[philly_tee]

Hello everyone,

Hope your Thanksgiving was better than mine.

Last week I drove my 09 335i coupe to work and right when I turned off my car I got a chime with low coolant. I went for lunch and took my car without any issues, when I got back to my car after eating I noticed coolant under my car! I called a tow truck and took it to my Indy in the beaches of Toronto.

He said it was leaking from the coolant pipes as they are all plastic and garbage. He replaced them all and took it for a spin and thought it was fine but than the next morning realized it was all leaking again. After lots of testing he mentioned to me that the head gasket is done and the internal pressure that the engine is producing is bypassing to the coolant lines. Every time he fixes and tightens things up another'm coolant line is destroyed wherever its weak. The heater core ended up blowing and coolant started spewing into my drivers side wall today while it was on. My water pump went and was replaced as well, while he was testing it.

He did not do a leak down or pressure test. He just said the engine is done.

I'm going to tow the car away to a more specialized mechanic and am wondering if anyone has dealt with this before? Does this even make any sense? Should I rebuild or find another engine to swap it out?

I'm thinking either eurocharged or ktm motorworks as I have been recommended to each by two separate individuals.

Any feedback would be great and helpful. Sorry for grammatical errors as I'm so stressed about my car right now! Not ready to give up on it yet.

Tia for any advice.

[Donutz]

Take it to another shop. Try bmwizard or DC Motorwerx. Personally when I don't have time to diy I go to DC Motorwerx; Darren was a bmw tech before opening his shop.

[6ixSpd]

Take it to Bimmersport, RMP, etc for a second look. Don't trust random mechanics to these cars just because he may be cheap.

[blu3wolf]

+1 for RMP . I wouldn't take it elsewhere, I've tried a few other shops before and learned my lesson. Only take it to RMP now (and i live 40mins away)

[CeeWhizzle]

Lol. Doesn't do a leak down/Compression test and considers the engine to be done. That's a dumb mechanic. HG's are very, very rare to go on the n54, unless you completely mis-cared for the motor over ownership. I'm sure the motor is fine. The mechanic you gave it to is just a moron.

[SDG335i]

99% sure it's your oil filter housing gasket. It's one of the most common issues with the n54. I had mine go before. The low coolant is a key indicator as the coolant will mix with your oil and either burn off when the car is running, or leak out when the car is off. Open your oil cap and see if it looks like yellow sludge. If you have the yellow sludge then you're getting coolant in the oil. The oil filter housing gasket is like $15 if I remember correctly, but is a messy job.

I'm not saying head gaskets never blow on the N54.... but the likelihood is extremely low.

[philly_tee]

Originally Posted by CeeWhizzle

Lol. Doesn't do a leak down/Compression test and considers the engine to be done. That's a dumb mechanic. HG's are very, very rare to go on the n54, unless you completely mis-cared for the motor over ownership. I'm sure the motor is fine. The mechanic you gave it to is just a moron.

I really hope your right! I brought it to KTM Motorworks as per a recommendation from a close friend and a couple guys from BMWTN. He is going to look at it this week and let me know.

[philly_tee]

Originally Posted by SDG335i

99% sure it's your oil filter housing gasket. It's one of the most common issues with the n54. I had mine go before. The low coolant is a key indicator as the coolant will mix with your oil and either burn off when the car is running, or leak out when the car is off. Open your oil cap and see if it looks like yellow sludge. If you have the yellow sludge then you're getting coolant in the oil. The oil filter housing gasket is like $15 if I remember correctly, but is a messy job.

I'm not saying head gaskets never blow on the N54.... but the likelihood is extremely low.

I changed the oil filter housing gasket already.

The problem is pressure in the coolant lines.

[SDG335i]

When was the oil filter gasket replaced? What colour is your oil and coolant? I'm still highly doubting its your head gasket. Compression test is the easiest way to rule that out for sure. If the compression checks out, Id be looking at the coolant expansion tank for damage / leaks (common problem again ), sticking thermostat or blockages in your cooling system. If you have access to logging software, what's the the water temperature? Other than the coolant leaking, are there any other driving issues?

[maxgohan]

I had a scare as well, thought my head gasket was gone

turns out the OFH bolts weren't torqued properly by the shop that did the OFHG

[megaman416]

KTM great choice very trustworthy and will not take you for a ride.

[Dmak]

One easy thing to check/swap/replace would be the coolant tank cap. That cap should release pressure when pressure too high. Makes no sense to me that there can be so much pressure in cooling system that can keep blowing the cooling system apart. When HG has internal leak, car will over heat, coolant boil over and not blowing up cooling system.

Leak down test should be able to tell u if there's a HG leak. Even just pulling the spark plugs should give u sign of coolant been burning in the cylinder. U need a better mechanic. Did he even bleed the cooling system correctly?

[philly_tee]

So here's the update...

I apologize in advance for grammar and spell check as I'm typing this up on my phone.

It was a long gruesome wait (7 weeks) but I got the car back and it seems to be running really well! KTM did a compression and leak down test to confirm the engine was still good. After all was set and done I ended up replacing my radiator, oil filter housing gaskets, heatercore and some coolant pipes. While they were doing the ofhg they did the valve intake cleaning at the same time. I ended up paying 3700 total for all the work and parts.

I guess what happened was the rad needed to be changed and the ofhg was not done properly. When the Indy mechanic tried to initially fix it he did not bleed the coolant properly (electric water pump) and that's what kept causing it to build pressure and break everywhere else. (I can't believe he told me the engine was done and to "throw it away")

Anyways it's back and seems to be driving really well, I have a bit of a smell that comes from the engine when it's really hot which is kind of concerning so I might bring it back to KTM next week. It's not an oil burning smell just like a hot metal smell. Like the smell of an iron that's steaming if that makes sense. Is that normal?

Thanks for the help and input everyone!

[DOMs335D]

Hey,
I'm glad it all turned out well! Another E92 saved! Goes to show the importance of having a trustworthy mechanic. You should give your indy a bad review here and elsewhere so nobody else falls into that trap.

Cheers Mate