Massnz

Obligatory update (its a pain in the arse when you read threads while diagnosing only to get to the last page and have no update from the OP), got myself a new expansion cap and gave the system another good bleeding. Warmed it up to temperature and took it for a good hard drive the same route I normally do and the hoses didn't feel as hard as usual so i'll let it cool down and see how it is. The new cap seemed to spin a lot more freely and had more play in it than my old cap which would jam up if you twisted the stalk around, so maybe the cap was sticking and not allowing the system to adequately vent into the overflow. I always thought the failure mode on a rad cap was excessive venting due to a failure in the spring mechanism which is why I overlooked this item.

Nice. Same as my 328 just with different wheels and the kit.

Follow your nose. Could either be fuel filler cap, injector o-rings or leaking fuel hoses. You COULD try spraying a small amount of carb cleaner at each of the injectors using the plastic tube nozzle and on a cold engine to see if theres a change in idle speed. Try keep it away from your exhaust manifold. That metal plate under the rear seat will be your fuel pump and possibly your secondary fuel level sender unit if there's another plate on the other side.

The issue I'm having is the cooling system is staying pressurized after cooling down. Ends up barfing a couple hundred ml of coolant out when I pull the expansion cap. I'm about to change the cap and check the thermostat, but thinking I may have a small leak at the heater core allowing a bit of air into the system. I still have that thought in the back of my mind that there's a head gasket breach that won't show up on a comp or block test.

I've been throwing in the cheap Warehouse pre-mix stuff while I work on the car, once everything's sweet then i'll flush and put in some better stuff.

I was getting mine up to temperature the other day with the cap off while bleeding and it did the same thing. Some very large bubbles came from the bottom of the reservoir (a bit like the bubbles you get at the hot mud pools). I've performed a few teekay block tests and detected no exhaust gasses and compression is 179 - 181 across the board.

By the way I'm in a similar boat with my cooling system at the tail end of my build. M52b28 here.

Pretty sure that's normal? If it is at operating temperature and you have the expansion cap off the system isn't retaining pressure so the coolant is effectively boiling.

I have the Vanos Adjustment Wrench and the Alignment Set (didn't come with the crank locking pin but i managed without). I tried using a set of Slip Jaws for the rotation of the exhaust sprocket but failed miserably and bit the bullet.

Maybe try dropping the oil, and run a strong magnet through it to see if there's any metal shavings? You can get those neodymium magnets for doors from Mitre 10 for like $10. If you hadn't have gotten it checked over by a Euro Specialist I would have been looking more towards either Vanos, a coil pack, crank or cam sensors.

Funny I spent half commute home reading up on rad cap symptoms. Short answer is no so I'll give that a go. I assume the cap is designed to allow coolant to flow from the overflow pipe into the expansion tank once the system reaches operating pressure, so if it's stuck then pressure builds up in the rad and has no where to go particularly when the system cools down... until I open the cap?

What did it set you back in the end?

Yeah that's what I was thinking but after performing several teekay tests for combustion gases and having them come up all good I'm not sure. Performed the tests from cold to hot and gave it several blasts of the throttle but the fluid stayed blue. I'm not having any coolant push out past the rad cap while the car is running which makes me wonder if I'm just being paranoid.

Still having some issues. Fully bleed the system after i put in a new waterpump (cars been sitting around for a while), took it for a good blast yesterday afternoon with the heaters blowing hot and parked it up for the day. Checked the cooling hoses 26 hours later and they were hard (just a little less than operating rigidity), cracked the rad cap open and a couple hundred mls of coolant came gushing out. Reservoir level is still sitting at the cold line. I performed a few tk tests over the weekend which appeared to come up all good and a compression test a month ago came up 180 on all 6 cylinders so a bit confused. Am I just being overly paranoid?

Hello 1996 E36 M52B28....I fully bled my cooling system by jacking the front end up about 500mm and it seemed to be successful. Hot Air coming from the heater and no visual coolant loss or overheating. Drove the car about 30kms to drop it off at the Car Transporter as we were moving Islands, everything seemed to be all good. 5 days later I go to collect my car from the drop off point, open the radiator cap to check the coolant level prior to driving and there was a very loud pop/boom like opening a Corked Wine Bottle but with a much deeper tone. No coolant splashed out so i assume this was under vacuum? I then drove it home (6kms) and parked it up. Next morning (12 hours later) the hoses still felt a little rigid (about halfway between when the car is running and cold with the cap off). Opened the cap and it made an audible sucking/gurgling noise with a little bit of coolant streaming out from the small upper radiator hose into the expansion tank. Is this likely to be due to an Air Pocket being present in the system creating a vacuum or could I potentially looking at something a little more serious?

Normally use a combination of Pelican Parts and Milland depending on price. Both a great in my experience.

Thanks, I pulled all the plugs and found they were dirty/slightly rusted as it appears water managed to get past the coil packs...probably from washing the car without the plastic engine trim. #6 was really bad. Cleaned them up and now the ticking is gone and the car seems to be in better shape. The only thing left to solve is what appears to be a vacuum leak as you suggested, rough idle/backfiring but completely smooths out as soon as i hold the throttle open slightly (1000 rpm +). Will be an easy fix, there are a couple of areas where I took shortcuts putting the intake components back in which is almost certainly letting in unmetered air.

Thanks, well it turns out the it was the simplest of fixes. A couple of injector harness connectors weren't fully connected, i pressed down on the wiring bank and *click* *click*. Just need to sort out the ticking, rough idle and exhaust "putting" noise.

Hello In the process of getting my 1996 E36 328i back on the road, it's been off the road for a year and a half while I throw parts at it after a head gasket replacement. Drove fine 6 months ago when i shifted houses and has been started up on a 3 month basis with no dramas. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, had an endless cranking issue where I was intermittently getting fuel pressure to the rail (verified by the schrader valve) which was temporarily fixed last weekend by replacing the Crank Sensor and Fuel Pump (was the fuel pump). Ran the car for about 30 seconds, seemed to be a little rough at idle so i shut the car off and left it for a couple of days. Now when i go to start, it almost catches but seems to buck, backfire and pop. I notice the tach needle spiking all over the show up to about 3 - 4k which to me suggests either: the engine rotation speed is being misread (if the new Crank Sensor may not have been installed correctly) there's some ignition issues causing the engine to surge as it semi-catches (fuel delivery issues/spark) I'll be going through the following, but any additional suggestions/second opinion would be great to save me chasing too many ghosts. Check the Crank Sensor is installed/seated correctly (i assume if it hasn't been seated close enough to the crank pulley it'll get murky readings and mess with the timing?) Clean the injectors with a bit of brake cleaner (injector(s) might be stuck open?) A couple of injectors have missing pintle caps (first 2 from the front of the engine) which may not be helping, I have bought replacements which i'll fit Purge the fuel lines of any stale fuel with a bypass of pump relay. Car had around 1/4 of a tank of fuel which may be an issue, I've so far chucked in 10 litres of fresh 95 to try dilute any stale fuel. Purchase a compression test kit and verify all cylinders. Remove fuel pump relay and try an Ether start.

Just noticed you have an E39 though, I have an E36 so I only have the one bleeder screw next to my expansion bottle. You probably have a couple of bleeder screws, and im not sure if the one i mentioned is compatible.

Pelican Parts. I was ordering a whole heap of other parts so i included that in my purchase because the freight from USA is a killer. Just added one to my cart, its $8 USD + $45.75 freight to NZ. I usually buy all my parts out of Pelican Parts, but I have purchased some parts locally out of either Milland in Dunedin http://www.milland.co.nz/, or Partsplus out of Wellington http://www.partsplus.co.nz/. I have found both local suppliers are very reliable and knowledgeable.

Sweet thanks for clearing that up Brent. I had cleaned it a while back with some TB cleaner, however i am just troubleshooting some idle issues. E36 328i Auto Symptom 1 : Car idles fine cold, and idles fine when I stop at the lights. But after approx 30 seconds the idle starts getting worse. Giving it a small amount of throttle and holding it there fixes it up (left foot brake, right foot accelerator). Symptom 2 : Drive the car, park it up and leave it running in Neutral/Park for 30 seconds or more. When I change into Drive/Reverse, the revs start fluctuating towards a stall (drop from 500 to ~100 then back up to 500). Does this 3 - 4 times before coming right. I do have a tiny coolant leak in the engine bay which results in the bay gradually filling with a coolant mist (can be seen at night time with headlights on and bonnet open), so I am thinking maybe the mist is getting pulled up the intake and screwing with things. This could explain why the problem isn't present when i first pull to a stop, air flow from driving. I have just spent the afternoon replacing the tstat + housing, upper and lower hoses, waterpump, expansion bottle + new brass bleeder screw so we will see if that solves it, but i guess its a case of going over the basics - MAF, TPS, Fuel Filter etc but any advice would be appreciated.

Hey Guys Just a quick question on the Idle Control Valve for an M52b28. I have mine out at the moment and when I shake it, the actuator has a lot of play. Is this normal? A small amount of shaking can cause the actuator to click back and forth from completely open to closed.

I would also like to know, as my E36 was the victim of one of the bottom radiator brackets falling out (I am guessing the tab that clicks into place weakened over time). Very poorly designed, i would have expected a lot better means of support for a crucial cooling item, rather than an adaptation of a tv remote battery cover.

Damn that is one sexy ride. Nice one, and such low KMs too.