wow... I love how you can describe exactly what's happening... so it has probably nothing to do with being left outside, more so where the cylinder head ended up when you turn it off? Can you comment on how much damage I can cause by driving it like this? I've heard that maybe the coolant is harming the exahust system?
Crikey - that's an old model. On EFI cars the pump circulates fuel continuously. Although it won't with the engine stopped.
On 11 May 2006 09:16:59 -0700, "Freebase" waffled on about something:
LOL! Well it's all just an educated guess! Count yourself lucky I'm not attempting to draw a diagram in ASCII art!
If it suffers the lock or not is down to where the piston for the cylinder that's got the leak is in the cycle, and how long the vehicle is parked for. If the piston is right down the bottom of the intake stroke and about to come up on compression, then you could have a problem if you park the vehicle long enough.
I doubt it will be doing much more damage to the engine apart from your spark plug might go rusty and fail and an increase in bore/piston ring wear if it's left long enough for the bore walls to corrode (I'm not sure what 325 bores are made of/lined with).
I'm quite surprised some of the water hasn't found it's way past the piston rings and into the oil. If the oil starts turning creamy colour, you really should worry.
I don't know how much the cat will like it a load of rusty water complete with untold antifreeze chemicals hitting it. At least it's cold when it happens, so it's not going to shatter, but you'll have to ask someone who's better on chemistry than me. Having said that, it's already done, so if it's too late to worry. You just need to find where that water is coming from. That head's gotta come off!
Count yourself lucky the water is dripping slowly into a cool/cold engine... The one you really want to avoid is the running engine driving into a flood... The engine sucks a great load of cold water goes through the air filter and into the inlet manifold... Cold water hits red hot valves, and usually causes them to shatter. Head of the value falls off, piston of still turning engine comes up (there's no compression to work against, the valves have just fallen apart!) and the valve head either ends up going through the piston crown, or gets rammed into the head. Usually both, and then get's battered about for a bit until the engine stops turning.
I think it was the Mk2 VW golf that suffered badly from this as the air intake was just behind the front valance, about 6 inches off the ground!
Dodgy.
EFI has nothing to do with vapor lock. I had a vapor lock on my E12 530i with L-Jetronic EFI. Youse guys in the UK don't know what hot is, and see much fewer conditions that can lead to vapor lock. ;-)
FloydR
Heh heh, but I do. My Rover EFI (with the Buick donk) suffers from fuel evaporation badly if parked up for a short time after getting hot on a hot day. Didn't used to with leaded petrol. However, it's easily sorted. If I put the gear selector in drive and turn the key the starter doesn't operate but the fuel pump runs. Circulating it around for a short time cools everything down and away it goes.
That same engine on carbs with a mechanical pump was a nightmare for fuel evaporation - even in the UK.
On Thu, 11 May 2006 10:21:59 -0700, "Floyd Rogers" waffled on about something:
No, but we remember the first Renault 5 Gt Turbo, that had a carb sitting about 3 inches above the turbo charger...
I don't think I need to spell out what happened if you parked up and nipped into the shop for a packet of smokes. :o)
Dodgy.
Jeez.... and I thot my BMW has problems ..thank gawd I don't have a golf....OTOH I'm looking at leasing a GOLF and putting the BMW away until my son, who maybe caused this mess ( driving while car was overheated) has enough $$$ to get the engine replaced.
Which raises another q that hopefully someone of you have been so helpful can answer... Given what you know about the condition of my
1994325is ie the coolant leak, probable gasket or cracked block... If I put the car in the garage for two years and we get the engine replaced then..... what condition will it be in in like in two years ...ie will there be any cumulative damage caused by the condition its in now ? what will seize up from rust of anything etc.. thanks again....
that quote was not from a bmw mechanic, i try not to go there... :)
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.