Need Help...What Happened??

I have a 1995 525i with 42,000 miles. As you can see I do not drive it much.

I went to start it today and heard what sounded like very loud knocking. I thought maybe something got in the way of the fan. So I shut it off and go look. Everything looks fine and nothing is in the way. I go to start it up again and the pounding continues. I shut the engine off and now I smell some antifreeze. The radiator is about half full and I see it dripping underneath. It looks like a can of coke was opened in the engine now. I see some brown colored water drops in several areas.

So what just happened here? Does this sound like a water pump or am I in for something more drastic?

The smell and "coke" stains could just be a leak dripping onto the manifold but ... when you combine it with the loud knocking sound, I'm picturing oil mixing with antifreeze and some rather serious work to be done. It sounds like you really baby the car though, can't blame you, so if it's drastic work, I can't imagine what happened. I'll be interested to see what others think.

The smell and "coke" stains could just be a leak dripping onto the manifold but ... when you combine it with the loud knocking sound, I'm picturing oil mixing with antifreeze and some rather serious work to be done. It sounds like you really baby the car though, can't blame you, so if it's drastic work, I can't imagine what happened. I'll be interested to see what others think.

I agree with Aladdin, it sounds like you have taken good care of your Bimmer over the years, and there is so much that could be the problem.

But without more information, I suggest taking your car to a good local BMW mechanic that you can trust with your best interest at hand: saving you $$$ without reducing the quality, when repairing your Bimmer.

I wish you the best,

Presley348

Well I had some time to do a little more research today. Here is the latest. I am not mechanically inclined here so forgive me on my descriptions!

I squeezed the hose from the radiator and could hear the antifreeze start to come out. Then I looked at the fan again and spun it and noticed it was a bit close to the hose on the bottom. I am not sure what the part is called but where the radiator fan is connected to is loose. I could feel the antifreeze underneath it also. I could push it in which cleared the fan from being close to the hose at the bottom.

I am not sure how but that part worked its way loose. When I started the engine the radiator fan must have been hitting a hose causing the loud noise.

Hopefully this is the only issue. I drive this car maybe 4 times a month to get the engine warm and keep the battery charged.

Thanks again for the responses.

Congratulations on the quick diagnosis and easy fix!