SnakeyesTx
09-12-2006, 02:24 PM
This may be very similar to Happy Go Lucky's issue.
The part in the air box with the coolant lines is called a "Thermostat" by the stealer btw. If you every break the nipples on it, here's the part number since Realoem doesn't even have it on the diagrams.
13 54 1 730 682
Anyway, I had the line that came off the head underneath intake runners 3 and 4 that goes to this "thermostat" blow out and I lost some coolant. Changed the fancy funky-shaped molded hose with 3/8" bulk line, and overtightened the clamp and broke the nipple. It wasn't noticable until I test drove and it broke free and steam-cleaned the inner fender well with a "Coolant Temp" warning and the needle in the red area. Made it home almost immediately after that message came up. New parts, new hose a little bit longer just in case. Test drove it yesterday to put in gas.. no leaks, temp is fine (but this was a short trip).
This morning I get up early, leave for class 15 minutes earlier than normal to handle traffic at 8am. I pass the gas station I go to, and about a mile and a half past it, "Coolant Temp" needle in the red again. Pull over, sit for half an hour as it cools, no water leaks but now I have oil, leaking near the rear-main area. WTF?! Fine, whatever, I'll deal with it as soon as I get the cooling issue figured out.
1 hour, 30 minutes later, I make the 3 mile trip to the shop nearest my house (had to stop 3 times for half an hour each to cool down). I tell the mechanic "Well, the top hose is hot and tight, the lower hose is cool and squishy...makes me wonder if the thermostat is stuck closed." He went out and squished the hoses and tells me its very possible and they'll look at it when it cools down.
I call my dad and he shows up about 10 minutes later. As soon as I get in his car I notice a noise (his p/s line blew on the way there!). While I'm at home changing pressure lines on his Camaro, I get a phone call from the shop. They tell me that the car was 1 1/2 gallons low on coolant, and they're bleeding the air out of the system and will run a few tests. Ok, things are looking up, and I didn't really have time last night to bleed and check so I'm somewhat relieved. About half an hour later I get a second call. "We topped it off and tested for headgasket leaks and the like and your car almost immediately failed."
Ok... so there's no water in the oil and vice versa and I tell him this. He says that their tester checks for exhaust pressure leaking into the cooling system and it turns yellow when they use some kind of pump. Usually these tests take several squeezes before their tester turns yellow, but mine turned yellow after the second squeeze. Joy! So I may have a headgasket going south. He adds that his shop doesn't work on BMW so I'll have to take it somewhere for imports or the stealer. 55 bucks for his test and cooling juice. Ok, no big deal. When I go to pick up the car, I ask "Well, I have a shop (where I woulda took it in the first place if I wasn't worried about overheating) about 8 miles away, will it overheat super-fast like this morning?" He said when he ran the test the needle stayed halfway, but they only ran it for about 15 minutes.
I drive it the 8 miles with the heater on just to be safe, and the temperature stayed halfway the whole trip. No water leaks either. The one notable difference was the idle quality started to act pretty poor though.
So, that's where I am now. Its in the shop I wanted to take it to in the first place. I was pretty low on coolant until they filled it, but I left it to get looked at just in case. What do you guys think I'm looking at here? I figure if the water pump was bad, both hoses should atleast be hot. If the thermostat was bad, it would be the hot top, cold bottom hose thing but I wouldn't have been able to make that trip. But then there's that bizarre oil leak now. Not really sure what I'm gonna hear in a few hours on the phone :(
The part in the air box with the coolant lines is called a "Thermostat" by the stealer btw. If you every break the nipples on it, here's the part number since Realoem doesn't even have it on the diagrams.
13 54 1 730 682
Anyway, I had the line that came off the head underneath intake runners 3 and 4 that goes to this "thermostat" blow out and I lost some coolant. Changed the fancy funky-shaped molded hose with 3/8" bulk line, and overtightened the clamp and broke the nipple. It wasn't noticable until I test drove and it broke free and steam-cleaned the inner fender well with a "Coolant Temp" warning and the needle in the red area. Made it home almost immediately after that message came up. New parts, new hose a little bit longer just in case. Test drove it yesterday to put in gas.. no leaks, temp is fine (but this was a short trip).
This morning I get up early, leave for class 15 minutes earlier than normal to handle traffic at 8am. I pass the gas station I go to, and about a mile and a half past it, "Coolant Temp" needle in the red again. Pull over, sit for half an hour as it cools, no water leaks but now I have oil, leaking near the rear-main area. WTF?! Fine, whatever, I'll deal with it as soon as I get the cooling issue figured out.
1 hour, 30 minutes later, I make the 3 mile trip to the shop nearest my house (had to stop 3 times for half an hour each to cool down). I tell the mechanic "Well, the top hose is hot and tight, the lower hose is cool and squishy...makes me wonder if the thermostat is stuck closed." He went out and squished the hoses and tells me its very possible and they'll look at it when it cools down.
I call my dad and he shows up about 10 minutes later. As soon as I get in his car I notice a noise (his p/s line blew on the way there!). While I'm at home changing pressure lines on his Camaro, I get a phone call from the shop. They tell me that the car was 1 1/2 gallons low on coolant, and they're bleeding the air out of the system and will run a few tests. Ok, things are looking up, and I didn't really have time last night to bleed and check so I'm somewhat relieved. About half an hour later I get a second call. "We topped it off and tested for headgasket leaks and the like and your car almost immediately failed."
Ok... so there's no water in the oil and vice versa and I tell him this. He says that their tester checks for exhaust pressure leaking into the cooling system and it turns yellow when they use some kind of pump. Usually these tests take several squeezes before their tester turns yellow, but mine turned yellow after the second squeeze. Joy! So I may have a headgasket going south. He adds that his shop doesn't work on BMW so I'll have to take it somewhere for imports or the stealer. 55 bucks for his test and cooling juice. Ok, no big deal. When I go to pick up the car, I ask "Well, I have a shop (where I woulda took it in the first place if I wasn't worried about overheating) about 8 miles away, will it overheat super-fast like this morning?" He said when he ran the test the needle stayed halfway, but they only ran it for about 15 minutes.
I drive it the 8 miles with the heater on just to be safe, and the temperature stayed halfway the whole trip. No water leaks either. The one notable difference was the idle quality started to act pretty poor though.
So, that's where I am now. Its in the shop I wanted to take it to in the first place. I was pretty low on coolant until they filled it, but I left it to get looked at just in case. What do you guys think I'm looking at here? I figure if the water pump was bad, both hoses should atleast be hot. If the thermostat was bad, it would be the hot top, cold bottom hose thing but I wouldn't have been able to make that trip. But then there's that bizarre oil leak now. Not really sure what I'm gonna hear in a few hours on the phone :(