1997 bmw 523 with blown head gasket. What to do?

[raw1981]

A friend of mine at work has a bmw 5 series 523i. As soon as he drives it the temperature guage goes straight to the redline. A couple of mechanics have told him it's either the head gasket gone or it might just need a new thermostat.

Its been off the road a while now, and he wondering whether to get it fixed or sell it for spares. Is there much of a market for late 90s 5 series spare parts?

[davidjpowell]

I'd check the thermostat first. Has to be a cheap fix.

[S3_Graham]

head gasket wouldnt be that expensive worst case!

[die fahrt]

proabably the thermostat, if headgasket it would take longer to overheat and you'd get a major loss of coolant. Well worth getting a new stat off ebay for a fiver.

[joebongo]

sell the car to me.

[shouldbworking]

Compression tester : £15

Then you will know if its the head gasket or not and can decide accordingly.

I swear garages deliberately avoid using this tool so that they can charge customers for unnecessary head gasket changes.

[raw1981]

joebongo said:

sell the car to me.

He's thinking about selling it, he wants around £1000 for it as is. Car's in Fife, I'm sure I can get him to take pictures for you if you're keen.

[dan19evans]

start with the obvious signs of head gasket failure first.. eg mayonaise-like oil, excess steam from the exhaust, smell of petrol in the coolant

if theres none of these, then its most likely just a thermostat

[TheEnd]

I'll take "waterpump" in the sweepstakes.

[t955daytona]

Also check the viscous fan coupling, I have just had the same problem on a 520i and that was what sorted it (after changing the thermostat). The coupling is only a few quid from german and swedish etc.

[eliot]

Put your hand on the return hose from the radiator - it will be stone cold if it's not opening (as the thermostat is on the return pipe not the outlet)