2001 330 i HELP NEEDED PLEASE

[stephenp]

Hi All,

New to the forum so Hi to all.



I really hope that you can help me.



I have a 330i 2001 with 179 000km on clock, in July 2010 it poped the waterbottle whilst waiting in Mc Donalds drive threw (this was after a jearney with a venter trailor and 320 km - parked the car for +/-3 hrs before going to MCD).



Replaced the water bottle - all seemed well. Oct 2010 on my way to Stella and as I arrived - all ok after a tow of caravan of +/-1100kg and a stretch of +/- 500km (+/-37degrees). Started the car after got my space and as i went over n bump the car failed in power and showed very funny things on the dash and total loss of power. Switch off the car, unhooked the caravan, pushed car to the spot, after an half an hour started the car all ok expect that the car has lost water and found a water leak on the raidiotor.

OK - got towed infrom Stella after a 8 hrs drive gatvol - took it to a place and said that the radiotor and pipe burst, replaced them as well as the thermostat.



All went well until Jul 2011, did a trip with caravan to Ellisras and back, no problems, couple of days later driving on a hot day 3.6 km and stood in a que at the robot and car went into red.



Parked the car and forgot about it as I had it with the car.



Took in in Dec to get tested - Head gasget blown. Now the head gasket is being fixed - should have the car tomorrow - head appretly not cracked and all ok - nothing else got hurt etc.



Spoke to a friend that stays in Pietersburg and he informed me (working in an engenering place) that even if they do presuure test on the head it is not a given that it is not cracked, also that if I do not replace the head and I do not know what else it will blow gasket again and might even have more damages than already occured. Apparently the 328 and 330 i are know for this problem from around 180 000 - 200 000km



My question is what to do - I an't keep on giving out money as I would rather buy something new and waste my money on that.



I have spoken to a couple of people and they say that the following:



No garuantee that it will not happen again.

Replace the head and pistons and rings etc

Sell the car

Take the car tomorrow - take it onto the hway and drive the smokes out of the car and let it idle for 30 min and see if it breaks....?

I don't know anymore?

I am unsure as to what to do - I can't afford to have another H/gasket go - that is just way to expensive to keep on paying for it

Any assistance would be helpfull, I know that every senario is different but may be some ideas as to what to do to see if it is properly fixed or how to prevent.

Thank you

 

[moranor@axis]

well i dont really see any other option, but to drive it and see what happens... a new head will be very expensive...

 

[Don86]

Hi There,

I have a question for you, if you can recall how long was the engine overheated for? and did they check the head for warping?

The M54B30 is a good engine, but your first instance of overheating may have caused initial damage to the head gasket, which got progressively worse. It is also known that the E46 has weak cooling systems.

It is generally best to do preventative maintenance on the cooling system every 80 000km, replacing the expansion tank is a given and also inspect the water pump and ensure you flush your coolant every two years.

My friend had his 330i since 30 000 km and she has now got 250 000 on the clock, he was strict on maintaining the cooling system and has never had a problem.


After overheating these engines (depending on severity) can cause other issues, such as:

- Head bolts threading the block, requires helicoil to fix.
- Damaged rings
- Overheating can fry some of the engines sensors (cam, crank etc)

However depending on the workmanship and various other factors, it does not guarantee, that it wont happen again

I would also do a compression test, before changing rings and pistons ( again depending on the severity)

M54 engine should have a compression of 10-11 bar, with the differences between cylinders no more then 0.5 bar

Various factors effect MAX Compression, it is the differences between cylinders you need to look at, if any of the cylinders compression is below thresh hold, get a leak down test to confirm.

Anyways, I hope all works out for you.

Good luck

 

[stephenp]

Hi,

Was just inform that the car is still building compreshion in the cooling system.... WTF... no BMW on holiday and know need to do the 1.5l Terios ....

Thety repaired the head, put all parts together and started the car, had a miss on # 6 and they say that the car is building presure as they can see the pipes expanding.... so this does not sound good at all....

Thanks for you answer and assistance, the car if you say everheated I have switched off the car immediatly everytime and waited 30 min, the car was then again on normal temp when I started the car, the onlytime it went into the red was for max 2 min and it cooled down immediatly when driving again, it only warms up when idling...

If you have any ideas, please let me know - everyone is scratching their heads and that makes me cry....