gingerpuss
Member
Hello all,
I recently inherited my Brother's 3.0i 2003 Z4 after he died of cancer.
The car had not been driven for a while - partly because my brother had been too ill to drive. About 2 months ago, I had to move it to my house as it was stopping the ambulance from getting access to him via his driveway. Back then it drove faultlessly around town for about 20 miles and I took it for a blast down a nearby long A road to blow away the cobwebs...then I parked it up in my driveway.....where it sat for over a month. I went to drive it about 10 days ago and the battery had gone completely flat...so I put it on charge for a couple of hours and I was able to start the engine. When I went down the road there was a horrendous noise - like a bag of spanners had been left in the engine bay....I immediately drove it back into my driveway...but couldn't find anything loose or detached. After a few more days in the driveway the battery went flat again...so this time I took the battery out of the car and left it on full charge/condition for a complete day. the engine now starts fine...but ...when I turn the steering wheel there is a horrible knocking noise (metallic sounding) which stops if I stop turning the wheel. There are no warning lights on and the engine idles nice and quiet. I have also noticed that there is a fluid leak from a plastic hose junction (I assume it is coolant) near the top and front of the engine when it is hot.
At the moment I dare not drive it. Could the steering problem be linked to the coolant leak...or could the poor battery performance be to blame...or could it be something quite different ??
Many thanks for any advice.
Cheers.
I recently inherited my Brother's 3.0i 2003 Z4 after he died of cancer.
The car had not been driven for a while - partly because my brother had been too ill to drive. About 2 months ago, I had to move it to my house as it was stopping the ambulance from getting access to him via his driveway. Back then it drove faultlessly around town for about 20 miles and I took it for a blast down a nearby long A road to blow away the cobwebs...then I parked it up in my driveway.....where it sat for over a month. I went to drive it about 10 days ago and the battery had gone completely flat...so I put it on charge for a couple of hours and I was able to start the engine. When I went down the road there was a horrendous noise - like a bag of spanners had been left in the engine bay....I immediately drove it back into my driveway...but couldn't find anything loose or detached. After a few more days in the driveway the battery went flat again...so this time I took the battery out of the car and left it on full charge/condition for a complete day. the engine now starts fine...but ...when I turn the steering wheel there is a horrible knocking noise (metallic sounding) which stops if I stop turning the wheel. There are no warning lights on and the engine idles nice and quiet. I have also noticed that there is a fluid leak from a plastic hose junction (I assume it is coolant) near the top and front of the engine when it is hot.
At the moment I dare not drive it. Could the steering problem be linked to the coolant leak...or could the poor battery performance be to blame...or could it be something quite different ??
Many thanks for any advice.
Cheers.