p38 2.5 diesel..driving me crazy,overheat issue

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I think mine is either cracked head which is micro small or expansion tank or rust blockage due to pipe at back of engine which is rusted to point of vw bay status....can I use any pipe at back of engine coz I'm not paying island4x4 50 odd quid for bit of steel pipe....some of these prices are seriously wee taking now...
 
johnnysensi said:
I think mine is either cracked head which is micro small or expansion tank or rust blockage due to pipe at back of engine which is rusted to point of vw bay status....can I use any pipe at back of engine coz I'm not paying island4x4 50 odd quid for bit of steel pipe....some of these prices are seriously wee taking now...
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If you have a weep from the pipe across back of head that would give you the problems you have. Causes airlocks in head.
 
Been thinking this wammers.....I'm going to get a bit of steel pipe from somewhere and make my own ...haven't got any money to keep paying for new bits anymore....the pipe is bad when I looked ,also different size to the p38 over the scrapyard...going to replace today and take it London for a trial run in traffic...
 
johnnysensi said:
Been thinking this wammers.....I'm going to get a bit of steel pipe from somewhere and make my own ...haven't got any money to keep paying for new bits anymore....the pipe is bad when I looked ,also different size to the p38 over the scrapyard...going to replace today and take it London for a trial run in traffic...
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When you change it use Jubilee type clips on the curved hose from it to head on N/S of engine. Pipe is a bit of a pig to change aswell. You would be better off with the proper one.
 
Changed all clips....Found my inlet manifold was loose....one nut was nearly off...done em all back up...wow ..I got power now that I never knew I had....and thought this might explain my overheating...Back to square one with the heat issue....Can drive for hours on motorway...stand still on idle and temp goes up but not red ...30secs later it goes down again ....thinking it's the sensor ...no pressure in hoses but losing coolant still...maybe quart of litre out the expansion tank run off....I purchased a expansion from breakers....as my old one was leaking ....tomorrow ...I'm drilling hole in thermostat and buying a new temp sensor.....cor blimmey o reiley....thought I'd update ...got headache with all this ...
 
johnnysensi said:
Changed all clips....Found my inlet manifold was loose....one nut was nearly off...done em all back up...wow ..I got power now that I never knew I had....and thought this might explain my overheating...Back to square one with the heat issue....Can drive for hours on motorway...stand still on idle and temp goes up but not red ...30secs later it goes down again ....thinking it's the sensor ...no pressure in hoses but losing coolant still...maybe quart of litre out the expansion tank run off....I purchased a expansion from breakers....as my old one was leaking ....tomorrow ...I'm drilling hole in thermostat and buying a new temp sensor.....cor blimmey o reiley....thought I'd update ...got headache with all this ...
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If it doesn't overheat when moving and working hard, it still sounds like a viscous fan problem, there is always a heat overhang to dissipate when coming to a halt after a run which can cause a temperature spike if the fan is not doing the business.
If you had diagnostics, you could monitor the temperature on live data. don't forget, the sensor for the gauge is separate from the sensor for the engine ECU.
The water leak will not help as the system will be losing pressure which can lead to localised boiling.
 
This is a new viscous fan which I had to argue with company to exchange ...it's never touching red now ...just goes up to before ...stays there for a while ..and goes straight back down ...I've got obd2 reader and coder...and also got obd2 cables for pc ...wonder if I could find a range rover happy program to run on my pc....I don't think my obd2 reader will read on a diesel range rover,maybe a petrol lol typical....if I could find why the coolant is acting up ,I'm sure this to do with the temp spiking
 
johnnysensi said:
This is a new viscous fan which I had to argue with company to exchange ...it's never touching red now ...just goes up to before ...stays there for a while ..and goes straight back down ...I've got obd2 reader and coder...and also got obd2 cables for pc ...wonder if I could find a range rover happy program to run on my pc....I don't think my obd2 reader will read on a diesel range rover,maybe a petrol lol typical....if I could find why the coolant is acting up ,I'm sure this to do with the temp spiking
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No program to read the diesel ECU, you need specialised kit like Nanocom.:)
 
Datatek said:
No program to read the diesel ECU, you need specialised kit like Nanocom.:)
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I think the BMW forums have some test software by BMW you can get that works with the M51 engine and EDC ECU although BMW call the ECU something different that escapes my memory at the moment. However, the BMW has a different plug so you'd have to work out how the socket they use maps to the OBD-type socket on the Rangie and hope it didn't mess anything else up. Given the fact no-one on here has tried it (that I know of) I'm guessing it either wasn't easy or ended up in disaster. :)
 
I've got bmw software for diesels as my other car is a bmw diesel ...I'll have a go with bmw inpa and report back ...as it goes ...the menu system does include non bmw cars and engines....it listed m51 as a stand alone engine with no model dependent
 
Thought I fixed my problem..but alas no....drive for 40mins uphill,motorway then stop for 1min and go to take off at lights...and temp raises to near red.....drive off and temp goes up to just before red and then goes down to 11oclock....had enough now ....wonder if my thermostat is correct,it a 82° one and it's working but I read it should be 80°...fan working correctly,water pump is a pumping,only other problem is water coming from the overflow pipe when I stop and probably when I'm driving by the looks of it ...and found drips of white oil on my fusebox today...only 2drips....but thought I'd tell ya all in case it's a sign from God loool...drilled a 3.5mm hole in my thermo and bled it good n proper...
 
johnnysensi said:
I've got bmw software for diesels as my other car is a bmw diesel ...I'll have a go with bmw inpa and report back ...as it goes ...the menu system does include non bmw cars and engines....it listed m51 as a stand alone engine with no model dependent
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Did you manage to get the software working. It occurs to me that there's a round plug from the fuel pump on the left hand side of the engine that looks rather like the old BMW diagnostics socket. No idea if they're the same though.
 
I didn't even try after reading some posts on the net mate ...saying it won't work blah blah ..diff software etc etc ...I've got the cable if anyone knows of some freeware that works...there must be a software download of some sort available...seriously thinking it's warped head or cracked or head gasket now ...but if it was ...Would it cool down so quick after overheating...I can overheat one min ,next back down ...go up some major hills,pressure the engine right out and nothing ...stop at Tesco ,get back in it and 2mins getting out of a car park it does this up to near red and back down within2mins...
 
johnnysensi said:
I didn't even try after reading some posts on the net mate ...saying it won't work blah blah ..diff software etc etc ...I've got the cable if anyone knows of some freeware that works...there must be a software download of some sort available...seriously thinking it's warped head or cracked or head gasket now ...but if it was ...Would it cool down so quick after overheating...I can overheat one min ,next back down ...go up some major hills,pressure the engine right out and nothing ...stop at Tesco ,get back in it and 2mins getting out of a car park it does this up to near red and back down within2mins...
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If you are really sure the viscous fan is working correctly, then I would say cracked head, HGF seems to be rare.
 
Are you positive the pump is pumping, once had a pump go where it pumped water but not at pressure and when I remove it from the engine the pump splines just turned on the shaft
 
stemac33 said:
Are you positive the pump is pumping, once had a pump go where it pumped water but not at pressure and when I remove it from the engine the pump splines just turned on the shaft
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+1 to that, the impeller can come loose on the shaft, it pumps a bit at running revs, but does bugger all at idle.
HGF or cracked head usually shows when the engine is under load like going up hill for example.
 
He said it was a new pump.

I've a spare one here if he wants to try it. Probably cheaper to nip down the road to Island than post it to Kent. Unless someone is passing and doesn't mind being a courier.
 
Datatek said:
Might be a ****part pump with a life expectancy of 5 minutes:rolleyes:
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Are they really that bad? I must admit I didn't risk it but surely it'd last 6 months?

The pins used by the diagnostic software will be on the web somewhere. Standard ODBii cable probably won't work. I'd imagine that BMW anpa software probably would if you can get the right pins lined up.
 
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