Love is blinding

[vanossa 0]

Drove it down from AKL to ZQN. Temp. sat on 1/2 the whole way. Drove it around town a couple of days and have now had it go to the red. I would like to get the head/block pressure tested as it may have been damaged with overheating. If the engine checks ok, I'd like to overhaul the cooling system. Do I need new parts for this and where to purchase from? While testing (rolled up newspaper test) the fan clutch I have broken a couple of blades This fan would not stop spinning on cold start and while this would contribute to overheating I think a total overhaul is needed. Anyway I have no tools or much mechanical experience, so will be trying to save money on parts etc....The car has a history of checks since new, most from team mcmillan in AKL up until 2011 in the service book. Thanks in advance.

Edited May 26, 2013 by vanossa

[Allanw 1071]

DO NOT RELY on an E39 Temp gauge!

I'm not 100% on them that early, but cetainly the M52TU and M54 powered ones have gauges that are VERY heavily buffered - normal (12 o'clock) could be anything from abou 75C up to about 115C. For it to go red, the coolant is VERY hot! Also, unless you have high OBC (text display, not the car picture) it won't warn you if the coolant leaks out either.

I get my parts from Paul at Milland.co.nz - he's very good.

Really, to do it right, you'll want a water pump, thermostat, hoses, radiator (they can bow downwards at the bottom, prior to exploding) expansion tank, fan clutch (viscous coupling) and you certainly need to replace that fan! While you're doing that, you should probably do fan belts and tensioners/idlers, if they aren't done - the fan belt tensioners have been known to let go too (and they're pretty cheap). Make sure the electric fan works too. If you take it to someone who knows what they're doing, you may be able to leave some of those out - but they REALLY need to know what they're doing. There are some really useless "mechanics" out there, and some REALLY good ones, and even the really good ones may not know the E39 well enough.

I wouldn't drive it with the broken blades and the locked fan clutch - the fan can disintegrate, and the locked fan clutch can overrev the fan, which has caused them to come apart without already being broken. Bits of the fan can take out a lot of other expensive parts.

People get hung up on service history - having it taken to Team McMillan doesn't mean the owner paid for all the required or suggested work. It may have been serviced, but had mutliple faults noted which the owner chose not to do. It's the Kiwi way - "I can do that myself. Later" and it never gets done! So it may still require a lot of repairs or maintainance items.

Hopefully the engine is fine (probably, unless you kept driving!), so it's just the service work that's required :-)

If you fit all those parts, and the engine has got a blown headgasket, the parts cvan be transferred to a second hand engine, or can be used after the gasket replacement too. I hope it doesn't come to that though!

Good luck

[Michael. 2313]

As far as I am aware those stock gauges are very useless.

3 modes, cold, warm/normal or hot.

So basically once they reach hot, damage can already be done.

[vanossa 0]

Thank for you replies. Yes well the verdict was passed and it's a cracked cylinder head. Repair bill is estimated at about 3-4 thousand. I'm not sure I want to go down this path and think I might cut my losses. Any ideas? Anyone in the South Island want a project??

[Eagle 1662]

If you cant do the work yourself or find someone will do it cheap it may not be worth it seeing as how running 528i's are exactly expensive. In saying that you wont get much for a broken one either unless you keep it around and try to part it out which is hit and miss.

[euroriffic 607]

Dude that sucks! I'm sure someone can help you on a replacement motor. Be a sh*t ton cheaper than a repair

[vanossa 0]

Yeah it's sucking big time at the minute. She was a bloody nice drive down from AKL. I would love to swap out the engine if it is affordable, but I think it could be a major logistical exercise, plus extras?. So at present I'm going down the path of trying to get what I can for it, as is? I don't have the time or situation to part it out. So if anyone has a nice enough engine I would be keen to at least know how much it might cost to freight and then fit. I'll put a post in the WTD and FS section of this site. Cheers for the info everyone.

[antil33t 90]

If you want a hand with anything on it I'm a bored dunedin BMW fanatic. I paid $800 for an entire M52B28 with ALL the parts... 80,000km not that long ago. A guy on here was selling a good 200k m52. wouldn't be that hard to change if you were DIYing.

[euroriffic 607]

Cars in queenstown I'm guessing tho...

[Allanw 1071]

Bummer..... Not the result you wanted. If could be just the headgasket though - hard to confirm a cracked head until it's off usually.

Cutting your losses and buying something else could be the same again - often the devil you know is better.

[vanossa 0]

Bummer..... Not the result you wanted. If could be just the headgasket though - hard to confirm a cracked head until it's off usually.

Cutting your losses and buying something else could be the same again - often the devil you know is better.

Bummer yes....but I agree and I do feel like dancing with the devil and will get a more conclusive test done, when I can get to it. Thanks for your advice.

[vanossa 0]

If you want a hand with anything on it I'm a bored dunedin BMW fanatic. I paid $800 for an entire M52B28 with ALL the parts... 80,000km not that long ago. A guy on here was selling a good 200k m52. wouldn't be that hard to change if you were DIYing.

That's an outstanding offer Michael, but yes the car is in Queenstown, where I live. It's still early days for me on the whole (I now call it a project... ) situation. I'm busy with some other important life commitments right now, but I am looking for a replacement engine as a solution meantime.