BMW E36 Forum

Hi all...
I have just bought myself a 320i se, now it has a few problems with it which is what i expected because i bought it cheap.
Can anyone help with the problems that i have just I am new to BMW's..

1) The OBC does not work when i turn the lights on thebuttons light up but not the screen(its black) and can not see anything on it... Is it right to have the 18 buttons? or is that just for the ///M3's if so which one shall i buy?
2) The car seems to over heat, I could drive it for about 15 min the it would overheat obviously not drove it since, am i right in thinking that its just the water pump thats the problem or is it something else... there is no hot air coming out of the fan but the fan still works.
Any advice would be great thanks again
steve
(lincolnshire)

Hi and welcome.
Hope i can solve your problems.

1) The screen not working is more than likely to be a bulb that needs changing, do a search on here and there is a write-up on it somewhere.

2) This could be one of several things, what year is the car and is it the original cooling system?
One way of checking the water pump is starting the car, open the bonnet and then take off the radiator cap, if the water is completely still then you have a knackered waterpump, if there is a flow in the water then its not your pump.
Is there enough water in the system? With the engine completely cold the water level should be half way up the expansion tank on the side of the radiator. With the engine hot it should be 1 or 2 inches from spilling out when you take the cap off.
You may need to replace the thermostat which is relatively cheap and easy to do, follow the pipe that comes out of the expansion tank, into the engine block, take the pipe off at the engine side and you will see your thermostat there. Google "testing car thermostat" to find out ways of checking it!
Failing that, your radiator has to many blocks in it to work properly and needs to be replaced!!

Let me know how you get on!!
Keith.

Hi Steve,

Check this [url=http://www.bmwe36blog.com/2007/08/19/fixing-your-bmw-obc-on-A-computer-lights-diy/]Fixing your BMW OBC (On Board Computer) lights . . . DIY![/url] for a DIY about fixing the OBC lights.

Thank you Tony, could'nt remember where id seen it

cheers guy's, I think it might be the head gasket as when i started it the was quite a bit of steam out of the exhaust, I will do what you say about starting it and taking the cap off, will keep you informed, the car is a 1992 and done 170k.
thanks again
steve

Does the engine fan stay running after you kill the engine?
If not then its not necessarily the head gasket.
Keep your ears perked for the fan, note when it kicks in and turns off.
Also check under your oil cap for excessive "white sludge"

Just on the cold starting point.
If its got a blueish tinge to it then you have oil in the chambers.
White SMOKE (not to be confused with steam) means theres water getting into the chambers.
All cars will have steam coming out the exhaust, some cars (depending on engine size and exhaust system) will have more and some will have less.

Its got a standard exhaust and when its warm i get a strong smell of coolant and over heating, also there seems to be a fair bit of water coming out of the center part of the exhaust, checked water pump today and its fine like new, no blue smoke on start-up, white steam/smoke out the exhaust when revved.
No sludge on water cap or oil cap, no lack of power, no rattles from under the bonet fan will come on when needed,
thanks

Now you saying white smoke/steam under hard acceleration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLy9XMHUr0I

That link is to a problem i was having with my other car about 2years ago, what you see is steam/condensation coming out of the exhaust when been reved but when the revs die down, as you can hear in it, you see plumbs of white smoke coming out. Thats white smoke from water getting into the combustion chamber.

Where do you get the strong smell of coolant? Out of the car or in it?
I really cant imagine its head gasket failure, there are none of the traditional symptoms!!
Are you bleeding the radiator properly when you fill it with water? Thats the only conclusion i can come to is that you have a whopper of an air bubble lodged somewhere.

Nice one mate.. I only get the smell from the outside of the car, On that link you sent its like that but when rev it there is a bit more, see i was a bit unsure about head gasket as there was no sludgy mess on either oil/water caps, also had not lost power, I flushed through my rad today to make sure i did not have a blockage which i never did, what would you think i should do then if its not the head gasket obviously the water should not be getting into the combustion chamber. i will put the engine back to how it should in the morning and redo the rad with just water for now, even tho i am going to fill the chamber to the right hand side of the rad should i fill the rad myself with water befor i bleed it to make sure its 100% full?
thanks again
Am new to BMW's as used to own a MR2 turbo
steve

Are you flushing the radiator properly? Undoing the pipes and letting it drain is only half the work, there is still all the water circulating around the engine, im not sure where on the 4cyclinder the sump for the water is but on the 6cyclinder its on the driver side of the engine just below the exhaust manifold. Its just like the oil sump, you undo the bolt and also the return coolant pipe going into the rad and all the water in the engine flushes out.

Can you put up a video of the smoke coming out? Alot of older cars that have'nt been as well maintained over there life or else have been driven alot harder over there life will just have worn seals and gaskets and will always be a lil bit puffy on start up.
Did you inspect the head gasket? If you did, did you inspect the head for warping?
Sorry to be asking a dozen questions every time but its really hard to diagnose a problem without the car in front of me.

When filling with water, open the small bleeder screw cap thats just left of the radiator cap. Fill up radiator and leave for a few mins, add more water as necessary, keep doing this until the water level stays the same. Start engine and keep filling the radiator, youl have air bubbles coming out of the little bleeder screw cap, leave it open for as long as possible but never let the water in the expansion tank go more than 1/4 of the way down. Keep this going for a good while, once you get water with no air bubbles at all coming out of the bleeder cap give the engine a small bit of reving to work the water pump a bit (dont over rev it, upto 2500 or 3000 revs is plently) When reving, try using the accelerator cable attached to the butterfly valve in the intake so you can keep your eye on the water level at the same time.

Sorry, a bit long winded of a message