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'94 318i loosing water?

2K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  drivinfaster 
#1 ·
Hi,
My '94 M42 318i appears to be blowing water (coolant) out the exhaust. I don't see any blackening of the remaining water or see any water in the engine oil? Could it still be a head gasket? What else could it be? Is there another way that it could be getting to the exhaust? I'll pull the plugs tomorrow and see if there's a difference between them? Are head gaskets or anythung else that could cause this a common problem for these engines?

Thanks,
 
#2 ·
Hmm. :confused:

Coolant in the exhaust? Never heard of that one mate!!! How much are you loosing here? How quickly do you have to top it up?

Are there white deposits around the head/block? Have you checked the hoses for cracks/perishing around the ends?

Please dont think Im discounting what you say about the exhaust - I just have never heard of that before.

PS - How do you know it is coolant coming from the exhaust? Engines do produce water as a by-product of the combustion process...
 
#4 ·
Hmm. :confused:

Coolant in the exhaust? Never heard of that one mate!!! How much are you loosing here? How quickly do you have to top it up?
Excessive white clouds coming from the tailpipe is one of the number one symptoms of a failed head gasket. Coolant gets into the combustion chambers and is vaporized. Comes out of the tailpipe in the form of white vapor clouds.
 
#3 ·
A couple of questions:

1) Most cars will have white clouds coming from their tailpipes in cooler months, especially when driving the car around for the first 15-20 minutes. It is just condensation buildup that is being burned off, and is totally normal. Is your car doing something different?

2) Is your coolant level okay?

3) When you say you didn't see any water in your oil, is that to say that your oil does not look like a milkshake?
 
#5 ·
Be a man! If it states sweet: it is coolant. if it tastes just like something gross that rolls out of a tailpipe.... its just condensation from the engine.
 
#8 · (Edited)
HG failures due to overheating and the associated head warpage usually connect the oil circulation and coolant circulation and cause oil and coolant mixing, loss of compression in adjacent cylinders, etc. A HG failure due to corrosion can just connect a combustion chamber and coolant passage, and you will see vapor in the exhaust and well as loss of coolant. For this type of HG failure you should also see lowered compression in one cylinder typically. If you do you can connect compressed air into the spark plug hole and then remove the coolant cap and look for bubbles to start showing up as air leaks from the cylinder into the coolant to verify the low compression is from a head gasket issue.
Note that you need to have the engine rotated so that both valves for the cylinder in questions are closed when you do the compressed air leakage test.....
 
#11 ·
no. and you may not even notice milky oil. it depends on the location and severity of the breech. this is the most accurate way to determine a breeched hg. napa has a similar set up. they all pretty much work the same. co2 (by product of combustion) changes the color of the fluid. much more accurate than using an emission sniffer.

http://www.arrowheadradiator.com/head_gasket_or_combustion_leak_test.htm

df
 
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