I guess he can s54 swap early. But it doesn't sound like he has money for that...
Thanks guys for the help... The more i read the more I find out what I dont know and its depressing... at the worst F%$^%# time too... I know there's never a GOOD time but this summer has been f%^#$ HELL in every way.
Anyways, no reprogramming done on the gauge, and Yea I drove it quite a bit to get home, I was so angry already and I had no idea any mechanical legit unit would have such a low safety tolerance. I guess in my memory, the last time I was in this situation was when I had tony old Accord and I drove it for weeks over heating and just thought it ran hot. Yes I was like 17 then, my first cars so we dont need to go there.
Anyways knowing that experience actually hurt me here, thinking if that POS ran like that for weeks, how could this amazing car have any trouble running several miles overheated. Anyways, whatever, all that crap doesn't matter anymore.
So my mech (and dont get me started on the all mech stories, it'll take days, for those of you wondering why am I giving this guy a second chance) just replied with this, after I told him we need to check the head gasket, do we still need the tank:
"You need the bottle, it cracked down the side which is common on an old BMW. A compression test won't tell you anything as the motor would have a miss in it if the head or head gasket has just a small failure. There is a kit you can get from Autozone or O'Reilly to test head gasket"
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2003 ZHP 4dr | 145,000 miles (ACTUAL before RIP) | BBS 17"
Hankook Ventus V12
Front: 225/45ZR
Rear: 255/40ZR-17 Hankook Ventus V12 evo2 XL
[ Staggered on square (17x8.5 +38) ]
The mechanic could also check for exhaust in the coolant if he was well-equipped. There are also test sticks as he mentioned.
2006 330ci ZHP - Silbergrau Metallic / Stoff Laser/Anthrazit / Alu Black Cube trim / Adaptive Xenon headlights / HK hi-fi system / heated front seats
Test the coolant for exhaust gas, first. I remember O'Reilly's (probaby Autozone and Napa, too) will lend you the kit but you have to buy the test fluid (~$10-15).
Taking it to local reputable mech... I'll up date you guys.
Now i wish I knew there were these achilles heels for this model, where I knew in the past some cars overheat for over an hour and it doesnt affect it in the slightest... but anyways that was a long time ago.
What are the other things we have to look out for in this one that basically have zero safety factor?
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2003 ZHP 4dr | 145,000 miles (ACTUAL before RIP) | BBS 17"
Hankook Ventus V12
Front: 225/45ZR
Rear: 255/40ZR-17 Hankook Ventus V12 evo2 XL
[ Staggered on square (17x8.5 +38) ]
__________________________________________________ ____
2003 ZHP 4dr | 145,000 miles (ACTUAL before RIP) | BBS 17"
Hankook Ventus V12
Front: 225/45ZR
Rear: 255/40ZR-17 Hankook Ventus V12 evo2 XL
[ Staggered on square (17x8.5 +38) ]
For what it's worth, I overheated my M54 for what must have been several minutes or so 4 years ago. Needle was about to touch the red zone (or possibly had already touched it, hard to remember).
After that happened I replaced every single piece in the cooling system because I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I think the culprit was the fan unit, which I also replaced, but I never bothered to confirm that. I was just happy that I was able to fix it.
Over 50k miles later the engine is still fine and pulls hard with no issues. I've done track days, autocross, uphill/downhill touge, everything you could imagine.
330i Base | Mysticblau | Slicktop | 6MT