SUDDEN OVERHEAT

[uncledavid]

I have a 97 Z3 1.9l. The story: Motoring along fine and fortunately close to home. I pull over to take a phone call. I am sitting in a parking lot on the phone and when I look down my dash and the gauge has pegged. Just as I shut it off the ignition, the fitting at the rear of the head blows.
I have 98,000 miles and I am in the rebuild phase. I will put in a new radiator as recommended, new thermostat, new water pump... are there any sensors that might be suspicious ?

[jca]

E-36's, whatever model, are just plain bad about overheating, the main reason being too much plastic used throughout the cooling systems. I had a head gasket blow on my ti, and am lucky not to have had the same thing happen on my wife's 2.8 Z3 with the radiator gave up. About the only thing you can do is replace cooling system parts before they fail. I have also installed a Watchdog engine temp. monitor from Australian Signals. It is an adjustable digital unit that does not have to be tapped into the coolant stream. John

[uncledavid]

jca, Thank you for sharing your wisdom.

[M-technik-3]

That coolant line is a KNOW weak point in the M42/44 coolant systerm. If you have not changed it at roughly 100K you are on borrowed time.

Sorry to hear that you suffered through it.