E90 330i overheating

B

BlastDK

Member
Hello all,

Since everyone here seems to be really helpfull I wanted to ask your opinion on this one.

I have 2006 E90 330i for the family drives.. it has 205.00kms on the clock and in the 2 years I owned it has been great ander never let me down.

How ever after about 1 week of not being used it overheated on the way home from a 35min drive. first the yellow warning light cam on and shortly after the red.

So of to the side of the road and let things cool down. I was fairly close to my home so after some rest i managed to limp the car home with a few cooling down stops on the way.

I got home and after the car cooled down I opend the coolant resovoir and found that it was almost empty. ( havent seen car leaking ) but on the otherhand i haven checked it for more that 1 year. so refilled and thought / Hoped that it would solve the issue.

Of to a drive the next day, and it turnes out the car is still overheating. :headbang:

I have checked the oil cap, no whit mayo or anything like it. checked the coolant resevoir here i found no oil etc. so for me it seems like the head gasket is intack. my bet is could be the electric waterpump that has failed on me.

I will appreciate your input on this one. Is there more things I can try to get closer to a defenit answer on what is wrong? how difficult is it to change the waterpump my self?

I forgot how fustrating it can be when your car fails on you :thumbsdown:
So after the upcomming holidays I would want to fix this, so the mighty 330 can be back on the roads.

Thanks in advance. :thumbsup:
 
It is probably the water pump. They're known to fail on n52s don't drive the car and get it to the workshop asap. Or you'll be saving for a new engine soon.
 
Buckz said:
It is probably the water pump. They're known to fail on n52s don't drive the car and get it to the workshop asap. Or you'll be saving for a new engine soon.
Click to expand...

Not going to drive the car before its fixed. might take it to a garage that is just down the road from where i live to have it fixed. Any on knows how big a job it is to replace the waterpump?

What Kind of bill can I expect?
 
85genius said:
do you have an obd cable, worth reading the engine fault codes
Click to expand...

Yes, definitely worth checking that if you can. :thumbsup: Mine had a fault code when the electric pump died.
 
Another vote for water pump, the coolant is probably empty as it has escaped through the blow off valve in the filler cap.
 
thank you all for the replies, I guess I have to look into replacing the waterpump. :thumbsdown:


What a great Forum this is. keep it up..
 
I wonder if this the original water pump. It held up really well at 205000kms. This should be a new record!
 
If it's anything like the M54 then could also be expansion tank. My Zed had a hairline crack. Nice easy fix? If that's the problem!

The Mini had cooling problems which got worse recently. Replaced the thermostat on that as it was broken. Also suspected thermostat housing, but never confirmed if that was an attributing issue, that was replaced too. The radiator also had a nick or crack in it at the bottom, possibly caused by a deep pot hole (causing the user side of rad to scrape) or something protruding in the road (like you get for some electric gate systems).

The water pump wasn't an issue in the Mini as every pipe would be hot, I read somewhere that if the pump wasn't working then some would remain cold as the water wouldn't be circulating.

I'd recommend a proper diagnostic from a garage or something? Maybe even two diagnostics! Going down the water pump route is very costly on the R50 and I assume the E90 as well. This will mean that you only replace an actual failed component, unless it's a quick easy fix, then you might as well do it... best of luck!!
 
kis said:
If it's anything like the M54 then could also be expansion tank. My Zed had a hairline crack. Nice easy fix? If that's the problem!

The Mini had cooling problems which got worse recently. Replaced the thermostat on that as it was broken. Also suspected thermostat housing, but never confirmed if that was an attributing issue, that was replaced too. The radiator also had a nick or crack in it at the bottom, possibly caused by a deep pot hole (causing the user side of rad to scrape) or something protruding in the road (like you get for some electric gate systems).

The water pump wasn't an issue in the Mini as every pipe would be hot, I read somewhere that if the pump wasn't working then some would remain cold as the water wouldn't be circulating.

I'd recommend a proper diagnostic from a garage or something? Maybe even two diagnostics! Going down the water pump route is very costly on the R50 and I assume the E90 as well. This will mean that you only replace an actual failed component, unless it's a quick easy fix, then you might as well do it... best of luck!!
Click to expand...

Thx for the advice - Yea I moght end up taking it to a garage and have them make a diagnostic.

Time will show - Right now I am counting the days until vacation time. and untill then I have to just drive the zed around. :driving: was on a 350 km trip on the swiss and french mountains yesterday. that makes you forget completely about overheating issues on your 330 :)
 
If you know how to add coolant and bleed properly then you can just see how it goes?

On the R50 I topped up about 1/2 a litre every 100miles or so (to work and back). This was during fully bleeding of air each time (as later we found out it was a hole in the bottom of the rad which would enable air to enter the system). If you know how to top up and ensure there's no air, and be on top of monitoring it? Will be able to give you a better idea as well? If you're losing a lot or a little?

If it's only a little water loss then possibly a project? Mine got worse so had to have it sorted by garage, but thermostat and housing was an easy DIY. So saved a hundred quid or so.
 
There is no loss of water per se. I think the reason why it was drained after the first heat up was due to me loosin the cap while hot ( I know you are not supposed to :P ) I filled up the tank the day after and since then it stayed full. I read sonewhere that one should change the Thermostat when changin the waterpump. so that might be my plan.
 
When the pump died on mine my BMW Indy recommended changing the thermostat as well - so I agreed (another £100). :roll:
 
Love with another 100 quid added on the bill :roll:

I cannot beleive the price of the Pump. I mean a normal waterpump driven by a belt is just like 80 CHF but this one i could not find under 340 CHF. for a little pump. Im sure it costs 30 CHF to produce :headbang:
 
BlastDK said:
Love with another 100 quid added on the bill :roll:

I cannot beleive the price of the Pump. I mean a normal waterpump driven by a belt is just like 80 CHF but this one i could not find under 340 CHF. for a little pump. Im sure it costs 30 CHF to produce :headbang:
Click to expand...

You can find oe pumps on ebay for around £250ish I think :wink:
Rob
 
Smartbear said:
BlastDK said:
Love with another 100 quid added on the bill :roll:

I cannot beleive the price of the Pump. I mean a normal waterpump driven by a belt is just like 80 CHF but this one i could not find under 340 CHF. for a little pump. Im sure it costs 30 CHF to produce :headbang:
Click to expand...

You can find oe pumps on ebay for around £250ish I think :wink:
Rob
Click to expand...

thats still 320 CHF - Just seems like an expencive way to do things. :cry:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom