Originally Posted by pani_k

the other day where I work I had a BMW 316ti compact that had a blown head gasket. Oil got into the coolant and I found a shitload of brown gunk everywhere including the bottom end cooling slots, rad, everything. Was totally fucked.

Its really not good if your head gasket goes because of the VANOS. ONLY BMW can put the VANOS back together as it requires special tools to do. Also quite expensive.