Noob with E34 problems (overheating)

[Chriszea]

BMW E34 525i 1989 112,000 km's

G'day, i did some searching, but it was a little hard for somone with my low mechanical knowledge to understand, plus i have several problems to discuss.

I recently bought my dark metalic beamer in a private sale about 1 week ago, at $9,000 AU (about $4,000 US) dollars and at those K's i thought it was an EXCELLENT deal, and even with the problems that were pointed out it still is.

I have two minor problems, i'm not sure if a mechanic is able to fix the first, while driving i'll get the "BING" noise from the dash telling me my door might be open, or my bonnet might be open, when clearly it isn'tl. Also when i turn the car off i get an "Oil level sensor" msg ... then "Owners handbook" msg. Now i'm guessing this is due to the "capasitors" : Link

http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/mainte...capacitors.htm

I was wondering with my lack of any car knowledge, would it be an easy process to fix, or should i leave it to a profesional and fork out the money, or just let her "BING" away, the previous owner had the speaker detatched to stop annoyance but was reconected in a service.

Second problem is my electric window on the driver side will go up and down but as it goes up it will start to slide out at an angle, causing me to have to push it back into place and do it up slowely. I had a mate tell me it might have come loose from a pulley or something. Again, should this be done by a mechanic or is it something with a tutorial i could do myslef? : Link ?

http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/mainte...oorRemoval.htm

The final problem is the one i didn't know about, and its a ripper. I started to get heating issue's, the car would heat up to the 3/4 mark, and then stay around there, even on a 5 minute drive in the freezing cold, it wouldnt go over or under that 3/4 mark. The coolant was filled and it still had the same isues, the coolant drops after a drive but there isn't any sign of leaking? First thing was a possible faulty thermostat? BUT i was informed it could be a cracked head gasket?

I am worried about cost issues on this one, being the main problem. Can somone give me some estimates or advice on going about my issues.

Cheers in advance, Chris

[R1daveg]

G'day to you too. You from the bush?
Very low km's! import? Read up on this forum using search, there is just about anything yu will even need.
I'd start with sorting out the overheating first, then worry about the "gong" later on. There will be enough gongs along the way to give you nightmares.
If you are not too sure what you are doing, get it to a mechanic for the overheating issue. Otherwise it will get expensive very fast...

I'll assume its an auto and say "dont rev the car in nuetral"!!!... BANG.

[632 Regal]

search for "bleeding"

how far up the dipstick is the oil right now?

bookmark this link:
http://www.bimmernut.com/wwwboard/e34/si.html

[Chriszea]

search for "bleeding"

how far up the dipstick is the oil right now?

bookmark this link:
http://www.bimmernut.com/wwwboard/e34/si.html

Cheers guys, my baby's at a mechanic as we speak, its not an import either !

The oil is just above the second "knob" if u will. The coolant will leave the ... resoviour thingy (the simple words are the ones i forget) and then return if the cap is taken off... So its just a baffling problem, coolant going somewhere, engine still overheating, coolant coming back ... WTF. lol.

Well hopefully my mechanic can deal with it. I will search a bit more n see what pops up. P.S. In lamen terms what is this "bleeding" you speak of.

Negative on the "bush" i live in a city population 2 million we dont have kangaroo's in our backyard .. i wish

Cheers guys, Ollie

[saj3n]

Seems to me like the coolant is flowing through the radiator & its hoses, returning when the engine is stopped, the coolant flows back into the reservoir.

[e39dream]

my post is strictly to emphasize the importance of a properly bled cooling system.

[Chriszea]

my post is strictly to emphasize the importance of a properly bled cooling system.

IT would help if i knew what this "bleeding" was though, so i can tell my mechanic exactly what i want?. Is it like running the coolant through the system or what?

WELL got it back from the mechanic, got the window fixed, thats a good thing, he couldnt find a single leak or nothing, changed the thermostat, he said it wasn't "running hot" either, what are the chances of just a faulty heat guage? Most signs point to that being the problem since everything seems to be running smoothly, and since i'm having other problems with the dash's functions??

So what do you's think, head gasket?, something else?, or just a temperature guage? ....

P.S. it was a private guy, worked on beamers for 5 years in Germany, only cost me $70 US for a sercive, the window, thermostat and a sus'ing =P.

Cheers guys

[DaveVoorhis]

IT would help if i knew what this "bleeding" was though, so i can tell my mechanic exactly what i want?

Bleeding, in this case, refers to the process of removing trapped air from the cooling system. Coolant cools, air doesn't.

In general automotive terms, bleeding refers to extracting trapped air from a fluid system. It can also refer to removing trapped air from the brake system, or less commonly, from power steering and dynamic suspension systems.

[shogun]

http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/page_19.htm