[das borgen]

Originally Posted by Braymond141

Quite effing true

[Braymond141]

Originally Posted by Volfinator

The AA kit plugs it up.

All it does is puts a stupid stopper on the oil separator valve. That still leaves the poorly designed diaphragm to spill out air.

Like I said, delete the oil separator valve, plug the manifold hole and plug the dipstick hole left behind. But that's just a suggestion from experience.

[Volfinator]

Originally Posted by Braymond141

All it does is puts a stupid stopper on the oil separator valve. That still leaves the poorly designed diaphragm to spill out air.

Like I said, delete the oil separator valve, plug the manifold hole and plug the dipstick hole left behind. But that's just a suggestion from experience.

The stopper you're referring to is the disc that goes behind the grey rubber grommet in the manifold correct?

[Braymond141]

The oil separator is the thing you put the stopper on. It's ideal to delete it and plug the manifold hole.



That's what you want to accomplish, although I didn't have any bolts so I had to use a nipple that I capped. Just use a bolt with some sealer silicone.

[Volfinator]

I see what you're saying. The kit has a solid washer that plugs the hole in the manifold, then the grey grommet that holds the oil seperator covers it, and then u bolt up the seperator to hold it in plaace. So basically its deleted while remaining on the car. Your way seems simpler though.

[Volfinator]

March 16th, 2011

So I got my boost leak fixed. The tee fitting I used to tap the FPR line had a very small pin hole in it from I guess when I installed it. Its made of plastic and I had pushed the vacuum line on very hard and I guess it bent just enough to make a small hole. I fixed that up with some RTV silicone and took it for a spin.

And just like magic the fluttering noise is gone and the car goes like stink. Also reading boost now as well.



So I decided to play with it a bit and take it around town and enjoy the beautiful weather. Started smelling something funny. The wheel well liners had been rubbing on the tires so long I'm starting to melt holes in them. I bought new ones a few months back because mine are shot already so no big deal. However this masked another smell I should be concerned with. Coolant.

Briefly I swore I caught a smell of coolant. I pulled into a lot, checked it out, no steam, no smell from under the hood. So I shrugged it off and kept going. No more coolant smell.

Then I about 5 minutes later I see steam coming from the front of the car, look down, and the temp gauge is just to the 3/4 mark.





I can't help but crack up thinking about it.

Its the only part of the cooling system that hasn't been replaced. And I have a new expansion tank sitting in my garage for the past few months. I was planning on doing a coolant flush and replacing the tank after I got the boost leak fixed. Looks like the flush is already done for me.

Anyway, I limped it home, waiting for it to cool to the middle then driving it until it hit the 3/4 mark then parking for 20 minutes again. Took about 2 hours to get home but oh well. I'm not going to dump cold coolant into the engine so waiting on the car to cool off before I can finish the tank replacement and coolant flush.

FML. I love e36's





Oh yeah, car is crazy fast


March 17th, 2011




So apparently the cooling system failure yesterday cost me a head gasket.

Pretty good amount of solid white smoke on cold starts that flies out the first 2 or 3 seconds, smells really sweet. Then there is a good amount of condensation at the tail pipes until it reaches operating temp. But the exhaust still smells sweet. Took it for a drive after new coolant and bleeding it and I had a few spirited shifts that involved a pop noise and a nice could of white smoke from the tail pipes.

FML

So now I get to teach myself how to do a head gasket job on these cars


The good news is that stock head gasket kits are much cheaper than I anticipated. The only question that remains is what brand. Still not looking forward to the work though.

[PurduinaM3]

Ouch, that sucks man... No offense, but as soon as you saw that crack, you should have been on the phone with a towing company. For $75-100 or whatever it is, it's way cheaper and easier than a HG job. I'll never mess around with trying to limp it home after a cooling issue, no matter how close I am...

[Volfinator]

Originally Posted by PurduinaM3

Ouch, that sucks man... No offense, but as soon as you saw that crack, you should have been on the phone with a towing company. For $75-100 or whatever it is, it's way cheaper and easier than a HG job. I'll never mess around with trying to limp it home after a cooling issue, no matter how close I am...

Yeah, hindsight is 20/20 as they say. I had gotten away with it on my old 95 with no issues so I think that gave me false confidence.

[camdinans3]

AAA Premier pays for itself every single year with the types of cars my family has.

[JPoland]

Originally Posted by camdinans3

AAA Premier pays for itself every single year with the types of cars my family has.

Big +1 on this. I think I am only a Plus member but the one time my car stranded me and I was able to use AAA has made any past and future payments worth it in my mind.
I was about 25 miles from home at an auto-x when I looked down and saw my oil pressure light
Pushed the car off the line and had it flat bedded home and didn't have to pay a dime.
Another nice thing is that when I called AAA for the tow I said I only want a flat bed and they told me they only use flat beds for BMWs