Water Circulation

[julielewis]

My 1989 520i e34 m20 is driving me . I changed the cylinder head, cylinder head gasket, water pump, thermostat and there seems to be no water circulation. Could this be due to an incorrect cylinder head gasket? How do I know if I am getting the right one?

Julie

[Ross]

Check to see if the thermostat is installed backwards.

[julielewis]

The thermostat is in the proper way. I think they might have sold me the wrong head gasket. The thing is my car is a 520i and I think they might have sold me the head gasket for the 525i. I am going to change it tomorrow.

[gmannino]

Could be a clogged radiator. Remove and have a radiator shop test for flow. Chocolate milk (oil and water) mixed can clog the radiator, thus preventing flow. How do you know you're not getting flow? Did you properly bleed the cooling system?

Its very important to bleed ALL air out of the cooling system or you will continue to overheat!!!

[Ross]

I have zero experience with a 2 liter engine as they aren't sold here.
Assuming the only difference between the 2.0 and the 2.5 is bore and stroke the fire ring would be too large(not enough to impose on coolant passages) if the 2.5 gasket was used. I cannot conceive how this would effect coolant circulation.
What are the circumstances that led you believe you don't have circulation?

[Dr. evil]

could be the head gasket. did you make sure that all the holes around the cylinder have matching holes in the gasket?

[julielewis]

I checked the head gasket yesterday and it is the one for the 2.0 l engine which is the right one. The radiator was checked and it is fine. What the mechanic explained is that the flow of water from the radiator to the expansion tank is minimal when he compared it to a similar car. I am a novice at this so bare with me if I don't make much sense:-)

[DaveVoorhis]

You've just pulled the head because the trickle of water from the rad core to the expansion tank was, er, minimal? I assume you're now going to install a new head gasket and new head bolts, yes?

It sounds to me like the system was poorly bled, or the rad has deposits and/or corrosion at the top, or both.

[Jon K]

Wow a lot of work for a lot of nothing.

Is the car over heating? What is you reasoning for worry?

[E34-520iSE]

Hi Julie,
I have the same car/engine as you. I know what these things are like for setting up the cooling system - they are a pain to bleed, which is due to the M20B20 having no aux. water pump. Use my tried-and-tested-many-many-times 'Crazy Shaun' bleeding method and your heaters will be hot, your engine will be well cooled and the temp guage will stay central. Takes less than 5 minutes start to finish.

HTH,

Shaun Marsh