over heating BMW E34 91 2litre

That's bad.

I doubt it's the rad - have you checked your oil for mayonnaise? The fact that the car heats up and goes into the red almost immediately suggests to me that you may have a cooked head gasket.

Duff rad - unless there wasn't any water left in it - wouldn't cause the temp gauge to go almost into the red if you're on the move.

Of course, it may also be that the temperature sender has decided to call it a day...

Usually 50/50 if you're using a decent antifreeze.

yes, no sign of mayo anywhere at all....checked over a week, no moisture or owt. Only driven the car while trying to sort it out, i never let it get into the red

that makes sense.

well the hoses, engine gets hot BUT the rad is stone cold, so that tells me water aint ciruclating, im going to bleed it up on ramps, as i just googled....

thanks.!!!

Check the instructions on the container.

Those engines suffer head gasket failure around the 150-200,000 mile mark. Do the hoses feel very pressurised?

To bleed the radiator on those, there's a bleed screw next to the radiator filler. DO NOT FILL THE RADIATOR TO THE TOP. The level on those is a good 4-6 inches below the top.

Did you fill it up from cold with the engine running and bleed valve(s) open?

that makes sense, but i thought each car had differant ratios....

the car has done 175000, i have done 2000 miles in it in 2 month, everything was fine.......until the metnioned problem, someone in the BMW group said change the wter pump, so i did, then they said change the thermostat etc etc.

i wonderd what that was...since found out and i bled it twice yesterday, but on the flat, not jacked up. the top hose had water in but it seems none in the bottom and a v cold rad while the engine was hot, so that does sound like air trapped..

thanks for the last bit, i noticed it seemed about 6inch below the top

yes, and with heater blowing hot on full power.

its all new to me, BMW's etc. but interesting! Im off to drive to Berlin in

When the headgasket on my wifes went, it was a very slow process. A local independent Beemer specialist picked up on it during a service. Got pressurised hoses for about 1000 miles before it went to the throwing water out stage. Apart from that, there was no other sign such as emulsification.

Having now just bled it, i have now got the bottom hose that leaves the engine hot, and heat is into the radiator..i could never get that before

Its now cooling then i will do it again.

If i took it somewhere, could they test for v early signs of head gasket failure? i dont want it to go while im in the middle of E Germany :-)

Which engine? A '91 E34 520 has a choice...

AFAIA most garages can test the coolant for the presence of exhaust gases. It's a simple chemical test on a sample of coolant. Mike.

yes. i belive M50?

Thanks, maybe worth a shot.

Do they? I've not heard of that. I've heard of loads of examples that have gone onto silly mileages, provided they're well maintained. Mind you, I'm thinking of the M50 24v lumps - are you on about them or the earlier 12v M20 engines? AFAIK 1991 could mean either.

-- Coming Soon: The British Apathy Party - though I bet nobody'll vote for them.

I think Conor was probably talking about the M20 12 valve engine - ISTR that's the one his wife had (I think he mentioned a cambelt change at some point...)

-- Coming Soon: The British Apathy Party - though I bet nobody'll vote for them.

Mine is a M50, i use Castrol GTX Magnatec, as a prvious owner always said he used that

Well im no more getting nearer to the problem, well i maybe but maybe not

On Sunday i thought i did everything right, i bled it, let it cool, as the gauge was going to the 3/4 mark, i would loosen the bleed screw and it would go back down to half way, did that a few times..it seems to stay at the half way mark while idle.

Anyway i took the dog to the park, about 5 min away and it soon started climbing, left it for a hour and around the corner from me is a big black dude rasta type guy who fixes cars at his roadside garage. He took a look, and talked me through how to bleed it, so i cant see where i went wrong.got home and left the car for a hour to cool down. He did say remove the lower hose that comes out of the engine and try to fill through the bleed hole . Anyway i took off the lowest hose from the engine-into the bottom of the rad, a little water came out, that was very warm, that come out of the hose, but....it seemed like the water that came out the same time from the rad was v v cool.....like they hadnt actually met or from the same flow.

Later this afternoon im going to have another go, i have looked online, asked here, asked some big black dude whos alwaways fixing beemers and im still at a loss...