[Hvyarms]

I'll try to keep this as concise as possible.

A month ago I was driving and I got the orange "drive moderately" light. After a couple of minutes, it was replaced by the red "pull over your engine is hot" light. I drove for another, maybe 60 seconds, and then parked. Sure enough my fan was blowing like crazy. Anyway long story short everything pointed to a failed water pump.

Rather than towing the car home, I lived about 5 minutes away, I waited for the engine to cool down and drove home. The trip wasn't long enough for the engine to really reheat itself (so no warning lights went off). Next day, I drive to a local shop (I know, I know) which was about a 5 minute drive, still no lights. I asked for a compression test, and maybe it was my fault for not knowing what I needed exactly. The tech used a compression device that attached to the coolant reservoir and determined there were no leaks in the cooling system. "You're cooling system has no leaks" which is fine...but I didn't think there was a leak to begin with. I THOUGHT the compression test would help determine if I had any engine damage because of the overheating.

Anyway I drove back home, this time I did get an orange light. I've pretty much left the car alone. I'm saving for the water pump job (tight budget atm), but I'm wondering if there's a way for me to determine if it's more serious than that.

Symptoms:
Car takes about 10 minutes for the temp gauge to reach the mid point, and then shortly after the orange light comes on.
Milky substance in the oil? No
On oil cap? No
Milky substance in coolant res? No
Bubbling coolant on cold start? No
Thick white smoke from tail-pipes? No
Light white smoke from tail-pipes? Yes
Rough idle? No
My car is a 2010 335i with 70k on the clock.

Any suggestions?

[STR8-6IX]

Originally Posted by Hvyarms

I'll try to keep this as concise as possible.

A month ago I was driving and I got the orange "drive moderately" light. After a couple of minutes, it was replaced by the red "pull over your engine is hot" light. I drove for another, maybe 60 seconds, and then parked. Sure enough my fan was blowing like crazy. Anyway long story short everything pointed to a failed water pump.

Rather than towing the car home, I lived about 5 minutes away, I waited for the engine to cool down and drove home. The trip wasn't long enough for the engine to really reheat itself (so no warning lights went off). Next day, I drive to a local shop (I know, I know) which was about a 5 minute drive, still no lights. I asked for a compression test, and maybe it was my fault for not knowing what I needed exactly. The tech used a compression device that attached to the coolant reservoir and determined there were no leaks in the cooling system. "You're cooling system has no leaks" which is fine...but I didn't think there was a leak to begin with. I THOUGHT the compression test would help determine if I had any engine damage because of the overheating.

Anyway I drove back home, this time I did get an orange light. I've pretty much left the car alone. I'm saving for the water pump job (tight budget atm), but I'm wondering if there's a way for me to determine if it's more serious than that.

Symptoms:
Car takes about 10 minutes for the temp gauge to reach the mid point, and then shortly after the orange light comes on.
Milky substance in the oil? No
On oil cap? No
Milky substance in coolant res? No
Bubbling coolant on cold start? No
Thick white smoke from tail-pipes? No
Light white smoke from tail-pipes? Yes
Rough idle? No
My car is a 2010 335i with 70k on the clock.

Any suggestions?

driving around a car that has an alumimum cylinder head with a dead water pump? and you're on a tight budget? what the hell are you doing?

change your water pump or dont touch the car. are you seriously checking how hot your car gets with a dead waterpump? not smart.

[techwhiz]

Originally Posted by STR8-6IX

driving around a car that has an alumimum cylinder head with a dead water pump? and you're on a tight budget? what the hell are you doing?

change your water pump or dont touch the car. are you seriously checking how hot your car gets with a dead waterpump? not smart.

Change the water pump.......

[Hvyarms]

Originally Posted by STR8-6IX

driving around a car that has an alumimum cylinder head with a dead water pump? and you're on a tight budget? what the hell are you doing?

change your water pump or dont touch the car. are you seriously checking how hot your car gets with a dead waterpump? not smart.

ssso, no to the blown head?

[weehe126]

So you haven't replaced the water pump and thermostat yet...?

[TemjinX2]

sounds like he did a leak test not a engine compression test. you would need to do a engine compression test to see if your getting even amount of psi per cylinder to really know if the head gasket is blown or not.

Since you drove the car on a dead water pump there is a chance the engine over heated and warped the head. If the head is warped, you will have cooling and compression issues because the surface on the head are not even anymore.

Worst case your head is warped if you continue to have cooling issues even after replacing the water pump and thermostat.

It would probably cheaper just to buy a used long block then to resurface the heads and reinstall them. Also resurfacing the head will still not gurantee the same performance as before either.

i would just start with the water pump and thermostat.

lesson of the story...a tow is cheaper then replacing a engine.

[Hvyarms]

Originally Posted by weehe126

So you haven't replaced the water pump and thermostat yet...?

I'm doing the pump, stat, and belts all at once, but no not yet.

[N54POWR]

Stop driving the car until you fix it. There's no reason to think anything is wrong yet. It is possible to drive the car for short periods without overheating. But it's always a risk of pushing it a little too far and there is no leeway with these engines. This is why 60 bucks a year for AAA is worth it. Replace the pump, you're probably fine. Btw blown head gaskets are really rare, a warped block is what you'd get from a true overheat and it would most likely be very obvious that something is wrong.

[mightbaal]

Honestly man your driving a car that has an extremely expensive engine in it. If your water pump died fix it NOW. If you don't have a spare car I strongly suggest taking an uber for the time being. Anyone else that owns a n54 335i should have at least a junker to drive as a backup. The more you drive it the more damage you Will cause! Now you may be ok at the moment but you will not be shortly. Let me put it this way a head gasket job will probably cost you 5k (dealer price) on top of a waterpump/Tatar that's if the heads are not warped... The speciality tools alone to take those cams out and put back in alone run around $700...

[mweisdorfer]

I would absolutely never drive the car until you fix the water pump and thermastat, which is exactly what is wrong with your car. Blown Head Gaskets on BMW n54 & N55 engines are extremely rare.

That engine is probably in the neighborhood $10,000 brand new.

FCP Euro is the way to go. If you buy the parts from them, you get a lifetime warranty on them, and you will cash them in, in another 75,000 miles or there of. 90% of the water pumps in BMW's go between 75 and 100k.

[STR8-6IX]

Originally Posted by Hvyarms

ssso, no to the blown head?

Very likely you destroyed the head. Dumb of you to drive it

[Hvyarms]

Originally Posted by STR8-6IX

Very likely you destroyed the head. Dumb of you to drive it

lol right. either way, thanks everyone for the advice. FYI I havent been driving the car, it's parked in my driveway I've been using Lyft. I'll be towing it to my indie shop next week.

Is there any way, prior to the indie trip, that I could tell if the block is warped?

[Wolf 335]

He pulled over when the car told him to do so.

Car cooled off. He drove it for 5 minutes before the engine would even reach operating temps.

How is this going to cause the engine to get damaged? He didn't push the car to over heat again. What am I missing here? Why are people saying he ruined his engine?

You do realize your water pump is not constantly on, especially when your engine is cold.

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by Wolf 335

He pulled over when the car told him to do so.

Car cooled off. He drove it for 5 minutes before the engine would even reach operating temps.

How is this going to cause the engine to get damaged? He didn't push the car to over heat again. What am I missing here? Why are people saying he ruined his engine?

You do realize your water pump is not constantly on, especially when your engine is cold.

You're not missing anything. Str8-6ix has a perverse love of trying to make people feel bad about things on the internet. Can you imagine him in real life? That poor family of his. "hey mom, you forgot to iron my shirt, now my life is ruined and it's all your fault, blah blah"

OP, you're more than likely fine. These engines are pretty stout.

You'd have to do a leakdown test and see if the coolant system is pressurized to maybe tell if the head is warped or the gasket is blown, but these indicators may not even show up if the engine is cold.

Honestly, it's not worth your time or worry, though. Just take it to the shop.

[El Cheapo Loco]

I let the engine cool for 4 hours after the water pump died, and then drove 2 miles home with a cold engine. That was 2 years ago and car is still fine.

[HomoPirate]

OP, you have this problem a month ago? And you didn't fix it since the day you have overheated engine?

Have you try using OBDII scanner to pull code from the car? I got fault codes when the water pump in my N55 engine goes bad. That might be a hint to tell you your pump goes bad and it's not the gasket...

Stop driving it until it gets fixed. You should expect $1k (labor and parts) for the waterpump and thermostat job in indy shop.

[John 070]

If I had to bet, I would say the car is ok. But it is funny how he drove multiple times after the first warning.....if the white coming out of the tailpipes is water vapor, it's ok, but not white smoke...

[Hvyarms]

Update: shop says it's just the pump, so they're replacing the necessary parts. finally

[STR8-6IX]

Originally Posted by Hvyarms

Update: shop says it's just the pump, so they're replacing the necessary parts. finally

So your head is ok? I strongly suggest never to drive with a dead water pump. As soon as the engine starts to warm up (by the first quarter tick) you should shut it off. Consider yourself lucky

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by STR8-6IX

So your head is ok? I strongly suggest never to drive with a dead water pump. As soon as the engine starts to warm up (by the first quarter tick) you should shut it off. Consider yourself lucky

I strongly suggest you go to college in a technical field.

If you understood just a bit about design you'd make a lot more educated comments around here and, ya know, actually be able to help people instead of spreading dooms day theories and making people feel bad for no reason.

[STR8-6IX]

Originally Posted by tlow98

I strongly suggest you go to college in a technical field.

If you understood just a bit about design you'd make a lot more educated comments around here and, ya know, actually be able to help people instead of spreading dooms day theories and making people feel bad for no reason.

so in your educated opinion, you say it is okay to drive around with a dead water pump?

[opjose]

Originally Posted by Hvyarms

Update: shop says it's just the pump, so they're replacing the necessary parts. finally

And thermostat I hope.

Your engine is likely fine.

I had my pump go out.

The electronics put the car into low power mode to prevent overheating and allow you to pull over.

I was 40 miles from home, late at night when mine went.

I had my Carly adapter and phone with me.

I let the engine cool down for 30 minutes, connected the dongle and monitored the WATER and oil temps.

I was able to keep the water temp low enough to not trigger the yellow warning by keeping my foot of the gas when the temps started to rise.

Made it home and to the shop the next day this way.

My Indy checked the compression and engine. They found no problems. The engine had strayed within normal operating range this way.