Evening all, can somebody please confirm something for me.

To keep my 3dr in good condition i run a 325 td BMW as my daily car (tows the trailer well too) the old girl has done 185k on the clock, but tonight i think i've killed it.

While on the dual carrageway the temp went through the roof into the red, the blowers started blowing cold not hot and i lost nearly all power, had to struggle at 20mph just to get the last 3 miles home!!

It screams head gasket to me?? The engine starts just fine and appears to tick over sweet as a nut, and it didnt actually boil over from the header tank, but when driving its got no guts (although isnt lumpy!) and gets real hot quick

Everyone agree its head gasket, or could it possibly be something else? I've heard the water pumps are prone to go on these?

 

if it was water pump itd leak wouldnt it? you tryed the thermostat? this car new enough to go in 'limp' mode to get you home? thats what most do nowadays.

 

Sounds like water pump. If you'd have switched it off straight away then you might have saved it, driving it 3 miles probably cooked it.

 

I've got no water leaking anywhere and it didnt boil over.

The only reason i'm not 100% sure its head gasket is because its diesel would it not idle really lumpy if there was a compression issue as the diesel engine needs the compression to run at all doesnt it? Would it not just fgail to start or at least idle real rough?

Still have no idea though why it went gutless if it isnt head gasket though, its a 1994, not sure if it has a "Limp mode"?? Anyone know?

 

I had a 323 that overheated last summer, just sat in a que and the temp gauge kept going up and up until it was in the red and steam started to come from the engine turned it off etc and didnt do any engine damage, turned out to be a air lock of some sort.

I say some sort because i was on the way to the new owners house so didnt find out too much

 

I know very little about diesel really, but if on a petrol engine, it suddenly lost heaters, it overheated yet there was no coolant lost, I'd be going straight for the water pump!

 

water pumps are prone to failing its usually the impellers that break off so no water is circulating, thermostats stick as well.
the head gaskets are pretty robust in these and can take a bit of cooking so you may get lucky
as for it losing power tho it may well be in limp mode
and you mention losing compression due to the gasket this doesnt always happen and depends entirely wherabouts the blow is on the gasket if it has not blown near the cylinders you will not lose compression you will just lose your water int the engine oil and vice versa

 

is it cold weather?is there anti freeze in it mate?
the reason i ask is the exact same happened to mein january in the wifes e46 touring, temp went right into red limped 3/4 miles to the nearest garage he had a tester to test the water temp! anyhow apparently the bottom half of the rad was a frozen block of ice!
put in 3 litres of pure anti freeze,and before anyone jumps the gun
i,m in sweden and when temps hit upto -38/40 we have special anti freeze anyhow left it for an hour and it ran,and still does,100%
hope this helps mate

 

Right, bit of an update, jsut been out now its cooled right down and took it for a spin around the local street, it ran absolutely fine, pulled like a steam train!! The heaters were still blowing cold and it did start to get hot a bit quick so i brought it back in. But while its a lot cooler it appeared to have no running issues??!!

I've checked the header tank, its lost no water at all, and the water has no signs of oil in it, nor do i have any white resedue under the oil cap

Its got to be water pump then hasnt it?

 

as above pal check the water in the rad aint froze at the bottom

 

does sound like it if it got hot really quick as the water is not circulating because even if the thermostat was stuck shut it would still take ten minutes or so to start overheating
allthough you could still have done the gasket but would fix these faults first and try it before you go and get the head done

 

on the early bm's the impellers wear plastic and very prone to failure,look on bmwland.co.uk you'll be surprised how many problems diesel bm's have

 

I'd almost guarantee the water pump. I know on the focus's if it overheats, it will run on 2 cylinders, using the other 2 cylinders as air pumps to help cool the engine. Maybe this happened on yours?

 

One last question, if the water pump had gone wouldnt that usually make a noise? The engine seems to be as quiet (for a diesel) as it ever was?

 

you wounldn't here the it if the impeller has come off only if the bearing has gone,

I run the same engine in my range rover and change the pump and stat as a matter of corse to save having later probs

 

Pump went on a relative's audi a4 2.6 ( I think). The plastic impellor literally fell off the shaft, so although the pump was turning as normal, the impellor was not attached so not moving the water!

 

How hard is it to change the pump mate? Easy DIY job??

 

true

 

also true

 

i would only do it if confident on working cars as they can be a bitch to get out as they often seize into the engine and require removing with a big hammer and a big chisel! lol
can be a pain to bleed up as well

 

i had all the rads out of mine when i did it so it was a piece of pi55 not sure on the room in the bmw get the fan and housing out shouldn't be too bad.