325_driver

Thought i would post up some photos, of a run-about car i've been tidying up Not a BMW though, however i did get some BMW floor mats for it Body was in rough shape - scratches everywhere, scuffs and dings, photos hide it well - paint ok, but not black enough for my liking Interior horrible Stripped it out, went to town with the rug doctor, dyed carpet a darker colour Chucked it back together - got some BMW floor mats Popped the headgasket somehow, lol Completely rebuilt head The sanding begins for full-respray Begun painting - didn't bother masking the wheels up since i'm sanding them all back later and going gunmetal Found a another #$#$# ding lol Now for some real HP improvements - painting the engine, metallic red with silver raised lettering Total budget including the car, rebuilding the head, and complete respray under $3500

Head Completely Rebuilt She hauls ass now Thinking of adding a few more HP by painting the rocker cover and timing belt covers "Regal Red"

Update. Engine conditioner - head is good. I'm getting him to do a valve grind resest while he's at it. Showed him the head gasket, he said it looked like the head came off. And was put it back on the old head gasket, and put some copper spray on it. Something obviously happened before the water pump replacement and they didn't want to pay for a new head gasket. Measured all head bolts. Exactly as spec states. Going mls head gasket now for peace of mind This is still very bizzare.

Stuck a straight edge across it - no signs of warping - will be taking it to the engine reconditioners to see if i missed anything. I had wondered that - when you start piecing it all together - the waterpump replaced, so possibly got overheated before, and maybe the head gasket was on it's last legs Me driving it down the road, with very low coolant, and the radiator not plugged in - might have been enough to push it over the edge. The car temp guage was definitely just under half when i left the drive way for the small drive, so it's possible it had been running long enough, for me to F### it with 1km down the road. I have a spare head - that is absolutely stuffed, so i know what a burnt head looks like - the current one, looks ok. Cleaned it up, can't see any scorches into the head integrity, or burn rings, ran a flat edge over it with no signs of highs / lows

um WOW i hope it was 500,000km for that sort of condition

Well yeah, maybe he red lined it - all the way from the Car trailer - to the drive way. 10 meters of pure scorched earth - just enough for me to pop it on a 800meter drive. I'm hoping the head ain't cracked or warped - hoping the gasket saved my ass and just blew / killed the car before any damage could be done. Strange because the coolant light didnt go above half - unless it spiked and i didnt notice, and there definintgely was coolant in the block head - i can confirm. Any one ever damaged a block from this? Or do you have to do something really nasty to warp it.

Not bad for a 1km drive I say. Maybe the old owner had the head off. And reinstalled. And didn't torque it down to spec lol .... Fark me

WOW!!! Some good news bad news scenario here. 1. I actually found coolant in the block and head. 2. Head off ... Check this out!!!! Never seen one this bad! No wonder zero cylinder compression. Looks like BMW more reliable that Toyota's lads lol

Lol timing belt was on. And checked inlet exhausts at tdc all correct. I will for sure be posting my findings once the head is off. Sounds to me like BMWs can run with water far better than reliable Toyota's

Yeah maybe they were driving it really hot and hard to begin with causing head internals to scorch and expand. Thus my 10 minute stint was enough to push it into retirement lol

Good news bad news scenario. Got my tools back finally and into testing / ripping it apart. < 25psi across all cylinders lol it's definitely the head. Now I'm hoping it's just head gasket not a warped head. Who would have thought, a Toyota over heating from that !

How much for 1 rear and 1 front passenger ...

Thanks Brent at BM world for the support Do you have my missing car mats?? lol

Wondering if anyone has a spare - 1 X Front passenger - 1 X Rear floor mat I've got the driver one already and 1 for the back - God knows where the others went

if there is a bent valve - i'll make sure to upload the photo - for shits and giggles - i hope the story thus far has atleast provided some entertainment factor My e30 never gave me crap like this - it dropped an oil pipe on a 20km drive into town .. spilling oil all over the main highway, and the rest of it over a drive way, yet the engine powered on

didn't sound seized to me, we started it a few times at my brothers - left it running tried to get the sticky lifter sound I suppose i'll find out if i might have just heard it! lol!

You thinking that sticky lifter issue - has now maybe turned into a bent valve maybe? (could be that top end rattle i heard before it died) Would 1 valve bent like that be enough for it not to start? I would have thought compression in the other 3 cylinders would be ok to atleast get a splutter. going to be a good story regardless!

I am going to haul it back to the workshop, and get the tests underway - got all the tools there.

I know - and what disturbs me the most about this - is how this even happened - since everyone deserves a good laugh, here we go First of all - i'm not the kind of person to carelessly overlook whether or not the radiator has coolant in it This is the beginning of my run-about car journey and it's not going too well! (luckily i actually wanted to rebuild the motor anyway ... lol) - Car advertised was stated "new water pump, cam belt etc runs fine, has seized / sticky lifter would recommend new engine or head" - ok cool i thought, i'll just run it for a bit and rebuild - price next to nothing ... - went and picked up the car. started the car, no issues, no noises etc - was at a mechanic workshop, was a very tidy shop, very high quality performance cars and all, the toyota looked out of place - looked like they were busy fixing things on it , and the owner basically said, it's not worth you fixing the lifter. - put the car on the trailer, dropped it off to my brothers - he was going to have a look over it, make sure it's all running properly - brother (a mechanic) looked over it, and noticed the bottom timing covers weren't on, and was going to have to take the crank pulley off and belts just to put the covers back on. - a few days later the car arrived out front of the house - and brother quickly disapeared - i texted him a few times asking if it's all good? no response, kept msging no response ----------------- fast forward to me jump starting the car (battery was flat) checked behind the wheel arch - could see the timing belt - strange, thought he was going to work on it still no response - thought, my brothers a mechanic, usually he would tell me if something obvious i needed to know, always has in the past (let alone the mechanic i picked it up from!) chucked some slippers on - quick drive down the road and splat ended up having to run 1km in the dark - in slippers to grab the car to tow it no tow rope at home - had to get innovative with a 30m long rope - folded it in half several times, platted it together, looped various knots. towed the car home very slowly, no lights, or even hazards - battery was dead flat ... i ask my brother ? what the hell is going on - car died on me, is there something wrong with it he finally responds - yeah, no water in the radiator (turns out him and his wife were having a heated argument) lol - so i can assume that the mechanic that was working on it , stopped work through the job because the old owner didn't want to keep paying to fix it (which meant not even filling the radiator or plugging it in!) i guess he assumed i was the kind of guy to notice these things when i got it home, since i wasn't driving it home. So many stupid lessons to be learned well RE LEARNED - that you can't assume anybody will tell you anything, even your brother ! lol I'm hoping this is all just something very co-incidental and i haven't royally cooked the head / block I made it home in time for the fireworks though .... Happy new years to the ground boys

Well the brother dropped the car off from a trailer - he had it running for a few minutes i would say I jump started it and had it running for 3-4 minutes - i saw the temp gauge was maybe 1/3 of the way up when i left the drive way 2 minutes down the road - accelerated the car a bit , and then i heard a slight / rattle top end (nearly like a lifter / tappet noise) - and it died. now crank crank and nothing. I guess this will be a good story to inform everyone else with, on how much this damage could have done - so if anyone was thinking about it - not to drive without coolant ... lol or where the limit is

i've tried for a few days now - crank crank crank nothing! i thought an engine could only really do 3-4 minutes no coolant before bad news? You've given me some optimism now mate!

Backtop Toyota 4age - I've been trying so hard to find a BMW run about XD

Was hoping for some opinions / advice before I consider the rebuilding motor on a daily runner of mine. Not on the 330ci (THANK GOD) Car was driven with no coolant (yes, no coolant! - please don't ask how this happened! lol) probably 1km down the road, and it died. Now the car will turn, but not fire - I haven't yet tested compression on cylinders but I suspect head gasket related, and maybe even a warped head, In any one's opinion how likely it is that I cooked the bottom end? I would like to rebuild the current motor if possible - because if i buy another motor i'll probably tear that apart and rebuild it. (probably going to set me back $800-$1000 getting a new motor) Given the situation, should i not risk it and just scrap the head/block entirely and just start again? Just looking for some opinions before i start ripping head off and taking it to the automotive re-conditioners to check it out.

Don't vanos seals throw these errors?

Can the vanos seals be leaking / causing power loss without any engine codes being triggers? What codes would you expect being fired if vanos is leaking? Debating getting the rebuild kit in the new year once i've done all the vacuum and CCV kit stuff.