Discussion
Got my M3 back from the garage today, and had to drive it from Bexley to North London - all fine until I got near home, and then stuck in solid traffic for 45 mins.
Car was fine with this for the most part, and then suddenly the temp guage shot into the red. Straight away I pulled over and shut it off, had a look round the front and some steam was coming through the front grill.
I let the car cool down out of the red, then started it back up and put the heater on full, and immediately it returned to dead centre.
I also noticed today that the oil temp was sitting a little higher than usual - perhaps not surprising given the weather and sitting in traffic.
So my question is, will I have done it any harm, and what should I be looking at as the cause of the overheating? I always leave the aircon on, so that'd been going the whole time if it makes any difference.
Will check the oil filler cap tomorrow morning to see if there are any signs there of a head gasket failure.
All advice welcome, cheers guys.
Car was fine with this for the most part, and then suddenly the temp guage shot into the red. Straight away I pulled over and shut it off, had a look round the front and some steam was coming through the front grill.
I let the car cool down out of the red, then started it back up and put the heater on full, and immediately it returned to dead centre.
I also noticed today that the oil temp was sitting a little higher than usual - perhaps not surprising given the weather and sitting in traffic.
So my question is, will I have done it any harm, and what should I be looking at as the cause of the overheating? I always leave the aircon on, so that'd been going the whole time if it makes any difference.
Will check the oil filler cap tomorrow morning to see if there are any signs there of a head gasket failure.
All advice welcome, cheers guys.
Head gaskets are not common for the M3 but of course it is possible.
Have you checked your coolant level? The oil will have increased temp as heat would be transerred from the block being hotter than usual.
Water pump failure?
Shouldnt be a problem having the air con on 24/7.
Quite hard to tell if the engine will suffer permantly, only running problems will tell.
Have you checked your coolant level? The oil will have increased temp as heat would be transerred from the block being hotter than usual.
Water pump failure?
Shouldnt be a problem having the air con on 24/7.
Quite hard to tell if the engine will suffer permantly, only running problems will tell.
Edited by Neil.D on Friday 9th May 19:37
Not checked coolant level yet, waiting for the car to cool off first.
Got fingers, toes and eyes crossed that it isn't the head gasket. If it is, I'm guessing £800+ for a fix?
As it seems to have been running fine since, I wonder if the viscous fan coupling might be a bit dodgy. From memory the test is to try to stop it from turning (with a rolled-up newspaper or something) while the engine is running?
Got fingers, toes and eyes crossed that it isn't the head gasket. If it is, I'm guessing £800+ for a fix?
As it seems to have been running fine since, I wonder if the viscous fan coupling might be a bit dodgy. From memory the test is to try to stop it from turning (with a rolled-up newspaper or something) while the engine is running?
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