I’m almost 100% sure I have a blown head gasket on my 1999 M3. I had my suspicions when I picked up the car due to over heating issues that the previous owner could not repair. During the last few days I’ve had serious overheating issues. The heater would blow warm then cold air. I bleed the system and the problem still existed. I replaced the water pump and thermostat and it still would over heat if I let the car “warm up” or sit with the engine running. The car recently began to misfire and stall at idle (the last 2 days). I started it this afternoon and drove around the block. I had a massive cloud of white smoke behind me and no heat. All of the windows had the haze of burning anti-freeze. There is no anti-freeze on the dip stick, but there is anti freeze in the valve cover/oil cap (peanut butter look).
I have to put a new clutch in it anyhow, so I will probably just pull the engine. If anyone had done a head gasket on an E36 and could offer me some advice I’d appreciate it. I’m going to pull the engine tonight.
Had the same problem on a old m3 I had slow collant leak minor overheat and then cracked head in no time thats y I said pull the coills if there is no milky oil
There no milky oil on the coils. The oil in the heads looks normal. The CCV and all the lines were full of the milky oil. There was no milky oil in the oil pan either. One of the coils had a lot of old oil on it. Someone also performed some backyard maintenance on it too. There RTV silicone everywhere inside the valve cover. I’ll be pulling the head later this evening. I’ll post some pics when I get to that point. I’m taking a break for now.
pull the plugs , if ya have a excesive clean one that cyl is your problem , seeing as the steam will clean the plug and cyl . or look for coolnt there .
Oil on the coils would mean you have leaky valve cover gasket o-rings, no more.
Heater blowing warm air then cold air?
Removing the whole motor is only more effort.
Pull head:
-Remove windshield wiper cowl and the angled firewall panel that makes the back hard to reach
-If you have a friend to help lift the head off, leave the headers attached. Seriously, it’s heavy and awkward with them still bolted on but takes less time. Make sure you have somewhere to set it down.
-Dont forget new vanos cover gasket.
Then pull trans now that it’s mucho easier to reach the top bolts.
Unfortunately I saw your post to late The exhaust manifold was a pain. I got the head off. It took about 2 hours. Almost all of the coolant flow holes were completely crusted over. I didn’t have the BMW tool to pull the head bolts so I had to take the cams out. I still have to buy another tool for the bolts on the tranny. Does anyone know what size they are (E-???) Here’s a few pics of the carnage:
I have the factory cam timing lock tool, and the inverted torx sockets you need to remove the gearbox and torque OE headbolts with cams in.
If you have the camlock tools and someone to assist lowering the head back on the block the biggest bitch of doing this in the car is torquing and yielding the OEM headbolts to spec.
Call me on the shop cell 225-8384, I can loan you whatever you need.
Awesome! Thanks. I pulled the engine. It’s a disaster. When I picked up the vehicle, it had the M50 manifold swap. The dipstick was never bolted back to the block. You can just imagine how much oil is caked on everything below the intake. I’m going to take my time and clean it up nice and replace all the gaskets. I’ll post some pis of the oily mess tomorrow.
Might as well pull the front timing chain cover and replace those metal gaskets too. Also recommend putting on a drilled oil pump nut for safety wire and wire it to the oil pump sprocket. Cheap insurance while you’re this far into the motor now.
Let me know when you need the cam tools. I’ll try to remember to put them in the truck tomorrow so I have them on hand when you call.
THanks for offering my your tools! I really appreciate it. It probably wont be for a while. I’m going to take my time and go through everything that needs to be replaced at this point. I’ve got the head gasket, various other gaskets, tensioner pulley, and head bolts coming this week. The thermostat and water pump are new.
I wish I had the skinny e-torx tool. It would have saved me the trouble of removing the cams. Is there anything else I should look for once I get the sludge cleaned off of the block?
Depends on how much money you want to spend and how worn things are. Since you have the manifold off, knock sensor are easy to get to, but are pricey. Pull them out carefully and see how brittle they are. They fail when the ceramic cyl cracks.
If the head and trans are off at the same time, and you plan to keep the car for awhile, the it’s a good time to secure the oil pump nut (see Adam’s post above).
There aren’t any other real must do while you’re in there things. Cooling maintenance stuff, anything leaking, etc.
Edit: You mentioned RTV in the valve cover in an earlier post. It’s from the common leak points in the VC which are the rear crescent shapes and the two front “seams” where the vanos unit butts up against the front of the head. A little red RTV on each spot is a good idea.
Hard too tell by that picture. How big is it. Take a couple other shots of it from the end. Looks hollow and looks like a time cert but then again looks like drilled bolt remnants at the same time. Looks like a set screw now that i think about it.
There are no internal set screws in this motor, nothing in the vanos or cam drive.
Where are you located. I. An take a peek and drop off cam lock at same time
The exhaust manifold was a pain. I got the head off. It took about 2 hours. Almost all of the coolant flow holes were completely crusted over. I didn’t have the BMW tool to pull the head bolts so I had to take the cams out. I still have to buy another tool for the bolts on the tranny. Does anyone know what size they are (E-???) Here’s a few pics of the carnage:
