Here's the lowdown:
About 2 weeks ago I topped up my coolant, as I do at every oil change(the coolant smells like ass so I put it on the mental-list of ttd). Week and a half later, after a near overheating incident, I was way down to the bottom of the resevoir again. The overheating happens only when leaving the hwy to stop-and-go driving. As soon as I get moving again, it drops after a few seconds.
So I swap the fan clutch for a known-good unit(Friday AM), no change. I check the coolant level before heading home from work, bottom of the resevoir again(motor still runs absolutely fine, nothing fishy). When I got home, I turned the heat to cold, and let it sit and idle for about 5 minutes (With low water, 5 minutes stationary at operating temp would've had the gauge moving quickly towards the red). I'm baffled since there's nothing under/in the car that I can detect.
I had just picked up my T-Stat/WP/Housing/Coolant from BMW so I decided this morning, that I would get to the bottom of it(was somewhat down on coolant again!!). BUT before actually doing anything, I took out my coolant pressure tester and pumped the system up to 15psi. And there it stayed right @ 15psi for a good 25 minutes. I the meantime, I inspected underneath, and around the HG mating surface. Found only oil which had run down the head from the VCG. No water in my oil or vice-versa. BUT I did notice small drops of rusty water on the pass. side of the trans. The only place that they could come from was a drain hose coming out of the floor, which has crusty brown residue on it. So I proceeded to remove the rad & block drain plug, flushed all the nasty smelling, rusty coolant out. Popped in the 'new' WP, T-Stat(the unit in there was mounted with the arrow facing left
).
Since I was unsure of where I was losing copious amounts of coolant, I filled the system with water from the hose, for the time being. And for the sake of bleeding, I drilled a 3mm thru the arrow in the T-stat.
So is the aformentioned hose a drain for the heater core housing???? I was curious if anything was actively leaking out of that hose so I put a small baggie around it, and secured it with a rubber band. I'll check it in a day or two to see if it's 'caught' anything.
Other than that, I have no strange running issues/smells with the motor....I suspect heater core but have no water/strong smell from inside the car.
What say yee r3v?
BTW if I continue to lose water, i'll be looping out the heater core temporarily to eliminate(or incriminate) it.
About 2 weeks ago I topped up my coolant, as I do at every oil change(the coolant smells like ass so I put it on the mental-list of ttd). Week and a half later, after a near overheating incident, I was way down to the bottom of the resevoir again. The overheating happens only when leaving the hwy to stop-and-go driving. As soon as I get moving again, it drops after a few seconds.
So I swap the fan clutch for a known-good unit(Friday AM), no change. I check the coolant level before heading home from work, bottom of the resevoir again(motor still runs absolutely fine, nothing fishy). When I got home, I turned the heat to cold, and let it sit and idle for about 5 minutes (With low water, 5 minutes stationary at operating temp would've had the gauge moving quickly towards the red). I'm baffled since there's nothing under/in the car that I can detect.
I had just picked up my T-Stat/WP/Housing/Coolant from BMW so I decided this morning, that I would get to the bottom of it(was somewhat down on coolant again!!). BUT before actually doing anything, I took out my coolant pressure tester and pumped the system up to 15psi. And there it stayed right @ 15psi for a good 25 minutes. I the meantime, I inspected underneath, and around the HG mating surface. Found only oil which had run down the head from the VCG. No water in my oil or vice-versa. BUT I did notice small drops of rusty water on the pass. side of the trans. The only place that they could come from was a drain hose coming out of the floor, which has crusty brown residue on it. So I proceeded to remove the rad & block drain plug, flushed all the nasty smelling, rusty coolant out. Popped in the 'new' WP, T-Stat(the unit in there was mounted with the arrow facing left
).Since I was unsure of where I was losing copious amounts of coolant, I filled the system with water from the hose, for the time being. And for the sake of bleeding, I drilled a 3mm thru the arrow in the T-stat.
So is the aformentioned hose a drain for the heater core housing???? I was curious if anything was actively leaking out of that hose so I put a small baggie around it, and secured it with a rubber band. I'll check it in a day or two to see if it's 'caught' anything.
Other than that, I have no strange running issues/smells with the motor....I suspect heater core but have no water/strong smell from inside the car.
What say yee r3v?
BTW if I continue to lose water, i'll be looping out the heater core temporarily to eliminate(or incriminate) it.
Comment