Can the 4.4i go 8 miles without coolant and survive?

[pepe88]

I talked about the situation here:

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-blew-out.html

the garage I took it to says today that it would not have read hot if all the coolant was gone. I drove for 8 miles at 55 MPH with outside temp of 50. Does the coolant stay in the radiator even if a hose comes off under the expansion tank?

[ncsucarjock]

Who knows??? Every engine responds differently. Your coolant gauge may not move - if there's no coolant in the engine block for the sending unit to send to the gauge, it's going to read the ambient temp around it, which was probably within the parameters of the "12-o-clock" position on the gauge (you really don't think your engine temp is that steady, do you? No - it has a little compensation board built in such that once you get to 170*F it's at 12-o-clock, and stays there, until the temperature greatly exceeds that (probably over 230*F)).

Replace cooling system. Fill with coolant. Drive. See what happens. Smoking from rear? Excessive oil consumption? Knocking? Coolant in oil? You may have gotten lucky, or you may have killed the engine. Your guess is as good as anyone else's at this point...

[Weasel]

Unfortunately the only way to know is to get the cooling system back in tact and bleed properly, then see how she acts. If you caused any damage it would be apparent shortly after getting her running again. Cross your fingers and hope for the best!

[dragoncoach]

It really depends on conditions etc. Only an inspection will tell. Sounds like it may be fine except for replacing the cooling system. I would think you would have pulled over right away after the check coolant warning. Find a safe place to pullover and check out why the light came on. To keep on driving can be, and often is expensive, as described by the above post. It's never a good idea to keep on driving. Just last week our 325 (82K miles) had the same light come on. We got it home and checked the water level and it was low. Added more coolant but got the on and off coolant light and found very small drips under the car. Pressure tested the system and it leaked like you wouldn't believe. We ended up replacing the entire cooling system. Pretty steep but not as much as a rebuilt motor. Hope it all works out well for you!

[bgsquad]

I didn't get it, why didnt' the temp gauge go to the red?

Even if you are running low on coolant (around 40% empty as i understand from your description.. 5 liters out of 13.7, right?) so this means that there was enough coolant for the engine to keep cooling itself below the red... why would the engine be damaged?

Can someone clear this out, it's really important, I have a 01 3.0, it might happen to me: even if the temp is at the center, I might damage my engine???

[Weasel]

If the coolant is low enough to create an air pocket around the the waterpump/thermostat area there will be no waterflow through the engine and if that air pocket is big enough to do that it would not have water to the temp sensor either, leaving it to read just the air in the engine... Basically just pay close attantion to any warning signs/lights and don't ignore any warning messages and you will be fine.

[bgsquad]

Hope so. Thanks weasel...