[Tiger]

I bet it is not blown head gasket... more like spark plug coil boot... Very common problem for constant steam out of the tailpipe.

[edward]

Well the spark plugs all look fine, so I did a compression test and all the cylinders are between 195 and 210. I guess a leakdown test and a pressure test for the cooling system are next. Anymore thoughts?

Thanks,

Edward

[Tiger]

Change the spark plug boots that is on the coil packs. Very common problem!

[sal_park]

Well the spark plugs all look fine, so I did a compression test and all the cylinders are between 195 and 210. I guess a leakdown test and a pressure test for the cooling system are next. Anymore thoughts?

Thanks,

Edward

How did the spark plugs look ? All the same colour / condition ? Were some of them (1 or 2) very clean ? steam cleaned ?

[sal_park]

Well the spark plugs all look fine,

Tiger was referring to the rubber boot that the top of the spark plug sit's in. I don't know if a visual inspection would cut it as I've not replaced this part (yet).

Part 3 here (http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=HD52&mospid=47375&btnr=12_0425&hg=12&fg=05)

[edward]

the spark plugs all looked the same. I replaced the rubber boots last summer when my valve cover gasket was leaking. Darn thing is leaking again in a couple of cylinders, I will have to address that again when I put it all back together.