BMW 740i 1995 4.0 ( Uses Water )

[markcnimmo]

Hopefully someone can give me some good news.

I just bought this car. 1995, 4.0, 740i - 200,000 miles

Problem is, that in the last 200 miles its used about 1.5 litres of coolant.

No obvious water leaks that I've seen.

Temp Guage gets to the centre within about 3 mins of starting, but never goes past the middle. (no overheating as yet)

Lumpy (ish) tick over (sometimes)...

I've got a feeling its the beginnings of a head gasket!! But hopefully someones going to tell me it could be something else???

I'll be pressure testing (with dye) the coolant system soon, but I really like like this car and don't want to have to sell it on because of this issue..

Any advice appreciated...

Thanks
Mark

[Loekee75]

Originally Posted by markcnimmo

Hopefully someone can give me some good news.

I just bought this car. 1995, 4.0, 740i - 200,000 miles

Problem is, that in the last 200 miles its used about 1.5 litres of coolant.

No obvious water leaks that I've seen.

Temp Guage gets to the centre within about 3 mins of starting, but never goes past the middle. (no overheating as yet)

Lumpy (ish) tick over (sometimes)...

I've got a feeling its the beginnings of a head gasket!! But hopefully someones going to tell me it could be something else???

I'll be pressure testing (with dye) the coolant system soon, but I really like like this car and don't want to have to sell it on because of this issue..

Any advice appreciated...

Thanks
Mark

90% of the time that there is no apparent evidence of outside leakage, the problem is internal. You would get rid of the car before having the head gasket replaced?

[Bear]

Do not know how familiar you are with the NIKASIL issue with 1994-1995 M60 engine (I do not think at your mileage it would be an issue) however go to KOALA motorsport online and check out the V8 issue. I had water leaks from heater hoses in engine compartment that were almopst invisible, check the hoses from auxilary heater, off of botom of expansion tank to crossover at firewall. I even had the big line at bottom of expansion tank crack and keep the hose from clamping down (there is a metal sleeve in that plastic hose port and it had slipped forward so hose clamp had no grip). The sleeve can be driven back upstream to reseat, but I bought another tank.