dphantom

i also saw a little of a white kind of mayo not alot just alittle inside, cars been running good is a 04 545. i do have a leak and is from the thermostat and waterpump, and its been cold here in jersey, thanks for your help

Bobbrown13

Looks like theres some moisture but usually a head gasket shows pretty dramatic frothing. Are these pictures hot or cold. Could be condensation. Check your cylinder compression.

dphantom

pictures are after having the car on idle for about 7 minutes since i haven't driven the car for about 3 weeks

BimmerFan52

Has the car overheated recently? How often are you changing your oil?

Given the recent weather and length of time the car has been sitting I would guess it is condensation, as the previous poster also mentioned. Not good just to let it idle, especially after 3 weeks of not running. Not warming an engine properly before turning it off is where condensation comes from. Drive it for at least 1/2 hour to allow the engine to reach full operating temperature, and give it a good run to blow out the cobwebs.

Then continue to check your stick constantly. If what you saw was the very early stages of a head gasket failing then you want to catch it early. You will see some really milky oil if it is the head gasket as it gets worse and as the coolant percentage increases.

You mentioned a leaking water pump and thermostat. Can you see where it is leaking? Do you know where to look for the weep hole to tell if it is the dreaded water pipe (a common problem on 545's? Use the search function to look at history on this forum for the water pipe, a steel tube that sits in the valley between the heads and takes water from the water pump to the back of the engine to be circulated through the block and then out to the radiator. You may be seeing coolant coming out of the weep hole and mistaking it for the pump or thermostat. The water pipe repair is not as bad as it originally was, but it will still put a pretty good hit to your wallet. If it is the water pipe come back to the forum for recommendations on other things to do PM on while you are in there. Not that we will look for ways to spend more of your money, but some things just make sense to do while the engine is apart.

If you haven't already done preventive maintenance on your entire cooling system you are overdue on a 2004, and now is the time (water pump, thermostat, hoses where required, coolant expansion tank and vent pipe). All these components fail due to wearing out or getting brittle with age and heat.

Also, once you do the PM on the cooling system and things settle back to normal then you can spend $25-$35 and send an oil sample in to a testing lab during your next oil change. It will tell you if you have any water or coolant in the oil, and in what percentages. Even if you don't do your own oil changes, you can give the small sample bottle to your service man to collect the sample for you.

You do not want to overheat that 8 cylinder engine. The BMW 4.4/4.8L has its share of design problems with gaskets and seals, but when it is running properly there is not a sweeter V8 on the planet IMHO.

dphantom

the car is leaking right above serpentine belt, i took it to my indy and he said it was leaking between the thermostat and water pump. the thermostat and pump look old. i recently change the oil and it was black not milky though. ill be changing the water pump and thermostat plus a couple of hoses and expansion tank and some other things this weekend. thanks for the advice

tonyb635

I had a TR7 umteen thousand years ago and it had a similar problem. When I started it, the car blew a lot of smoke that dissipated rather quickly then all was ok for a while. You could see the slight milky situation in the oil cap. About a month later all hell broke lose with a complete head gasket failure, I could have had a small crack in the head that was causing this. On another 528 I had a water pump failure and then after the repair, the car always ran hot at idle but ion the road it was ok. Eventually it turned out to be a head crack that was very small. I never had the water in oil on this car though.

FormerE30Owner

As much as it is tempting to hope that the problem is condensation, the only way water can get into the closed oil system is through a leak from a higher pressure water coolant system.
Condnesation in a properly sealed oil circulation system can happen only if you open the oil filler cap and allow outside moisture into the system, but that small amount is quickly boiled off when the oil gets to temperature. glycol, however, will not boil off, hence the milky emulsion.

I suspect a small leak from the cooling system, possibly the head gasket.

salut, Bob P.

BimmerFan52

Tribologists and engine designers beg to differ with you. Water vapor is a byproduct of combustion blow-by.

Synopsis of a technical paper by SAE Engineer
NOTES ON CRANKCASE CORROSION

A primer
Today's Technician: Automotive Engine Performance Classroom Manual and Shop ... - Ken Pickerill - Google Books

KyleB

FormerE30Owner, I'm sure you're a very nice person, and you probably mean well. But you give some of the most glaring misinformation I've ever seen on this forum. Please stop posting in these kinds of threads.

FormerE30Owner

Well, I think that the causes of water condensation in the crankcase due to blowby gasses containing water as referred to in the 1925 paper have been resolved.

Water does not remain in the oil system once the system has reached operating temperaures and the water vapours are effectively vented through the designed vent systems CCV. Glycol (which was not used extensively in 1925), however, does not boil off and that is what one usually sees as the result of a cooling system leak into the oil system.