Well, during my prep for the S52 cams I started mysteriously losing coolant. I pressure tested the system and found leaks in the heater core and thermostat housing. So I installed a new heater core, plastic pipes, and orings. Used anaerobic sealant on the thermostat housing and had no more leaks from there.
However, I started losing coolant again, and all of the sudden I had an issue with warm restarts. If I let the car sit for 25-30 mins it would take multiple tries before it would start the engine.
I hooked up the coolant pressure tester again and found a small leak at the upper radiator hose, so I tightened the clamp. I then pulled all the spark plugs and found cylinder 3 filling up with coolant. Nice to find the leak but not a quick fix.
So the car is being torn down for a head gasket. I have a feeling the head is cracked, there was no coolant in the oil. The only symptoms I had were more "steam" from the exhaust on cold mornings (I've seen HG let go and the white plume coming from the exhaust, my car did not do this) and the warm restart issue when the coolant filled the cylinder while the engine was cooling down.
Plans for now:
- Rebuild head with 3 angle valve job, S52 valve springs, cleaned up and decked
- ARP Head studs
- Stock Elring head gasket kit
- S52 cams installed
- Retune from Markert Motorworks for the M50 manifold and S52 cams
More pictures to come. __________________ ~Dave~
98 328ti Morea Grun slicktop
11 128i space gray slicktop
13 JGC WK2 Deep Cherry
Search | RealOEM |