Blown Head Gasket Symptoms

DD I saw your water pump post and thought it might be internal, after all, if it were external there would be signs on the outside. I am going to take the plugs out and see what they are like first (now I have got the tank and airbox off!). The only slight mystery to me is that if I put water in the expansion tank it runs straight out of the overflow onto the floor. I have taken the rad cap off and put water in but that just disappears! TBH it seemed to start too easily to be HGF but more investigation required!

 

Its a 1999 955i so no dipstick just the old fashioned sight glass! Mind you I think I have some McD wood stirrers somewhere which will work just as well!

 

DD that is a good idea. I have been thinking that if it is the head then it will take more water as it is quite high. If it is the pump then it will drain out quicker as it is lower and gravity is assisting pushing it past the seals. I will still try some McD sticks as the wood should show any water and oil levels as they will separate a bit and oil floats.

 

Whipped the plugs out tonight and none have been steam cleaned. Had another look at the milky oil level and it is higher than I thought, much higher. So looking like a leaky water pump. When I get time I’ll drain the oil and then try DD’s idea about leaving the sump plug out and topping up the coolant.

 

Good point! The radiator is full and squeezing the pipes pushes water out so the sump may be quite full! I also checked the level against the height of the water pump and they appear to match so the pump may be the culprit.

 

Well I drained the sump and although there is water in it there was far less than I expected. So I thought I would check the water pump as the I could not get the water to go down, if that makes sense. Took the cover off, after draining the coolant (well water) and found..... the impeller vanes on the floor as I removed the cover. So I think the vanes were pushing the spigot to one side slightly and allowing water to gradually get past the seal. So new pump required!

 

I don’t think it should look like this!