BLOWN MOTOR!!!

[USMC318ti]

So on the way home from work yesterday, just sitting at a light 4 blocks
from home, I see smoke coming out from under the hood, noticed
my thermostat is pegged in the RED zone, so I pulled over and popped
the bonnet.
There was some kind of fluid, still dont know what, it looked like a mixture
of water, oil, and anti-freeze pouring at a rapid rate out of my engine block.
It was coming out from behind the pulleys, so I dont know know if I just
broke a little plastic piece, or if I cracked the block.

Dont think i threw a rod or anything, cause i had to drive a block to pull
over, and it ran okay.

Guess its a good time to do a swap!

[angel318ti]

sounds like it. I blew my motor and when I stopped to check it out there was no fluid coming out but my temperature was pegged out. You sure sound pretty calm for having a blown motor. I was furious!

[AlaskaBlue]

That sounds an awful lot like what has happened to several members on here. It ended up that a plastic piece deteriorated and eventually broke.

[J!m]

If you decide to to the six-swap, I have the manual for you.

If you decide to stick with the four, I have an engine for you.

Just let me know!

[USMC318ti]

Got it towed to DP Motorwerks here in VA.
Still waiting to here the verdict. J!M, how many
mile on the motor, M44 or M42?

[J!m]

It's an M44 (1.9l) and I'm not sure of the mileage (it's been out of my car for three- maybe four years now). it has been stored in my garage, not out in the weather.

I can check mileage this weekend, but the condition is excellent. First oil change was at ~250 miles, engine broken in per owner's manual specifications etc. etc. I'm the original owner of the car/engine. Ordered in March 1998, arrived April 1998.

if you don't need all the ancillaries (starter, alternator A/C compressor etc.) I can keep those to lower your cost, then sell those seperately. Or, I'll sell the whole thing together.

Figure out what you need/want and I'll come up with a price.

[mohaughn]

If just the plastic parts broke you would have just water. If you have water mixed with oil more than likely you did some major damage...

Yet another reason why you should immediately stop the car if the temp. guage goes up over the halfway mark. At normal running temp it should be right at, or maybe just a little above the center mark. You should always stop the engine well before it reaches the "red." Red, in this case, doesn't mean stop soon, it means "oh SH!T."

[USMC318ti]

Yeah, I know I should of stopped it right there, but I had no
other choice than to move out of traffic. I just gave it a little
blip of gas, and coasted into the parking lot anyway.
While talking on the phone with Dave from DP Motorwerks, he said there
is another gasket that runs around down there and hes seen
a few of them blow before, so im hoping thats it!

[Bluebimma]

Could it possibly be that the pastic housing for the thermostat broke or badly leaking and the oil that you are seeing is just dirt/grime/oil that is washing off with the fluids from the radiator system?

[m3outtanowhere]

Sorry to hear. When i got my ti, it had the same thing that had happened to it. If u want to fix it...its about 2000 bucks! if u wanna swap its about 6000. Good luck! heres some pics of my process.


the last pic is for fun...

[97BlueTI]

I had the same thing happen not to long ago. We had about 125k on this motor. I am seriously thinking about an M transplant. Has anyone out there done this, and could you help me out with all the parts I need to swap out.

Also, if you do any BMW DE. How was the handling changed?
Thanks

[USMC318ti]

Man, I hope it doesnt cost that much to fix.
I do NOT have that kind of cash just laying around.....

[jflip2002]

I dont beleive it will cost you THAt much cash. If you are very good at working on cars, you will get away with it cheaply. My thermostat failed, and I fried my engine in the valley last year. I had my uncle tow it 200 miles to his house, and he worked on it when he felt like it after work for about 6 weeks or so. We had a head job done, since my valve guides were shot anyhow, and I believe that costed us $500-$600. I work at an auto parts store, so all Federal Mogul replacement parts (gaskets, water pump, bearings, rings, etc) came out to about $200 I wanna say. The labor was free, since me, my uncle, and cousin did the reassembling. I kinda lucked out though, because we assembled it when I quit my job, and moved in with him to live at the beach! Though I live on my own now, but anyhow..... IT took us about a good 2 weeks to reassemble it, working on it about 2 hours a day. We took our time, making sure not to get tired of doing the job, and half assing some parts of it.

Also, since J!M has an engine for sale, you can buy that, and just slap it in. That should be cake. I personally at the time didnt know much about cars, and I pulled my engine, with a help from a friend, and put the engine back in my 84 318 (with an M10 I believe). IT was cake, I just had to call my uncle, and had him come the 200 miles, and help me make sure all my electrical was nice and proper.

Thats my experience.. The slap in will be a lot easier, if you do it yourself. I hope yours will be in the same price range....

[USMC318ti]

Got a call from the shop today, blown water pump, and a bad thermostat.
And some other little plastic piece. He's also gonna do an oil change and
light reset, fix my exhaust leaks, and some other crap. For $650.

[J!m]

It sounds like you got off cheap!

Congratulations on NOT having a blown motor...

[upstatenybimmer]

nice deal man...

[tastade]

Yet another reason why you should immediately stop the car if the temp. guage goes up over the halfway mark. At normal running temp it should be right at, or maybe just a little above the center mark. You should always stop the engine well before it reaches the "red." Red, in this case, doesn't mean stop soon, it means "oh SH!T."

Sometimes it is better to not shut your engine off. The best thing to do is usually to turn your heater on high heat and full blast, pull off the road as soon as possible and see if the temperature drops and leave your car idling. If you just turn off your engine, any coolant that might have been flowing stops and the car will most likely boil over. By turning your heater on full blast and high heat you basically have a secondary radiator.

If the temperature is still climbing after trying this you need to shut the car off as you say because you probably have a more serious problem (like your water pump is out).

[aceyx]

I'd have him run a compression test before you spend all that money to make sure the head didn't get warped. If you drain the oil and it looks milky that's probably another indication of a gasket failure.

Only coolant should boil over if you overheat. Not sure where the oil came from.

[jflip2002]

The compression test wont read accurate if the head gasket is warped. There will be leaks in it still. Im pretty sure a warp will read the same as a blown spot in the head gasket. When hes doing the job, he needs to make sure its still true. He should have a fine machine edge.

I'll be needing the same work done pretty soon too now...again.