bmw 318i problem

Spipov

hi all

got a 01 (pre face lift) 318i se last month.

been doing well.

however yesterday on the drive to belfast the coolant indicator lit up on the way.


no overheating, temp needle stays in the middle (but working as it goes down to the blue area as well)

drove into a motor shop and bought coolant level, waited an hour for it to cool down then opened the coolant area.

seemed to be level.

continued to drive. no problem. it seemed to turn off when im idling then lights up when im driving.


i checked the engine bay and it seems there's liquid at the bottom of the coolant reservoir area and i can hear a sizzling noise when i turned off the car from that area.

doesnt seem to be oil underneath the engine itself so i think the engine is still ok.


anybody any suggestions what it could be and how to go about sorting it out? how long would it take to repair etc?

i bought the car a month ago, has a 6months warranty engine and gearbox, would that be covered?



Thanks for replying

Eoin

I had a few problems with the coolant in my e46. Think it turned out to be a cracked thermostat housing and some cracked pipes as well. It's common enough from what I can tell.

DublinDilbert

You'll need to find out which connections are leaking or if its the rad or expansion tank (fairly common the E46).

If the leak is from one of the connections, its probably the o-rings in the push fit connectors... BMW will not sell you the o-ring, just the pipe for €35.... You can size up the o-rings and get them from someone like abbey seals for a few cents....

Spipov

gave the dealers a ring on monday and they booked it in on Wednesday morning. drove in and dropped the car in, they gave me another car for the day once my insurance agreed (had to call the insurance there and then) and i came back at five.

seems it was the coolant expansion tank that cracked, common thing on those. the car apparently had this replaced and an aftermarket put in, they said they put in a bmw one now and that it should last.

car is doing well now.

was quite pleased with the whole thing. apart from having bought a bottle of coolant and used it all between saturday and wednesday and an hour of my time gone, i did not have to spend a single cent.

its a known garage to boards, but this garage seems to be getting not so great reviews. however, its my second car with them and i am happy with the service.

DublinDilbert

Spipov wrote: »

its a known garage to boards, but this garage seems to be getting not so great reviews. however, its my second car with them and i am happy with the service.

In the interests of balance, you should give them a positive review if you feel people are being too harsh on them...

I hope they replaced the pressure cap with a new one (or tested the current one), it might not be operating correctly, hence the reason the car is on another expansion tank...

Spipov

id have no idea what they did apart from what they said. hope they did.. car has 6 months warranty and should be covered if it fails again, and im probably sure if itll fail, that would be soon enough.


ill post in that thread later on. there has been no positive review whatsoever there.

stratos

This may be of no help at all, but. The same thing happened on a jaguar I owned. Coolant warning light up but no obvious leak and all fluid levels were okay.

With a bit of investigation I discovered this light was driven by a magnet on a float in the coolant resevoir, which switched a reed switch which was sunk into a dry tube in the resevoir. ( who dreams these things up).

I took the reed switch out and tested it with a magnet and a ohmeter it was faulty.So it was a faulty sensor rathar than an actual leak. Long shot but it may be something simular.

Spipov

well in my case you could see the coolant all over the bottom plastic tray, so im assuming that was the case and not the sensor (Which i thought was the case as the level had been ok the first time the light came on)