Car shakes and coolant oozing out of expansion tank

[Riverfish]

Hi, 

 

Would appreciate some advice here.  Mine is a 2007 BMW 523i.  A few days ago the warning light came on with "engine oil level too low" so on Sunday I topped up about 2L (maybe a bit more) of Shell Helix 5w40.  Today when my wife drove it home the car started to shake badly, and after parking there was a lot of yellow/brownish liquid on the floor.  I opened the bonnet and saw what appears to be coolant oozing out of the expansion tank.  The tank cap still looked intact, though. The tank is a genuine BMW one and was replaced a few months ago only.  As the car was still hot I didn't dare to open the expansion tank cap.  

 

Could this be due to engine oil overfill?  But why would that cause coolant overflowing?  Or the expansion tank or somewhere in the cooling system leaked (it seemed to be slowly leaking so I topped up with distilled water some time ago)?  Could that cause the car to shake?  

 

No engine overheat warning came up, though. 

 

Any advice will be appreciated! 

[LoverofCar]

Looks like your radiator is not doing it job. Could be a clogged radiator and the overflow from the reserve tank is due to coolant boiling.

Edited July 5, 2016 by LoverofCar

[Kb27]

Engine oil, slow leak, found its way into the cooling system.

Push the coolant out of the expansion tank.

 

Dunno design of BMW, but VW is usually due to oil cooler broken. Oil go into coolant, coolant is nothing but black engine oil, engine overheat.

[Soundphile]

2L definitely too much when u received the warning msg. U should top 1L max.

 

Could be a crack at the expansion tank, hard to advise without seeing the actual scenario. This aging BMW coolant system can be rather tricky at times. Watch out for the vacuum top hose, prone to crack too.

[Yeobt]

i dont know about yours, but mine was quite similar and later found to have blown engine block casket. 

[Kr_toy]

i dont know about yours, but mine was quite similar and later found to have blown engine block casket.

This is most likely what happen

[Watwheels]

Head gasket needs to be replace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eaI78NMgBY

 

Just watch him explain from 0:40 to 1:33

 

Although this car is subaru head gasket failure applies to all cars.

 

Once there's head gasket failure means coolant will leak into the combustion chamber....look out for white smoke in your exhaust.

 

Whenever the pistons are doing the upward stroke it will push some of the engine oil, petrol and air (aka air fuel mixture) through the gasket leak and into your coolant. Just like what is explained on the video. Car is shaking becoz the engine is struggling to produce power due to the leak. Plus coolant(or water) that has entered the combustion chamber cannot be compressed. Just imagine you add water into fuel and light it up using a match.

 

This will explain why brownish coolant is overflowing from your radiator. It's a mixture of oil, petrol and coolant. Not to mention air being pushed into the radiator the pressure built up must be high. Luckily you didn't try to remove the radiator cap. Your face will confirm be gone.

 

I wouldn't try to drive the car. Call for a tow truck. I think your new radiator might be in trouble with so much pressure built up in there.

 

It's going to be labour intensive. Overhauling the engine for clean up is a must. Overhauling the new radiator, clean up, pressure test for leaks. The head gasket is cheap to replace. You will be paying a lot for labour and loss of car usage can be up to a week or two depending on how busy is your workshop.

Edited July 5, 2016 by Watwheels

[Riverfish]

Head gasket needs to be replace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eaI78NMgBY

 

Just watch him explain from 0:40 to 1:33

 

Although this car is subaru head gasket failure applies to all cars.

 

Once there's head gasket failure means coolant will leak into the combustion chamber....look out for white smoke in your exhaust.

 

Whenever the pistons are doing the upward stroke it will push some of the engine oil, petrol and air (aka air fuel mixture) through the gasket leak and into your coolant. Just like what is explained on the video. Car is shaking becoz the engine is struggling to produce power due to the leak. Plus coolant(or water) that has entered the combustion chamber cannot be compressed. Just imagine you add water into fuel and light it up using a match.

 

This will explain why brownish coolant is overflowing from your radiator. It's a mixture of oil, petrol and coolant. Not to mention air being pushed into the radiator the pressure built up must be high. Luckily you didn't try to remove the radiator cap. Your face will confirm be gone.

 

I wouldn't try to drive the car. Call for a tow truck. I think your new radiator might be in trouble with so much pressure built up in there.

 

It's going to be labour intensive. Overhauling the engine for clean up is a must. Overhauling the new radiator, clean up, pressure test for leaks. The head gasket is cheap to replace. You will be paying a lot for labour and loss of car usage can be up to a week or two depending on how busy is your workshop.

 

Many thanks.  Some bro up there suggested I topped up too much engine oil.  Could the head gasket failure be caused by engine oil overfill?  I intend to send the car to a workshop that's about 10 mins drive from my home but even that short drive is not advisable? 

[Riverfish]

i dont know about yours, but mine was quite similar and later found to have blown engine block casket. 

 

Thanks.  Mind sharing your repair cost, and how long it took?   

[Hamburger]

Too much EO will cause your engine to overwork.

 

Just imagine walking thru a pool of water at ankle level and the other at knee cap level and you would get the picture. That's what your con rod is going through.

 

 

I personally know of a estima overfilled with EO and suffered engine failure that needed a overhaul.

 

Btw, drive a beemer and you know not that it's a standard to add 1L?

[Shibadog]

on some  engine types at least, overfilling engine oil by a significant margin causes the oil to foam when the engine is running.

 

this eventually  causes overheating and heat-related issues, such as head gasket failure..

[Yeobt]

Thanks.  Mind sharing your repair cost, and how long it took?   

 

i was quoted $500+ 

 

it involves removing the whole engine block, therefore the costs is subjected to the design of your engine bay and parts.

[Amazon777]

Hi,

 

Would appreciate some advice here. Mine is a 2007 BMW 523i. A few days ago the warning light came on with "engine oil level too low" so on Sunday I topped up about 2L (maybe a bit more) of Shell Helix 5w40. Today when my wife drove it home the car started to shake badly, and after parking there was a lot of yellow/brownish liquid on the floor. I opened the bonnet and saw what appears to be coolant oozing out of the expansion tank. Any advice will be appreciated!

Are you refering to attach pics? My buddy 8yrs old 630i hit the same issue. He spent $870 parts from stockist(cheaper compare asking workshop to buy) and $360 labour. Stop driving your car and sent it for repair asap. Workshop said out of 10 cars, 7 can be repaired for this amount. If there is other major faults, advised to scrap the car if not cost effective. My buddy 630i repaired for abt 3mths. So far so good, should be able to last till scrap. Many pro BMW workshop should be repaired this. Let me know if you want to know the workshop my buddy sent to who allow him to buy his own parts.

Edited July 6, 2016 by Amazon777

[mersaylee]

Why 2 oil coolers at different prices?

[Amazon777]

Why 2 oil coolers at different prices?

It different part number probably could be truncated short description from their inventory system printout.

[Watwheels]

Many thanks.  Some bro up there suggested I topped up too much engine oil.  Could the head gasket failure be caused by engine oil overfill?  I intend to send the car to a workshop that's about 10 mins drive from my home but even that short drive is not advisable? 

 

Head gasket failure has to do with the car's age. It's a seal. Over time it will crack. It's not caused by engine oil overfill.

 

Call a tow truck. If you continue to drive...I do not know whether you had seen the video I posted. The angmoh say it will lead to catastrophic engine failure.It could do thing like crack the piston, crack the cylinder liner, damage the con rod maybe. I'm sure you had experience whereby hot metal surface come in contact with water. It might cause things to crack as a result. I do not know how much damage has already been done. It's up to you to decide.

 

If you do not know what is a gasket the next best thing to do is to Google for an image.

Edited July 6, 2016 by Watwheels

[Watwheels]

Ok. How to know the head gasket has been compromised?

Ppl has many terms for it.

1) Blown engine.

2) Blown gasket.

Some ppl think the engine explodes.

 

First tell tale sign is sudden significant loss in power. Followed by white smoke coming out of your exhaust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjdHgI-zUiQ&hl=en-GB&gl=SG

Pay attention to the 3rd Ferrari.

You can FF to 0:22 if you are impatient.

 

I have seen ppl still try to accelerate hard when white smoke is coming out from the exhaust (loss of power so step harder on the gas pedal). White smoke is the coolant in contact with the hot metal internals of the engine. Hot metal surface plus water it will cause a lot of damage to the engine parts. Stop the car immediately by the road side and call for a tow truck. When your car is old do not push it to high revs or redline it.

 

IMO to see that the radiator or coolant reservoir is overflowing with blackish liquid....is kinda late.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2016 by Watwheels

[Doppel]

Sorry to hear about your predicament.

 

But why did you add 2 liters (maybe even a bit more) all at one go?

 

In my Toyota car manual (I know yours is a BMW), it instructed not to add more than 0.5 liter at any one time, and recheck the engine oil level (using dipstick); if still too low, then replenish further.

 

Is it true BMW do not have dipsticks for checking engine oil level, can only assess the engine oil level via i-Drive?

 

Anyway, all the best for your repairs (it sounds serious).