08 X3 2.0d Losing Coolant

[noodlemonkey]

Evening Gents & Ladies,

Recently took ownership of a really clean 2008 X3 2.0d Manual with 150 000km on the clock with a Full service history although I'm losing coolant Fast!,

Here is what we've done thus far,
- Pressure tested the coolant system without seeing any drop in pressure left over 15min
- Pressure tested the EGR cooler without any leaks,

What we are currently doing in terms of continuing our search,
- removing the diesel injectors whilst the coolant system is pressurized - hoping that the pressure will drop when the infected cylinder injector is pulled,

Other item to mention - Car battles to start - almost like an old tractor - takes time to spin up before starting - but push starting fires up immediately - starter? Battery has been replaced.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated,
Running the fault code scanner doesn't show much in terms of error codes.

Thanks

 

[noodlemonkey]

Confirmed - Head Gasket Blown!!! - :thumbdo:

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

Bought privately or through a dealer?

 

[Venda Boy]

Confirmed - Head Gasket Blown!!! - :thumbdo:

Ohhh sorry. was your car overheating?

 

[noodlemonkey]

Bought privately with a "unknown-bug" but I'm happy to get dirty and fix the issue - also have a mobile Mechanic which is great.

The car wasn't overheating, but it was using coolant and pushing bubbles into the coolant system - I was thinking it was bleeding itself, but 30min later is cannot be bleeding anymore.

I'm also going to check the bores for cracks which is absolute worse case... holding thumbs - will include some pictures next.

---

Cylinder walls checked - nothing seems to be damaged or cracked - cylinder head is going in on Monday for pressure testing and new valve stem seals.

Pictures of the Carnage...

 

[noodlemonkey]

So after putting everything back in place - we still have a water leak, so it wasn't the head gasket - F**K!

So the heads come off and been sent to the engineers to coolant pressure test it and see what the outcome is - holding thumbs its fixable - else I'll need to find a replacement head which I really dont want to have to do...

 

[MikeR]

:thumbdo: dammm - good luck

 

[noodlemonkey]

According to my Mechanic the Value Guides/Stems do break from time to time and because there is water flowing directly next to the guides/stems it'll leak there.

This is sort of my fault - due to being under a tight deadline to get the car back up and running - I personally changed the stem seals and relapped the valves which the engineers would have done if we had sent it in...

Lesson learnt - just send it in and let the experts do their thing...