QuickSilver

The problem it was having earlier was slightly different. There was pressure entering the cooling system via an oil chamber. The leak was oil -> water. The old leak was very small, as I mentioned above. Once the car was off, the pressure inside the radiator/cooling system was not enough to push water back through the crack into the oil. The oil only escaped into the water when the motor was running and a huge amount of pressure was going through that chamber. Now its from the combustion chamber to water gallery. No fluids are mixing, the leak is different. Also the motor never did this when the old head was on, it did have a leak into the cooling system but it was not enough to affect it bleeding or running fine. I pretty much purchased everything in the engine bay. Complete motor loom, all ancillaries the whole shabang. The head and the block are compatible, I used an b25 head gasket, it has an 83mm bore which is the same as 2.7, checked all this out.

Thanks Glenn, the thermostat I have is genuine, the one that I thought may have failed was no genuine so I threw that in the bin. And as I mentioned also tried the fix where you remove the centre valve, just to be sure. No luck there though. As far as I know I did install the head gasket the right way, all the markings were in the right places and it sat on the locating dowels, if I remember correctly any other way and it would not sit properly. I am going to go through the motions soon and take off all my hoses again, check them, and check the radiator. Is an infa-red temp tester common equipment for a mechanic to have or do I need to have a look around? Thanks again, Alex.

Have checked viscous. Have tried to bleed the car several times, have tried many different methods, have tried to flush the whole system out. Thermostats were all put in the right way. I even punched out the center valve on one to test if all my thermostats were busted, but even this "temporary" fix didn't do anything. The system wont expel all the air, and I think that at some point during the process the water is starting to turn to steam. The water is not getting around the motor. This I know because the coolant tank water does not go into the motor and stays stone cold until it backs up, I am in conflicting thoughts about this, because even if the Head, or head gasket was leaking into the cooling system, the water should still be circulating, and atleast all of it should be heating up. In regards to a blocked water gallery, there was oil sludging around the cooling system with the water.

The block was planed not long ago. The head I did not get tested because I knew where it came from. I know people will flame me for this, but I am not made of money, and after purchasing the head and everything else it starts to really add up. The head was thoroughly cleaned, and block was equally cleaned, all the tops of the pistons, it was spotless, I would have performed open heart surgery on both surfaces. The hoses or thermostat leaking would not cause such a huge pressure build up, they'd just leak water. The hoses to the heater are not block either, as far as I can tell the electric valve is opening also. Even if it wasn't this would not account for this problem, it would simply bypass the heater, there would be air in the heater core but becase the valve wouldn't be opening it wouldn't matter. I have considerd a blocked water gallery. But how do I check? How do I find out? If it were blocked I could understand possibly how the pressure is building up, IE water pump constantly pumping water and slowly building up back pressure. Thanks for the input Luke.

The oil pushing through into the water was the problem with the OLD head. Thats in the bin. The new head or gasket seems to be leaking pressure from the combustion chamber into the cooling system, so it is constantly introducing pressure, so it wont ever bleed. I've had no problems bleeding it in the past. This all started the following morning after its first run.

Hi everyone. After a continuing struggle with my motor, I have decided to post up too see if I can get any thoughts that could help me identify this. I am at a loss at what to do and I have already invested money into this and really would like to find out what it is before I pull the motor apart. Again. The story so far: As some of you know (well most) I swapped my old m20b20 out for a m20b27. The motor had suspected head or head gasket problems, but I went and installed it risking it anyway. I knew the risk I was taking and what it could/would lead to. The motor ran without signs of any problems for about a month, when one of my routine fluid checks showed up oil in the coolant tank. So, off came the head. I went and got the head pressure tested which revealed a crack underneath the cam, not the typical m20 crack thats normally under the cam, but it looks as though at one time the head dropped a rocker and it punched into the lobe underneath the cam, there is actually an indent from where the crack originates. The head was most likely rebuilt without doing a pressure test - not good! So, not being on the biggest budget I decided against repairing the head I would buy a new head (well second hand) because in my opinion a repaired head is not as good as a not cracked head in the first place. After organized a really good condition head which was known to be fine, I decided to get into it. Picked up all the parts from Gavin at EuroItalian, and put it all back together. Re-assembled motor with new head bolts, head gasket, cam belt, tensioner, oil, filter, spark plugs and coolant. Pretty standard in my opinion. It all came back together without hiccups aside from me accidentally destroying one head gasket. (locating dowel stuck to HG and pulled it off) The head bolts that I bought are Hex type stretch bolts. The sequence for tightening these is; Initial 30nm -> 90" degrees -> 90" degrees. Motor started second turn, ran well, bled fine, heater blew hot air and car temperature didn't budge bast 1/2. Satisfied I took it for a decent drive, went and picked up my partner from work, and went to visit a friend, being happy to simply be driving my e30 again. I did not expect any performance improvements, but I did notice that the car accelerated smoother, most likely due to the fact that the head was in better condition than the one that came off. Came home, without problems, finished the night in a good mood. The next morning: I decided to flush out the cooling system one more time to clear out any left over oil/gunk left in there. Now is where it gets damn f**king annoying. Motor will not under ANY circumstances bleed, there is pressure build up in the cooling system once the motor gets hot. Some strange symptoms. Heater obviously does not heat up because it never gets all the air out, not all the pipes were heating up, so I assumed that I had bad timing and my thermostat died a bad death. Replaced that. No luck. The motor will get to operating temperature, but the water in the coolant tank stays stone cold. It then gets to a certain point, where all of a sudden it comes back up through the pipes and pushes all the hot water out of the expansion tank. I cant see any water circulating. - I find these symptoms very weird, especially with the water in the coolant tank not getting hot at all ( until it gets forced back, thats when the hot VERY hot water gets pushed out ) It will build up a lot, and the bleeding screw will whistle like a kettle on a stove, even once I turn the motor off, it takes a while for it to stop whistling. If when the motor is off I then remove the expansion tank cap, the water gushes out and all pressure is released immediately. The motor does not over heat despite all this, and I have not had it over heat on me even with the old head on there. Took my car down to my local mechanic who very kindly hooked the radiator up to a pressure tester, it was reading higher pressure in the cooling system. - I would not put it past this guy to live under a big flat rock, he does not know BMWs or euros for that matter, and stretch bolts seemed to be a new phenomenon to him. So I don't know what to make of his diagnosis. So we come back to the beginning. Head gasket, block or head. This is a totally different problem than I was having before but can be caused by the exact same things. Before, there was a leak from the high pressure oil chamber into the water, it was so slight that back pressure from the radiator was NOT enough to force water into the oil, only oil into the water when the car was running. Now there is a leak from the combustion chamber into a water galley. I have tried various things, I am more inclined to lean in the direction of the head gasket. Maybe out of hope, but also because I scrutinized the head around the combustion chambers and water galleys and because I trust who I bought the head off whole-heartedly. Have pulled the spark plugs out to see what they can tell me. But their not talking I don't understand what has happened here, the most confusing and frustrating part of it all, is how great the motor felt that one night, without problems. The motor did not over heat in that short time. Just to throw it in there, the block is in good condition. And I highly doubt this is the issue. I still think it lies with the head or head gasket. So I guess this leads me to a few questions, These are torx stretch bolts, I know how they work, I know how to torque them, but does anybody OUT OF PREFERENCE or experience tighten these once the motor has been run, even if the specs don't specify this? Does anybody have anything that they can offer? I think I have nearly exhausted everything, but someone may have something I haven't thought of. I do NOT want to use a product like Iron tite, for one it wont fix Head gasket leaks, and even if it fixes something its such a band aid fix I cant live with it in my conscience. I am super tight about how I do things, I am not one to rush things and I take my time to do things right, this was not a rush or botch job. Thanks for reading my novel Pre Facelift E30 1987 m20b27 ETA bottom. "885" or 325i head. 4 Door 5-Speed manual. Just to confirm for those who don't know, motor is of course running motronic 1.3 Note: water pump less than two months old with a METAL impeller. Before you ask, the previous head was also a 325i or "885" casting head. There is no issue with fitments etc.

The first two entries that are wrong look to me like human error, but the last one on the most recent wof looks interesting, its very possible that the SI board batteries died and he just installed a whole new cluster with new K's on there, It does have a bimmersport sticker on the bumper so someone on here must own it? Looks to be in decent shape.

Ah yep forgot it was labour weekend.

Call Glenn at botanymotorworks on monday.

Oh right sorry Graham haha - ammended! I bet you could right a novel with all of them

Ahhemmm... read above

Hi all, I thought it would be the right thing to do to post this up, as I have had a lot of help recently from shops and people alike and I believe that they deserve their thanks. My Kate! Car parts in the room, grease on the floor, money strangely absent... I can be a pain in the ass. Thank you! Head shop in Waiuku - Brilliant work, price and service. Highly recommend! Thank you! Gavin @ EuroItalian - Fantastic price, had every part I needed and a great guy to talk to. Plus chocolate! Thank you! Ray @ HellBM - Again all the parts that I need and great service! Thank you! Will - HUGE amount of support, always willing, always knew exactly what I was asking. Thank you! David (Silver-fox) - Puts up with my phone calls at all hours. Always willing to help. And invaluable advice and help. Thanks mate! Glenn @ Botanymotorworks - Always willing to help and give me advice. (even if I did call without making a booking) Thank you! RJS (Ryan) - For putting up with my bitching. Haha Bravo (Graham) - For putting up with PM's for africa. There are a few others who have helped me and I have thanked outside bimmersport. Cheers! Alex.

Oh well I guess, but I was referring to the WOF/COF/RUC combination? Is it a diesel commercial vehicle lol?

Whats the story with that? Very nice though

Love the silver m325, much much MUCH nicer than your old I have to say, love it! Well done!

Did you get mine Ollie?

My WOF guy mentioned until I explained that I can simply unbolt it, then he was fine with it.

Hot damn! Nice looking cars you've got there! Welcome to posting!

Haha I do my best David ...

What? He didn't mention the pedal box, or clutch cylinders. Even so, the SLAVE cylinder is attached to the gearbox, and the MASTER cylinder is attached to the pedal box. And no not ALL e30 boxes fit all e30's, there are four cylinder variants and six cylinder variants, the p/fl 325 has two sensors that are mounted in the bell housing, the facelift 325 does not, so no, they don't all fit! The prop shaft centre bearing is exactly the same, there are two types, but you dont need to change them you can use the one currently in there, the FRONT PIECE is different, as all e30 prop shafts are two piece. The auto one is too short! You dont need a wiring diagram for the manual swap, unless you have an automatic gearbox with Sport and economy buttons all you need to do is the inhibitor wiring, this is easily found on google, or just trial and error with the 3 wires, you must splice one wire into another, its been so long I forget exactly how. Call RAY@HellBM for your parts.

All e30's ive driven have some funny vibrations in one way or another, 20+ years of chopping and changing shocks and springs around Mines smooth but bumpier than standard, which is what I'd expect from a lowerd car, I have no problems with it at all. Vibrates at 120ish kph, does it less now since I got rid of my bottles and put on the 17's, only a slight vibration, I put it down to not perfect wheels, not perfect wheel alignment and being a 21year old car

I really admire the amount of work you have put into this, keep it up!

Ahhhhhhhh well Next time, thanks anyway!

Ill take it!!! Edit: If no one has already PM'd away? Edit, edit: Beer will exchange hands.

Wicked I cant wait for this to be up and running, the body doesn't even look that bad, give it a sand blast!