[e9012345]

As I'm coming home from Christmas lunch with my girlfriend.. doing a good speed down the freeway I get a sudden yellow engine temp light followed by a red engine temp light seconds later. I turn the heat up to max and nurse the car home as the car blew ice cold air from the heater (after turning the heater on max the lights went away and the car seemed fine).

Upon returning home and opening up the hood I saw explosively spilled coolant everywhere - so what had happened is that I lost all coolant in some sort of huge blow-out. I can't seem to find any cracks or leaks but I don't think this has anything to do with the water-pump/t-stat issue.

My car: Pre-Lci 325i (3 Litre N52 motor).. only engine mods: Stage 2 AA Tune, scoops.

Thank you and Merry Christmas!

[N54King]

Just a hypothesis here but im assuming it is a thermostat or water pump issue. My guess is one of them gave out or something the coolant then over heated to boiling and the pressure then built up and then caused your explosion.

[BKV122]

Had the same thing happen to me, coolant all over expansion tank but no leaks found. Re filled and same thing happened again. Ended up replacing both t-stat and water pump, no issues after that.

[Mardio]

Sucks... bad day for it. Hope it all works out man.

[nesnith]

Perhaps it is a bad coolant tank cap or hose? Check for leaks at the cap and/or hose?

[Efthreeoh]

As much as we talk about water pumps around here...

Dude this is a classic case of a water pump failure. When the warning symbol went red you should have stopped the car, turned off the engine, not driven it and inch further, and called a tow truck. Hopefully you have not seriously overheated the engine and damaged the head, head gasket, or even the block. BMW inline six cylinder engines do not like to be overheated.

If you had bothered to read the owners manual it clearly states that whenever a warning symbol goes red, immediately stop and turn off the car and call for assistance.

Go to the maintenance section of the Forum and search on water pump and read up on what you are up against.

Good luck.

[e9012345]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

As much as we talk about water pumps around here...

Dude this is a classic case of a water pump failure. When the warning symbol went red you should have stopped the car, turned off the engine, not driven it and inch further, and called a tow truck. Hopefully you have not seriously overheated the engine and damaged the head, head gasket, or even the block. BMW inline six cylinder engines do not like to be overheated.

If you had bothered to read the owners manual it clearly states that whenever a warning symbol goes red, immediately stop and turn off the car and call for assistance.

Go to the maintenance section of the Forum and search on water pump and read up on what you are up against.

Good luck.

Had the symbol stayed red I would have. However upon turning the heat on max the light immediately went away and never came back I nursed it home under 3k rpm.

Had it come back I would have stopped immediately but it didn't.

[m@rco]

Pfff. I hope you got lucky there, man! I fully agree with Eftheeoh. The light is there for a reason! If you turn on the heater an no heat appears, that should make you even more realize that there is something wrong. I'd put my money on a broken waterpump...

Next time, at least stop to have a look under the hood. I can't believe you took the risk of a $3000-4000 repair for not wanting to stop alongside the road.

Fingers crossed you didn't bust your head gasket!

[myE70]

Thermostat, water pump issue.
Your pressure cup has released excess of the pressure inside the cooling system. So you overflow tank is good ( overall )
It is just the waterpump thermo set up that needs attention.
I have done it before, not cheap nor easy to work on.
Sorry for that.

[The X Men]

If you were on the highway the whole time after the warning light, you might have gotten lucky. If you drove in the city, you might have cause more damage. I agree with others, start with the water pump.

[Meeni]

Probably dead water pump. You should have stopped immediately and called a tow truck, just for safety.

You'll know soon if your gamble worked or if you'll need extensive engine work as a result. If you start seeing oil leaks from everywhere and white fumes, no good. Keep an eye on it.

[omerfar23]

Merry Christmas.. sorry to hear this.. you need a new water pump and t-stat. t-stat is probably okay but should be replaced at the same as water pump.

[e9012345]

Thanks. On my way to the dealer on a tow truck. I have an AA flash tune on the car now. Will it get erased after the dealer works on the car?

[thecadman99]

Probably the waterpump....oh wait 7 people said that already? Ok NM then...
Good luck OP. Post a follow-up!

[cn555ic]

The antifreeze came out of the vent screw.

[e9012345]

Update:

Took it in and replaced the waterpump and thermostat, bled and re-filled the coolant lines and it is alllllll mint. What's more is that I didn't damage anything because it was a crisp night with smooth freeway driving at 100 km/h below 2.8K revs so the engine wasn't close to being at max temp.

I will admit now however that JUST before the light's came on I was flogging the car quite hard - quite quite hard.. so after I dialed it back the car made it home no problems.

I even got a pretty good deal for parts + labour at 865+ tax = $953 CAD and got it back after 4 hours.

Car feels solid. Thanks everybody.

[kenbrinkman]

Originally Posted by e9012345

Update:

Took it in and replaced the waterpump and thermostat, bled and re-filled the coolant lines and it is alllllll mint. What's more is that I didn't damage anything because it was a crisp night with smooth freeway driving at 100 km/h below 2.8K revs so the engine wasn't close to being at max temp.

I will admit now however that JUST before the light's came on I was flogging the car quite hard - quite quite hard.. so after I dialed it back the car made it home no problems.

I even got a pretty good deal for parts + labour at 865+ tax = $953 CAD and got it back after 4 hours.

Car feels solid. Thanks everybody.

How many miles on the car? I think I've read the water pump generally goes around 70-80k.

[e9012345]

120+ km soo it wasn't bad for the original pump

[GoRomeo]

I wonder if your thermostat was stuck closed? Usually its the opposite and stays stucked open. Either way, glad to hear its fixed.

[kenbrinkman]

Originally Posted by e9012345

120+ km soo it wasn't bad for the original pump

So that's about 75k miles. I'm at 70k now so I'm dreading the day this happens to me.

[e9012345]

Originally Posted by Meeni

Probably dead water pump. You should have stopped immediately and called a tow truck, just for safety.

You'll know soon if your gamble worked or if you'll need extensive engine work as a result. If you start seeing oil leaks from everywhere and white fumes, no good. Keep an eye on it.

I did notice there is a little bit more fresh oil leaking out of the oil filter housing and my recently replaced VCG than normal.. but no white fumes..

However, the tech had a look over and said it was all good.

What could this fresh oil leak indicate?

[kivancozbek]

Is this normal for E90s?