Hi,

Firstly i'd like to say hello as I am new to the forum.
I picked up my e60 545 last week with 109,000 on the clock
Full serivce history with a full service and inspection carried out at 107,000 miles

This morning driving to work cars driving as it should be, I drop it into DS sports and giveit some on the pedal.
All of a sudden I see white steam coming from the engine shortly followed by WARNING - COOLANT LEVEL TOO LOW.

I turn in to a side street park the car up, get out of the car and there is coolant leaking somewhere from the bottom of the block (can't tell due to the protective cover)

I topped up the coolant with some water and it came straight out.

I've attached some pictures so you can get an idea of where the leak is coming from.
Hopefully it might be a loose/cracked pipe.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

You are going to have to take the guard off to see where it is coming from. The puddle looks like the lower hose is leaking but can't really tell. Take the cover off and put more water in it to see where the leak is.

 

You said car had complete maintenance history but has the normal cooling system weaknesses already been taken care of? If not be ready for a fun(expensive) time.

 

Cars going into the garage next week as I am away for work. Had it towed home. Started car to park it in to the garage. I could hear a squeaking noise from the engine bay. Could this be the water pump. Car was only on for 30 seconds.

 

It very well could be but the water pump would leak that bad if any.

 

Replace upper and lower hoses....thermostat....expansion tank.....if they have never been replaced they are going to fail soon

 

With the car more than 10 years old. I think it's time to replace all the gaskets and hoses in your engine bay. A wise preventive maintenance, that won't make you reach deeper into your wallet later on.

 

It could also be the expansion tank upper radiator plastic vent pipe that has burst, a common failure on the V8s.

Part no. 7 in this diagram: RealOEM.com BMW E60N 550i Cooling water hoses

The cooling system is normally pressurized, so any weakness in the system will fail. That pipe doesn't look like it could leak alot of fluid, but with coolant under pressure, it will.

I too enjoyed a spirited drive one day, only to notice alot of steam rising from the front of the hood. Later on I got the low coolant level warning. I traced the leak to that pipe which had burst.