Water leak

[Courageous]

Steam coming from the bonnet when I stopped today. Check under the hood revealed constant stream of water coming from a black (generally) triangular blanking plate at the rear of the block. Looks like it may be the gasket. What's the purpose of this plate do you know?

 

[Ewazix]

What year / engine? different common issues affect cooling on each of them.

At a guess it looks like the rear coolant cover plate if it's a 2.0 N46 maybe? Pretty cheap part and probably a DIY fix according to this guy's how-to on a 3 series http://upgr8s.blogspot.com/2012/03/bmw-n42-n46-engine-cover-coolant-leak.html

If you do tackle or sort it I'm sure others would appreciate a write-up

 

[Courageous]

Ah yes, silly of me - she's a 2.0L e85. I've been in touch with Mike from the Zed Shed and it is a blanking plate from the casting process and has two O-rings on it. Prolly an easy DIY but I'm heading up to see him in the next week or two so will keep an eye on it and hopefully make it to him. If not yes it'll be down to me. Fingers crossed as it's only obvious at a standstill so on a long motorway trip I'm risking it. Close eye on the temp gauge is in order!