Coolant Loss

[Andy Collings]

Thanks for the replies, will investigate and post findings.

[Andy Collings]

At long last had the coolant loss issue resolved, one of the pipes at the rear of engine was leaking and when removed as mentioned by someone previously a plastic pipe had deteriorated and fell apart when removed. Was also signs that a previous owner had put leak stop in system and blocked holes that are not mean't to be blocked. A lesson learned about leak stoppers. Also a leak was found at the box which sits in between the "V", has a gasket which showed signs of leak and deterioration. To get gasket though had to buy a new box. While system all in pieces, most of the whole system gaskets, O rings etc changed, in total 12 new items. All told with BMW only sourced parts, cost for parts was around £300.00. So far all been good, no signs of any leaks and level not gone down at all.
Will see how it goes!
Also at long last found the elusive oil leak onto the manifold. Rocker cover gasket for Bank 1 - 4, was changed a while ago due to leaking but when changed the recommended rtv sealant wasn't used and oil was seeping from the very back corner. Ordered a new gasket and explained about rtv to mechanic doing replacement. RTV mentioned on most forums. Be warned that the Right hand bank 5 - 8, to replace the gasket requires the engine to be dropped on the V8, 4.8.
Will report when gasket fixes leak.

[X5Sport]

Leak stoppers should be banned! They’re alright on Austin Metro type cars from 40 years ago when tolerances were whatever they could get that still let the engine run, but not on modern vehicles. Too many fine holes which are needed and also get bunged up.

[sapphireblack]

At long last had the coolant loss issue resolved, one of the pipes at the rear of engine was leaking and when removed as mentioned by someone previously a plastic pipe had deteriorated and fell apart when removed. Was also signs that a previous owner had put leak stop in system and blocked holes that are not mean't to be blocked. A lesson learned about leak stoppers. Also a leak was found at the box which sits in between the "V", has a gasket which showed signs of leak and deterioration. To get gasket though had to buy a new box. While system all in pieces, most of the whole system gaskets, O rings etc changed, in total 12 new items. All told with BMW only sourced parts, cost for parts was around £300.00. So far all been good, no signs of any leaks and level not gone down at all.
Will see how it goes!
Also at long last found the elusive oil leak onto the manifold. Rocker cover gasket for Bank 1 - 4, was changed a while ago due to leaking but when changed the recommended rtv sealant wasn't used and oil was seeping from the very back corner. Ordered a new gasket and explained about rtv to mechanic doing replacement. RTV mentioned on most forums. Be warned that the Right hand bank 5 - 8, to replace the gasket requires the engine to be dropped on the V8, 4.8.
Will report when gasket fixes leak.

Great that you have sorted the coolant leaks.

I recall very well top end oil leaks on my old 4.4, cam cover gaskets replaced several times, subsequent times warranty claims after i paid for the first replacement. Loved that engine but age/miles on V8s seem to be troublesome.

[Andy Collings]

Had lots of issues with oil leaks on this car, the previous owner gave up with it I think. I eventually bought it from a dealer who obviously didn't pay the original owners asking price of close to £9,000.00, I paid £7,200.00 so you can guess what dealer paid for it. Car would have been a really bad private buy, previous owner must have known about a lot of the issues. Coolant leaks and various / several oil leaks. Rear camera in black and white only, alternator faulty, swimming in oil from leaks, battery problems and a few other things. Paid in excess of £3000.00 on it since purchase 18 months ago but some of this has been on fitting wheel spacers, painting wheels black, 4 new tyres, resonator delete on exhaust etc. Love the car and the noise, spent so much on it now that only sensible thing to do is to keep it for a good while or until something terminal happens.
Time will tell! just ordered a camera from ebay, see if fixes problem. Happy expensive motoring eh!

[sapphireblack]

As was posted recently, BMW = Break My Wallet.

Hindsight is fantastic. When i decided to replace/update my 4.4 E53 i set about finding an E70 4.8. Only one i found tempted me but memories of expensive oil leak repairs talked me into a diesel. Now diesel is devils blood


I can relate to spending , and spending, and spending more. I bought an older Touareg earlier this year to 'export'. Only £3750 with good history. Without any doubt and without adding it all up, it easily owes me well over £5k now. So it will be maintained and just driven and put to use now, selling it would represent a significant loss A fair chunk is personal enhancements but an equal amount on tailgate struts, suspension arms, etc etc hits hard on a budget purpose

[Andy Collings]

Hmmm,
Glad I'm not alone and that other makes and models are money pits too. Will be sticking with it for a while, hopefully rocker gasket will sort oil leak onto manifold and that god awful smell will go for good. Fingers crossed camera replacement works too, although not a big deal if it doesn't still can see well enough in black and white and the PDC works fine.
Can always find cheapish parts if look around enough, not cheap and nasty bits though. Will update results on gasket and camera, always happy to share info and save others money. Way of repaying all the very useful advice I've gleaned off of this forum and others, very grateful!

[sapphireblack]

Detailed history of cam cover gaskets is a little patchy now, but one side was leaking and as only replaced in pairs (main dealership) thats what happened, within a year a repeat leak developed so was re-done under parts warranty.

I forget the time period now but yet a third failure developed. This was another warranty replacement. It then came to light that the timing chain cover gasket was now leaking, requiring cam covers removal yet again so that was sorted next. Not long after this sequence the radiator just burst dumping water everywhere.

Somewhere in the melee of early ownership the alternator seized, being water cooled that was rather expensive and i think the first £1k bill of many to follow. Rear suspension bushes, new door mirrors and so on.

Still loved the car despite the empty wallet. The £5k repair bill after hitting a deer was thankfully an insurance matter.

Originally, as a 2001 car it was a BMW Park Lane demonstrator with a stupidly high spec. I sold it here and flirted with buying it back but bought the Touareg for more rugged /off road use

[Andy Collings]

Had the timing cover gasket leak issue too, kept causing all sorts of warnings and limp mode, blamed battery at first but turned out the timing gasket leak was flooding the alternator and causing a voltage drop every now and again. Needed new alternator, timing gasket etc. Cost me a new battery too!
All good for now though! Might get a bull bar next, just in case of deers!

[rehan]

At long last had the coolant loss issue resolved, one of the pipes at the rear of engine was leaking and when removed as mentioned by someone previously a plastic pipe had deteriorated and fell apart when removed. Was also signs that a previous owner had put leak stop in system and blocked holes that are not mean't to be blocked. A lesson learned about leak stoppers. Also a leak was found at the box which sits in between the "V", has a gasket which showed signs of leak and deterioration. To get gasket though had to buy a new box. While system all in pieces, most of the whole system gaskets, O rings etc changed, in total 12 new items. All told with BMW only sourced parts, cost for parts was around £300.00. So far all been good, no signs of any leaks and level not gone down at all.
Will see how it goes!
Also at long last found the elusive oil leak onto the manifold. Rocker cover gasket for Bank 1 - 4, was changed a while ago due to leaking but when changed the recommended rtv sealant wasn't used and oil was seeping from the very back corner. Ordered a new gasket and explained about rtv to mechanic doing replacement. RTV mentioned on most forums. Be warned that the Right hand bank 5 - 8, to replace the gasket requires the engine to be dropped on the V8, 4.8.
Will report when gasket fixes leak.

Glad to hear you've sorted the coolant leak! Mine is in the Garage at the moment for Tyres (rear inside worn), MOT etc. Delayed return as the mechanic has Covid! He said that the coolant leak on mine is due to a coolant core plug at the rear of the engine become deteriorated (not heard of that one before)! Anyway I might ask them to see if there are any other bits of pipework in that area they can change while they have it in bits.

[Andy Collings]

So far so good, no leaks. Worth your garage checking everything while in bits, you can see mine had a lot changed. Just had the 1-4 bank rocker cover gasket changed again, using lots of rtv. Hope this leak is now sorted. Oil was dripping onto the manifold and causing a right stink. Did it again this morning, hoping just residual oil, better had be.
Also had sidesteps fitted, looks really good. Good luck with yours!

[henrym3]

The TIS is very specific about where the RTV is applied and it’s only in a few small areas, ie where the sharp areas are. The same applies to the front timing chain covers. The thing that is rarely changed is the rubber inserts on the cam cover screws which harden and then don’t apply the correct pressure to the cam cover gaskets. Hence the new gasket leaks. People then apply a sh€t load of RTV everywhere and moan about crap gaskets sold by BMW and confirm what they believe when it leaks again.

[Andy Collings]

Good point, gasket came with new screws and washers. Had the timing chain gasket failure a while ago, oil all over alternator, wrecked it.