Hi i started my 318 i se up (engine cold )and loads of black smoke (that smells of anti freeze) was come from the exhaust the car was running poorly after a while the smoke was not as bad as at first. when i stoped there was no water on the dip stick and no oil in the radiator the radiator was starting to boil and had swelled to top of rad. does this sound like a head gasket or jammed thermostat?

I would not suspect a head gasket as you would expect to see clouds of WHITE smoke from the tail pipe. I would change the thermostat and see what happens. Also, does she overheat at speed or just at idle or in slow traffic?

hi thanks for your reply the car has never over heated .I have been told the 1997 318i se was a recall on problems with over heating and an aluminium block ? i have looked on the net and i can only find recall on1994/95 for that problem .thanks for any help

My wife has just said she thinks the smoke was white? but i will test the thermostat away

There were problems with the E32 V8 engines (M60) in 1994-1995 due to high sulphur content in fuel. These were Alusil (BMW designation) engines and the company extended the warranty out to 100,000 miles. BMW replaced these blocks with what they called a NIKASIL block. If interested go to koalamotorsport.com and look at what is wrong with the V8 engines. To my limited knowledge the small sixes and fours had no issues.