# E39 530i OVERHEATING!!



## Denevyn (Oct 22, 2020)

OK so here's the deal I bought this car 11/9/2020. I noticed that there was coolant all over the engine. It was running fine but just to be sure, I took it to Firestone and had the Radiator replaced to the tune of just over 1k. They didn't clean anything up but I just let that slide. Since then I've put less than 10k on the clock and today I got a very sudden warning saying my coolant temp is high. I added probably a gallon of coolant and sure enough the temp went down. About a mile later of leisurely driving it shot back up. I had to stop every half mile or so to get home without worrying about frying the engine. Does this sound to you like Firestone just billed me a thousand without doing anything? I'm at a loss.

Thanks in advance.


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## The Wog (May 31, 2021)

Denevyn said:


> OK so here's the deal I bought this car 11/9/2020. I noticed that there was coolant all over the engine. It was running fine but just to be sure, I took it to Firestone and had the Radiator replaced to the tune of just over 1k. They didn't clean anything up but I just let that slide. Since then I've put less than 10k on the clock and today I got a very sudden warning saying my coolant temp is high. I added probably a gallon of coolant and sure enough the temp went down. About a mile later of leisurely driving it shot back up. I had to stop every half mile or so to get home without worrying about frying the engine. Does this sound to you like Firestone just billed me a thousand without doing anything? I'm at a loss.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


Without doing anything? Unlikely. Without doing anything relevant? Yes. 

They did replace a radiator. That’s not what was leaking. Whatever that was is still leaking and you’re $1000 poorer. And it’s leaking a LOT. Can’t believe you got a gallon into it.


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## The Wog (May 31, 2021)

Denevyn said:


> OK so here's the deal I bought this car 11/9/2020. I noticed that there was coolant all over the engine. It was running fine but just to be sure, I took it to Firestone and had the Radiator replaced to the tune of just over 1k. They didn't clean anything up but I just let that slide. Since then I've put less than 10k on the clock and today I got a very sudden warning saying my coolant temp is high. I added probably a gallon of coolant and sure enough the temp went down. About a mile later of leisurely driving it shot back up. I had to stop every half mile or so to get home without worrying about frying the engine. Does this sound to you like Firestone just billed me a thousand without doing anything? I'm at a loss.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


Hang on, did you say you added a gallon of something WHILE HOT??


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## Denevyn (Oct 22, 2020)

The Wog said:


> Hang on, did you say you added a gallon of something WHILE HOT??



Yes I did. It was cooler when I added it though.


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## effduration (Nov 11, 2008)

Okay OP...

You have been on this forum for some 17 months and you haven't figured out that the cooling system is this car's weakest and most critical system? Nothing will kill a BMW quicker than an overheat. 

1. Never bring your car to Firestone. Find a non-dealer BMW specialist with a decent rep in your area and go make friends with him/her. Let them diagnose it for you. 

2. Never try to "make it home" in an overheat situation...you are gambling with your engine if you do. 

3. Don't rely on the temp gauge - it is near useless because it is designed to stay in middle from 75c-105c - Learn to use the hidden menu on the instrument cluster and unlock test 7 to show coolant temp in digits. 

I suggest you have it towed to a non-dealer BMW specialist (not a Euro specialist, not the corner garage) now..
-Explain what happened and ask them to test the cooling system looking for leaks
- you should also ask them to check for a blown head gasket/warped cylinder head


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## Rsavory (Jul 13, 2005)

Suggest you take your car to a BMW mechanic (not the dealer) and have them replace the entire cooling system, except for the radiator that you got. That means water pump, hoses, expansion tank, belts, idler pulleys, etc. This needs to be done every 60,000 miles or so.


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## KWN-E39 (Feb 19, 2021)

I need to open a shop, I would of only charged you $900 to put that $150 radiator in.
I'm betting they used a cheap radiator and had no idea about bleeding the system.


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## mattmar1 (Dec 20, 2014)

pouring cold fluid in to hot/warm engine isnt a good thing, metals move with temperature. and one doesnt want it do so rapidly. of course it was cooler after pouring it in, but at what cost to the engine. and it lost the coolant due to a leak...where? didnt the shop test it fully?


Denevyn said:


> Yes I did. It was cooler when I added it though.


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## Denevyn (Oct 22, 2020)

mattmar1 said:


> pouring cold fluid in to hot/warm engine isnt a good thing, metals move with temperature. and one doesnt want it do so rapidly. of course it was cooler after pouring it in, but at what cost to the engine. and it lost the coolant due to a leak...where? didnt the shop test it fully?


OK. To clarify, I let the engine cool a bit and then added coolant. Still I probably should have waited longer so your point isn't invalid.


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## Denevyn (Oct 22, 2020)

OK so update. The car has 178n on the clock and I'm the 8th owner... After letting it sit over night I checked all fluid levels. I had to add almost another gallon of coolant when all was said and done. I filled it and then let it run with the top off and watched it gurgle so apparently there's air in the cooling system. I also added 3 quarts of oil. Whoever had the car before me probably didn't give a damn. I'll take it for a short drive later today and let you know what happens. So far it starts right up and runs normally, but I haven't hit the road yet. And yes, I know I need to have a professional work on this.


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## The Wog (May 31, 2021)

Is this the second gallon of water? And basically another gallon of oil? Um…

Might be inclined to trade that in. Probably before having it checked. It’s not fraud if you don’t know for sure.


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## Denevyn (Oct 22, 2020)

The Wog said:


> Is this the second gallon of water? And basically another gallon of oil? Um…
> 
> Might be inclined to trade that in. Probably before having it checked. It’s not fraud if you don’t know for sure.


OK so here's the thing. According to a dealership I need about 4k worth of work. And ok, this isn't a 540 or M5. The question is saying screw it and drive it into the ground doing the minimum or just keep it running and do a resto-mod to it. It has enough minor cosmetic damage that it will never be worth fixing everything to spec. But I wonder what kind of engine I can put in it for 4K or less.


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## The Wog (May 31, 2021)

What did they say was wrong with it? If it's a head, there is no "minimum" other than maybe trying a bottle of head gasket repair. But that's unlikely to work when you're already at a late stage. But if they can identify the external leak, just fix that and note that your engine is burning oil so you should probably just pour in more oil. Mine would seize if I didn't have a dashboard gauge. Water pumps aren't the most difficult jobs.


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## Denevyn (Oct 22, 2020)

The Wog said:


> What did they say was wrong with it? If it's a head, there is no "minimum" other than maybe trying a bottle of head gasket repair. But that's unlikely to work when you're already at a late stage. But if they can identify the external leak, just fix that and note that your engine is burning oil so you should probably just pour in more oil. Mine would seize if I didn't have a dashboard gauge. Water pumps aren't the most difficult jobs.


So it's not a head gasket. It's all things that are "expected to fail" at the current mileage according to BMW. Whatever that means. I'm wondering If I actually have a thermostat problem. When the engine was cold this afternoon I added oil and coolant. It doesn't appear to have a head gasket problem at the moment. It starts just fine. I took it for a short drive and the temp reached the middle where it should be, and then on my way home it shot up. It didn't go into the red but I was about to pull over but in the next quarter mile it went back down to normal levels. It so far drives just fine. I need to do some further investigation. I don't want to do anything drastic when I don't need to. I looked under the car with a flashlight and my parking spot seems to be clean. Like I said, I need to investigate.


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## effduration (Nov 11, 2008)

effduration said:


> Okay OP.............
> 
> I suggest you have it towed to *a non-dealer BMW specialist* (not a Euro specialist, not the corner garage) now..
> -Explain what happened and ask them to test the cooling system looking for leaks
> - you should also ask them to check for a blown head gasket/warped cylinder head


You cannot drive this car like everything is normal...At a minimum, it has a coolant leak and something is causing it to overheat... It's time for drastic action if you want this car to survive. Give it a to a professional....Not the dealer...


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## The Wog (May 31, 2021)

The dealer has already done the hard work identifying issues. They seem coy on handing those over, but a diagnosis exists. They seem to know what’s wrong with it.


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## scuderiazane (Jan 19, 2021)

You may still have air in your system or you may be correct about needing a thermostat. BTW... And white smoke from the tailpipe? Either way, you need to have this addressed before you cause more problems. But you knew that...


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## Denevyn (Oct 22, 2020)

scuderiazane said:


> You may still have air in your system or you may be correct about needing a thermostat. BTW... And white smoke from the tailpipe? Either way, you need to have this addressed before you cause more problems. But you knew that...


After talking with someone, the possibility of it being an air pocket is completely reasonable. If that is the case though, It probably means a hose or pump failure. Lets hope it's that simple.


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## crazy4trains (Mar 30, 2011)

Denevyn, you need to either find an independent BMW shop that you can trust or learn to maintain your car yourself. The independent shop will tell you exactly what is wrong with the car and what they will do to fix it as well as how much it will cost. If you learn to maintain the car yourself then you will know enough to tell us what is wrong with the car and what you have done so that we can help you diagnose (difficult over the web) the car well enough to fix it. As it stands right now we don't really know anything about what is wrong with the car so we can't really help you. 

Do you know how to properly bleed the cooling system? Start with that to ensure all entrapped air is out. Then you can assess how much coolant you are losing and how quickly.


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## Denevyn (Oct 22, 2020)

crazy4trains said:


> Denevyn, you need to either find an independent BMW shop that you can trust or learn to maintain your car yourself. The independent shop will tell you exactly what is wrong with the car and what they will do to fix it as well as how much it will cost. If you learn to maintain the car yourself then you will know enough to tell us what is wrong with the car and what you have done so that we can help you diagnose (difficult over the web) the car well enough to fix it. As it stands right now we don't really know anything about what is wrong with the car so we can't really help you.
> 
> Do you know how to properly bleed the cooling system. Start with that to ensure all entrapped air is out. Then you can assess how much coolant you are losing and how quickly.


Thank you. I don't really know how to properly bleed the cooling system.Any advice on that is very much welcome.


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## Rsavory (Jul 13, 2005)




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## mattmar1 (Dec 20, 2014)

__





Cooling System Bleeding


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id add a few things to this under the written procedure. have the front of the car pointing slightly uphill during bleeding. about 10 degrees is sufficient, a bit more is fine as well. hook up a battery charger to the battery or underhood jump posts while bleeding. item #4, fill the expansion tank to 1" short of full on the bobber ( i run mine that way all the time). never fill the tank completely to the top and cap it. never remove the expansion tank cap or bleeder screws on a hot, or warm engine. bleeder screws dont need to be opened til near the end of the procedure. ensure that coolant is flowing in to the expansion tank while the ign is in pos # 2, IKHA set to 90 degrees. if you dont see that flow, the aux water pump isnt running. (if its bad a code will be set in the DME, no CEL lit).once a solid stream of coolant is visible, crack your bleeder screws enough to see a flow, and observe til no more bubbles are seen. check the level for a coupla of days when the engine is cold, top off as needed..


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## crazy4trains (Mar 30, 2011)

Denevyn said:


> Thank you. I don't really know how to properly bleed the cooling system.Any advice on that is very much welcome.


Procedure attached.


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## cvgtpc1 (Dec 18, 2016)

mattmar1 said:


> __
> 
> 
> 
> ...


i remember that process well when I had my sadly departed E39. Man I miss that car lol


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## mattmar1 (Dec 20, 2014)

hiya Dennis!


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## Denevyn (Oct 22, 2020)

OK so there's possible good news. I may have miss-diagnosed this. Someone in my apt complex knows quite a bit more about cars than I and he took a look at it. He's made a pretty strong argument that it isn't a head-gasket but instead a coolant sensor. What's happening is when I drive it, the temp sits at normal and eventually climbs up to 3/4. But then it would drop back down. I knew my coolant was a little low to begin with so I didn't freak out. I parked the car for a few and did some shopping. Came back and suddenly I'm in the red upon startup. OK. Drove 4 blocks to get home and cut it off. 15 minutes later it's back down to 3/4. Start it and it heats right back up again. 15 minutes of being off again and it's back to 3/4. Half hour later it is at normal.

Now, word of caution to all. I topped off the coolant and opened the valves to properly bleed the system. Upon tightening I apparently was a bit overzealous and broke one of the tops off. Pics below. Now I have to figure out where I can get another one without paying BMW $400 for a plastic screw. Also, I have to figure out how to remove whats left of the old one.

Any thoughts/criticisms/pointing and laughing at me welcome at this point.

Dennevyn


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## KWN-E39 (Feb 19, 2021)

Here's your $400 BMW bleeder screw.


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## mattmar1 (Dec 20, 2014)

getting the old one out is easy enough as long as its plastic. heat up the tip of a narrow screwdriver (smaller than the diameter of the screw body) and push it lightly in to the body to leave an indention, remove the screwdriver and let it cool. then use it to turn the screw out of its threads. or drill a shallow hole for a small easy-out.


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## crazy4trains (Mar 30, 2011)

Buy the brass bleed screw. Whichever you buy, either the plastic or brass version, understand that it is the O-ring that completes the seal and not the threads. Just tighten the bleed screw until the O-ring seals then stop.


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