Headgasket soon to RIP

[GaryE]

This is probably the start of some very bad weekends coming up for me...

I am very worried about my 1992 520 M50. Although I don't drive this car about very much - just been fixing her up, i've always (since purchase, dec04) had quite a bit of smoke come out of the exhaust, never thought much of it. Assumed it was the cat taking a while to warm up. As I have no insurance on the car, she just sits in my driveway and I work on her there. Sometimes idling together, lol.

But this weekend, I've seen some white build-up under the oil filler cap! NNOOOO!!! Im almost sure its my head is on the way out ... And I am well disappointed. 3 months of effort have gone into making this car look pristine. It was in need of some TLC, and now in need of some open heart surgery!!

Stuck for ideas. But this is what I consider my options to be:

1) Sell it all in parts? Its got leather interior and original 15" alloys. So might be able to get back what I paid for it.
2) Auction it off and try and sell as is, hoping no one looks under the bonet??? or fires her up!! (im not the sort of person who would feel comfortable playing blind, so most likely won't do this one)
3) Go get some CarGo Seal Up and pay someone to do all the labor as I wouldn't know where to start.
4) Visit the PO's address with some of my bald headed buddies, and stuff his head into the crack to stop the leak.

I have little funds to spend on this vehicle so looks like no.1 is my only feasible option, (no.4 is sooo tempting).

I have 2 BMW E34's, a 1990manual and this 1992auto - maybe I could swap engines???? and transmissions?!!?! im going delusional. I think first I'll take her to my mechanic to find out what damage is actually done.

Got the car off of ebay for a well good price, now I know why......

Off to sulk... take care
Gary

[ukm5]

youve had the car for months, why is it the previous owners fault *if* the head gasket has gone, perhaps its playing up with the fact its only ran for small amounts of time and left to idle on your driveway

if it is the head gasket go get it fixed, its no reason to scrap the car, is that what you do if something goes wrong, throw it away?

[winfred]

white build up under the cap on a car that has not been driven is varly common, it's just condensation if you had a problem the oil would be milky, idleing doesn't warm up the motor/oil enough to burn off the moisture and acids that are in the oil. get it on the road and drive the hell out of it and get it good and hot then change the oil

[Jeff N.]

How about just put a new head gasket in the car? It's not that hard. If the car hasn't overheaded and you don't redo the valves, the parts are really cheap..maybe $150 or so.

Of course, if the head's cracked or something like that...then you have a little more complicated situation, no?

[GaryE]

I've been under the impression that when the head gasket goes, then your in serious trouble. Labor and parts = more than the cars worth. This has been my novice impression since upbringing.

The car hasn't just been in the driveway, of course its had its odd little run abouts, but under 50 miles in the last 3months. So im hoping your right winfred, I'll give it a proper rag and see what happens.

I read bmwe34.net's headgasket page: http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/trouble/headgasket.htm
and **** my pants when I felt I had 2 of the symptoms.

The exhaust humps out white smoke when its rev'd to 2000+ rpms. Even when at normal operating temp. I haven't been able to stop the smoking exhaust.

Cheers for the comments.
Wishing I was a mechanic

[Dave M]

White smoke don't mean $hit, unless of course, you're losing coolant. These exhaust systems are enormous, can hold a ton of moisture after sitting around, and like Winfred said, the foamy oil filler cap is a symptom of a car that sits on it's duff a lot. My 525 sits all winter and when i visit it, the oil cap is always milky, don't even bat an eye. You need to determine whether you're loosing coolant, gaining oil in the coolant etc. Fill your resevoir, document the COLD level in the resevoir and go drive the thing. When you get home, mark the hot level. Wake up the next day and go check the cold level. Repeat until you:

1) Are satisfied that you are not losing coolant
2) See a marked drop in the level or oily residue in the resevoir (barring external leaks)
3) Sell your car

Keep in mind that temperature, driving condition etc will affect HOT level. I did this over weeks to determine where mine was (not) going.

Good Luck,

Dave M

[franks]

Why dont you go get your radiator checked for exhaust fumes?

[MSM]

Checking the coolant system for fumes won't always give a correct indication of headgasket integrity, unless you can work out a way of "sniffing" the coolant system whilst running the engine under varying load. If you just idle or fast idle the motor whilst testing, you won't be able to spot small gasket leaks that only open up when you put some load on the engine. I have had this problem myself, the block test did not indicate exhaust gas in the coolant, however the gasket had failed, and was leaking on certain load conditions and after shutdown.

Sweet smelling exhaust gas on starting the motor from cold finally convinced me that the occasional overheating must be the gasket. It had failed on number 6, most likely due to localised overheating because of the built up corrosion inside the head's coolant jacket indicating that the coolant hadn't been changed as often as it should.

[GaryE]

Thanks for all the input... Lots of things to try and test.

[genphreak]

Hey Dude, just change the head gasket. It's 90% likely its the failed part. The only real risk is if the head has been damaged because the car overheated badly, say from an airlock building up due to the coolant leaking out- the bubbles of air leaking back into the head create the air bubble that cna get big enough eventually to stop coolant flowing through the engine.

You can overheat your car a bit without the head warping- in my experience it has to get really hell hot to do that. Anything less and the head gaslet just fails.

The question is, do you have the balls to go to all the trouble of finding out (it took me 5 days- but I reconditioned my entire head- changed all the moving parts).

If you are doing the gasket and getting the head machined its around 1-2 days labour unless you stuff up. Good thing is, the gasket kit is cheap. I spent at least a day cleaning components I was reusing. If you avoid taking the inlet manifold (ie injection and electrics) off the car (just the head) it won't take so long.

My tips: Be prepared to change all the hoses connecting to the block and clean out your radiator against the flow direction. Use BMW coolant only (bonus is it is not expensive).

Secret is, do your homework/research first- know the problems others face doing it. That is why we share the info on these boards. Oh, and make sure you shoot it with your digicam if you do it so we can all see what you encounter!

Best of luck

GP