My E36 Experience

[elwine30]

if your piston ring wears out, you will burn oil. So, your oil level will drop and blue smoke will appear from your exhaust.

If it's right hand side of the radiator, it should be your power steering fluid.

Ok, if brake judders, most likely yr disc.

 

[elwine30]

khisam is right, check yr engine mounting, gearbox mounting, exhaust mounting.

 

[anxious]

I think the root of it lies with the low compression in one cylinder. I dont think its serious yet as my trip to Ipoh and back was very smooth. However I am not comfortable with the idea of having one cylinder not funtioning at the optimum level. I hv got to get the compression back up. I am hoping that it is only a gasket problem...early signs. Then I could get away by just doing the top overhaul.

I hope its nothing to do with the cylinder head of piston rings. As I've said the wet compression test point to the rings, therefore has anyone experienced worn piston rings and confirm symthons?

 

[elwine30]

piston ring = burn oil or yr car having the sympton of guzzling the black oil. Are you experiencing this?

 

[khisham]

Fix the ABS, please !

I found a drop of red fluid at the right side of the car in front under the radiator area.

As for my ABS, the light is on so I dont think its working. The judder must be the disks.

Plugs seem to be ok. What r the signs of of bad coil...but that wouldnt cause low compression in one cylinder would it? I still suspect the piston rings which would invariably mean U have to open up the engine. Arghh!

...BMW vehicles have excellent braking capacity, as we all know...

....in Malaysia, when the road conditions are wet & slippery (due to the excessive grime of oil, mud etc from a variety of vehicles), our brakes will lock & will cause the vehicle to skid ever so slightly, even when travelling speeds are minimal...

...prevention is always better than cure (especially curing others !) so drive slowly (that will be a challenge) & defensively to avoid sudden braking incidences...till the ABS issue is resolved...

 

[Lee36328]

Elwine30 is right.

Anxious, as suggested previously, it's useful to check the oil level to see if the car is guzzling oil. Also check the spark plug of the cylinder in question which will yield more clues.

I guess when the compression is low, the combustion is not optimum, hence the pom pom pom sound....

 

[Lee36328]

Anxious,

Not a good idea to use the car without abs. ABS is like insurance. When it is proven that we need it, it is too late.

ABS last saved my front-end when I almost rear-ended a Merc when a car did a U-turn and cut into our paths. We were just going 60 kph, so no one expected a sudden emergency brake. I jammed my brakes fully, and saw my car slide toward a sure collision. At the last possible moment, the ABS took over and stopped the car. I dunno how they engineer it, but the thing works.

Re-emphasize...

 

[mafia1118]

cost

Hi Anxious,
After reading your thread, it has made me a bit concern about the health of my engine. So I when to have the piston compression tested at Chu Seng yesterday and had the spark plugs changed while I was at it.
I get approx. 155psi for most of the cylinders except for cylinder no.3 ( 125psi ) and no.4 ( 145psi ). I think it's fine for my 9 year+ 152K km engine.
I also did a wet compression test out of curiosity and get 210 psi on no.3 , 4 and no.1 which was 155 psi on dry test.
I will dyno the engine to see how much BHP is lost after 9 years of sheer driving pleasure of which 5 years was with me.
Hope to meet you one day. I feel the pain too.

how much u pay for the piston compression test? wet compression test?

 

[anxious]

My mech hasnt charged me. I also did it outside, charged me RM30.

I suggest u try asking ur regular mech. It takes less than 15mins.

 

[anxious]

Ok guys,

I have been diving the car around for the last few days and the car seems ok but for the slight vibration I had related to earlier.

I called the previous owner and asked him to relate his overheating experience and he told me that it happened last year when his temperature hit the red line.
Apparently he only managed to solve it when he changed the radiator cap.

Now I am quite sure that the vibration problem I face is a result of the overheating episode he had.

How bad could it be?

Gasket vs valve vs cylinder head vs block?

I know I have to open it up to find out but surely if it was serious it would have manifest itself in the last couple of weeks of use.

So far no loss of oil.No sign of overheating. Water not really sure but I think there was a slight drop ..anyway I have topped up to Cold level and monitoring it.

Nevertheless, I am still very happy with my buy but for this potential problem.

 

[anxious]

Ok there seems to be about an inch drop of water in the expansion tank below cold line level every couple of days...no puddle of water under the car...gasket problem?

 

[Lee36328]

You might want to read this...

http://www.bmwclubmalaysia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12276&page=3

 

[viewfinder]

Ok there seems to be about an inch drop of water in the expansion tank below cold line level every couple of days...no puddle of water under the car...gasket problem?

Just to eliminate human error first, you had the radiator cover tighten really tight each time right?

 

[elwine30]

anxious, as i told you before, have you bleed your cooling system?

 

[sesat88]

uuurmm.... Anxious.. why u so anxious.. ur gasket and overheating problem is getting into the Newspaper liao.. HAHAHAHAAH!!!! Should be famous amos soon.... better than porky

Water level still dropping huh... ?!!!

Remember Bimmers is not like Jappy cars.... The water level in Jappies do not drop, somehow the Bimmer's cooling system design, allows water to escape.
That's why with OBDII, u have a internal display connected to the water sensor at the bottom of the expansion tank, when it the level drops dangerously low you get a warning signal.

If yours goes down drastically like a couple of days an inch then u seriously better go get it check out with a proper mechanic and bite the bullet in forking out some moolah to rectify it before it gets any worst and screw up your engine.

Now I can't say for others but i suspect many bro's here check and top up their water almost weekly esp with the 10 year's older cars.

Even Haynes(i think) recommends periodic weekly checking of the engine.
If I not mistaken.

 

[Lee36328]

Err, actually, I don't check the water at all on my 10-year old. It runs fine, unless a major upset happens like the return hose popping out last week for the first time. You are right about the warning signal from obdII. It helped me identify a leaking radiator cap.

 

[fabianyee]

Anxious wrote to CBT and the writer suspected stuck piston rings and suggested to soak the leaky cylinder with engine oil overnight for a few times... Hope it's that simple though I haven't heard of cases of stuck piston rings but who knows.. That could be it.

As for you loss of coolant, u may want to retighten all the hose clamps. mine was losing coolant but I traced it down to slightly loose hose clamps. moisture escaped when the pressure is high. It's not a lot but over time, it adds up... Minimal loss of coolant nowadays after that..

 

[anxious]

Aiyah, I am still waiting for my mechanic to come back from his holiday. He should be back by the end of the week. So i'll be sending the car in next week. If he has to open her up then I hope I can get away with a top overhaul( if its only a gasket problem). Worst case scenario would probably be a hairline crack on the cylinder head. I dont think the block is damaged.

My diagnosis is based on the teleconversation I had with the previous owner last week(after I had sent out my letter to CBT of NST) when I asked him how bad the overheating was and he told me that the car actually hit the red line. Apparently he only managed to solve the overheating when he replaced the radiator cap.

Now I suspectthat the overheating may have caused some damaged to the engine and due to his lack of use and ignorance as to the car he may have continued driving it without realising that one cylinder was "misfiring". My research reveals that overheating can cause serious damage to the engine but since my car can still runabout quite normally I hope it isnt serious.

Well I am still happy to note that this hasnt deterred me from enjoying my UDM experience.

Looking forward to solving the problem and just moving on. Thanks again for all you input.

PS As for the coolant loss, I have tighten the cap and will keep an eye on the coolant level.

Actually I never had to top up the coolant on my E30. She was 19 yrs old when I sold her.

 

[anxious]

Ok. Doctor's back. Patient sent in for open heart surgery.

Preliminary observation by this afternoon when heart(cylinder head) is taken out.

Keeping my fingers crossed. I hope its only the gasket so I can get away with a top overhaul.

 

[anxious]

Bad news. I have a crack on my cylinder head near cylinder No.3. Also crack on the valve. Most probable cause is previous owners overheating experience.

What to do.....thats life.

New cylinder head as quoted by AB is RM11k.

My mech is has sourced one from KL for RM3k++. Apparently it is off a half cut.

I'll get him to do a top overhaul on the head b4 putting it into my car.

What an unpleasant experience.