my friend and I were driving to our local race cart place last night, and his car started to overheat. It had never done this, so we turned on the heater and went to drive to the gas station. The heater, for some reason, was not getting hot at all. We got to the gas station, tried to put some more water into the overflow bottle that BMW uses to fill their radiators up, and then drove down the street after the car had cool water in it (and we left it running when we put water into it, so as not to crack the head or block). We went inside, and waited a couple hours for our race. We raced, and a couple hours later, we went back outside. The temp of the motor had dropped back down to cool, so we took off back towards our houses. On the way back, about five miles away from the race kart place, the BMW started to overheat again. We were nowhere close to a gas station, so he turned on the heater again and was going to stop at my house and put more water in it and let it cool down. We were driving through a residential area about two miles from my house, when the car shut itself off. He tried to tap it over again, and the motor would spin, but would not start. We climbed out of the car, and while he was calling AAA and his grandmother, I was looking for leaks in the coolant system with a flashlight, when I noticed that there was fluids on the ground under the motor. We pushed the car back, and I put my finger in the fluid, and it turned out to be motor oil. When I looked at the right side of the block, opposite the exhaust side, there was oil dripping down the block from between the block and the head. I figure it has to be a blown head gasket, or maybe even a warped or cracked head, because it overheated and started spewing oil. What do you guys think?

 

well, first I think that you guys needed to pull over and let the car cool down as soon as it started to heat up. Since the car shut itslef off, I'm assuming you guys kept driving it while it was in the red. I think you're probably right about the cracked head or BHG. Check the oil and see if it look slike choclate milk. Also check the coolant IN THE RADIATOR. The overflow is not where you fill up your coolant, it is simply as it says, overflow, rad. cap will suck coolant from teh overflow into the radiator, but will not cure your problem at all. You need to wait till the car cools down, then open the rad. and fill and pump it into the motor with your hand by pumping the upper rad. hose. Also do a compression test and finally get a tester from NAPA that tells you if there are combustion gases in the coolant system.

 

thanks for the reply. I suggested we stop again, but my friend said no. As for filling up the coolant, I could not find a damn radiator cap on the car, and even in the owners manual, it said to fill the overflow bottle up and it would in return fill the radiator, which sounded fishy, but hey, I didn't write the manual. I haven't looked at his oil yet, since it just happened last night. Thanks for the reply and non-flame.

 

well, you're doing all you can, you're a good friend in my book.

 

You don't deserve a flame... but kinda sounds like ya friend needs one. Like Emo said... The second the car gets too hot: pull frickin over! At least you learned a lesson from somebody else's mistake

 

I've always been taught not to let the car sit when it's overheating, due to heat soak and such, and that's a way to crack the head. Is this true?

 

if it's overheating... would driving it help? lol... what happens when you run out of gas? or a more reaiistic: what happens when the engine melts down? ya can't drive an overheated car forever... it will eventually have to sit, no?

the quicker ya shut it down, the better it will be.

 

I understand that, but if you're only a few miles from home, then what's the point, lol. He's getting a new engine, he says. He has another bmw he wrecked, a 93, and the motor is the same. I keep telling him we should just swap it, but his grandmother won't let him.