Hey everyone,

Looking for some help or a second opinion. Just bought a E60 but had an issue. Yellow gunk is all in the cooling system. Im flushing the cooling system out tomorrow and going to place an order for a new water pump, radiator and termostat. I did a compression check on the cylinders and got 220-230. I couldnt check the cylinder closes to the firewall, to small to get ito. Could it be possible that the transmission cooler is faulty? Engine oil level from the instrument says its Ok. I checked the powersteering fluid and its ok. Only oil I could think of is the transmission fluid. But isnt the fluid a different color than yellowish/brown? The previous owner said it over heated and was towed to his house. I would love to fix this but understand what exactly happened ask well. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

OUCH! The last time I've seen something like that was when I was 17 yrs old and my dad bought me a Triumph TR-7 with 9,000 on it. When to the beach and got stuck in a lot of traffic and blew a head gasket. When we looked inside the oil filler cap it was very creamy and milky. The car was still drivable but when I started it after it sat for a while it would blow white smoke out the exhaust which dissipated pretty quickly. After about a minute the car sounded ok for a 17 yr old. I made it home but days later the car was dead. Overheating and a head gasket failure was my problem. Maybe when your car overheated it caused some damage to the head gasket? I also had a old 528 many years ago that overheated and it actually cracked the head! I didn't know this for about a year after driving it and could figure out why it was always getting near the hot red line when around town. Eventually I took it to a mechanic and he pulled the head and sent it out. Got a call the next day telling me it was cracked and the cost to repair the car. I sold it for junk!

 

Yep..looks like the head gasket is gone....the head may need to be skimmed, take it to a trustworthy indy and they'll sort it out.

 

When my ATF cooler broke that was the colour i got in the expansion tank. Anyways in my opinion, to confirm if it is the block, when the engine is at operating temperature, open the engine oil cover. If there is water vapour, it is definately coming from the engine.

 

Indeed - 80% chance it's a head gasket. Did you ever notice white exhaust smoke?? That's another tip-off. If you're lucky and the car wasn't run overheated the head may not be warped. It's very important not to run the engine if there's any chance the head gasket is blown - coolant could get sucked into a combustion chamber and hydrolock the engine or worse!!

Did you buy this car knowing there was a "serious" issue? The repair isn't going to be cheap - even at an indy

 

Judging from the color that looks like transmission fluid to me.

 

It is definitely a problem. Flushing the cooling system won't fix it. You have either engine oil or transmission fluid mixing with the coolant. Not sure off hand if there is a simple procedure to decide which one it is. Have you checked the oil and tranny fluid levels?

You can't drive like this. Your car will overheat at some point. I've been there before in a long ago car.

 

I hope you did not buy this car ...it may need a whole engine. I think in BMW head cases ...its not very good to try to fix , but rather swap engines. It is more cost effective, and less headache.

 

most likly is the trans cooler leak. if itis the engine, coolant will be in the engine, not oil in the coolant. but still need to have the cooling system flashed, washed to get rid of all the crap.

 

what color is the oil on the dipstick?
did you check under the oil cap ?

it looks like the head gasket is gone...