bigrock07

Hi all this is my first post with likely more to come. I am looking to buy a 535i and have found one with good options that I like for a decent price, but it has a few issues. A few dash lights are on because the sunroof drain was clogged (E61) so water got into battery and spare tire area and most likely messed with some electronics. I'm fine with this, I can fix the leak and either repair the electronics or get some new ones from the junkyard near me.

Biggest issue is that the guy said steam started coming out of the engine bay after driving it for about 20 min. He said this has happened once before, and he just lets it cool off and adds water and then drives it home. At first I though it was overheating because he said the fan also comes on, even though its 30 degrees Fahrenheit here. He sent me a picture of the engine bay and you can see coolant everywhere and it looks like it was spraying out and getting on the manifold. I'll include the picture. I don't really know what the cause of this would be. He said he didn't get ANY dash lights for overheating. Also, he said he let it sit in the driveway idling for 45 min the other day with no issues, but when he drives it, it has this issue.

My ideas were- expansion tank, loose/cracked coolant hose, not bled properly, water pump failure, or overheating/bad head gasket. The car does have 170k miles on it.

Has anyone had a similar issue or have any ideas what it could be? I want to buy it and I'm fine with doing a water pump/thermostat but I need to know if it needs one so he will lower the price because they are expensive. And if it may have a blown head gasket, that is just too much work for me.

dingolfing

Is that a vertical crack on the side of the expansion tank?

bigrock07

Not sure you can't really tell from the pictures. It faintly looks like a crack. I asked the guy and he said he would check when he gets home. He also said that he might have replaced the water pump but didn't remember, and that if he did it sounds like he didn't bleed the system, and he is using green coolant instead of bmw blue, not sure if that would cause any issues like this.

bigrock07

Guy said he didn't look for the leak but took it for a ride and found that the heater would not blow out hot air even after 15 min? He said it did start steaming up again. Maybe thermostat, or could this be because it wasn't bled?

seanjordan20

Well, you'll have to plug the leak and fill it up first Afterwards bleed it, then you would know if it's the thermostat causing the no heat or air pocket. Personally just change the thermo (since he's using green instead of BMW coolant) if he doesn't know when it was changed, fix the leak and bleed the system, problem solved.

I really think if you're not good with coding modules leave it where it's at. It's one thing changing out parts but if you don't know how to code after changing modules then it will run you more than what the cars worth. Especially since it seems as if the car was not taken care of just my 2 cents

scottalexander

Step one:

- clean engine well
- use coolant pressure tester to find the leak

bigrock07

Thank you for the replies. I brought a pressure tester and JB weld with me to attempt to find and fix the leak. It did turn out to be a massive crack down the side of the expansion tank, so we tried to seal it up and then bleed the system we took it for a 10 minute ride and the JB weld cracked and it was leaking again. So I didn't end up buying it because the car also went into limp mode as soon as I stepped on the gas. My friend has IMPA on his computer and he read 104 fault codes! more modules were not responding than responding. There were so many issues with the car and the paint was in horrible condition. Too bad really, it has nice options but I doubt that car will ever sell with all those issues.

audiophool

Couple of points here:
-Can't patch an expansion tank - replace only
-104 codes - these could be old and won't come back if cleared
-good call to pass though - horrible paint is a tough sell

bigrock07

Yeah I figured I'd be able to patch it just enough to limp it home but that didn't work out. I know alot of the codes probably are old but still that many modules not responding. Guy didn't really seem to know how to work on bmw's so it could be a simple error for some modules but all the issues combined I couldn't take the risk... Horrible paint and body damage were the cherry on top. There was sap almost everywhere so it would have had to be sanded down and resprayed, and although I do want to try my hand at bodywork, I think that project is a bit too big to start out with!
Well, if anyone in the northeast area is interested in a high optioned e61 535xi for $2000 let me know and I'll get you in touch lol.

Seeing this car with so many issues has kinda changed my mind about wanting one. I want to daily drive one, but my e46 already has so many issues I can't even imagine how many issues an e60 will have. Maybe in the summer when I have more time or if I come across one in significantly better condition I'll buy it. Anyone that has an e60/61 really have that many issues. I don't want something new popping up everyday and costing 100$ to fix something new every week.

audiophool

Neglected cars are bad news. My 535xi with 240,000km is my daily driver and rarely gives me any trouble. Starts in any temperature and runs strong, getting great fuel economy too. Sure, there are things that need to be done, particularly engine mounts right now, but no show-stoppers and no codes.