hi jeroen i'm in with the coolant problem

[france320isco]

well here i am i'm pastelletto, alias francesKo.

today the car was back with the same problem that i've had in the past weeks...water pouring out of the water tank from the long, little 'guard hose' when travelling at 130km/h or more a few minutes.

even if the thermostat opens (i've tryed in the boiling water) i think that it is opening not enough and at the wrong temperature (maybe to high) so i'm going to change it and hope that this will work.

The water pump is new and it is not leaking.

bye jeroen

p.s. does the 320is have a speed sensor that is also a 'phase sensor' or two sensors, one for the speed and one for the phase?

[Jeroen]

Any updates here? I suspect the coolant tank cap!

And yes, the car has a speed and position sensor, both on the bellhousing (the 2 lower sensors as the one on top is for diagnostics only).

[ItalianM3]

what do you mean by "pouring out" when you stop the car and have a look at the overflow pipe it is wet yes? Also you have lost coolant?

Does your exhaust smell sweet? does your exhaust smoke longer than normal on a cold day?

It seems there is a bit of an issue needing the head bolts tightened!

I replaced the head gasket on mine when I was loosing coolant like you.
The gasket was fine but I am sure some seals were not tight enough. Now it is back together it is fine.

[Jeroen]

But then your spark plugs should have different colors... showing which cilinder(s) is(are) leaking and burning coolant.

[ItalianM3]

Well my spark plugs were all the same with no difference in colour, there was no fouling anywhere. I definatly had coolant going through the exhaust.

It only happened at high rpms 4,500 and above and this would sent it out of the overflow pipe mostly and the exhaust! There were no cracks in the head and no oil in coolant, coolant in oil.

Maybe it was the seals from the pipe above the exhaust manifold as these just have rubber O rings that cannot hold the pressure when they have aged.

I have also noticed a significant drop in the coolant pressure (hose to the top of the rad, squeezing it) since the gaskets have been replaced!

It even still bewilders me as to what was going on, I never had a hard time starting the car from cold or hot, even if coolant was seeping into one of the cylinders.

I also had nothing come up from a carbon monoxide test on the coolant tank. Pressure test revealed nothing as the pressure was kept.

Oh well all good now.

If it was happening to me now though, I would have put in some of this coolant stuff in that has little bits of glass in it first before I take the head off! Just keep an eye on the pressure and the Temperature.

[france320isco]

..thank you jeroen, unfortunately it was the head gasket that was burnt really badly between 2 and 3 cylnder. when over 4500 for a while this was causing the air to be 'compressed' also in the coolant pipes. And loss of compression power and torque of course did take place.

Now it has been replaced + 4 bosch plugs + valve adjustement+ new tensioner (upgrade) + fan refurbishing.

It is really another engine now...

[hardtailer]

did you have the cylinder head check for flatness before refitting it?
Chances are it is no longer flat after a burnt through head gasket. In that case the new gasket is not going to last very long and you might encounter coolant loss problems soon again.

[france320isco]

obviously it was custom machined before the refitting to flat it to a value of roughly -0.04mm.
It has been some months now. I've had also a dyno test recently. 184cv. I'm very happy

thanks for the advice indeed