It's Dead, Jim ('01 3.0i)
 

2001 (09/2000 mfr date) X5 3.0i, 180k miles. While staying 3 hours out of town for a couple nights, we overheated and likely lost the engine. Hoping to document and discuss here the process of diagnosing and possibly repairing the damage.



Brief summary of events (thinking back; did not register all of these as related at the time):

1. Cold wet morning, quite a lot of vapor coming out of the exhaust while the car was idling as we loaded up. In hindsight, it was "steaming" out the tailpipes more than I normally see on any of our cars (M54 Z3 and S54 M3 included).
2. Parked near our first stop of the day in town and we notices steam coming from the driver's front wheel well. Figured after the last 24 hours of rain, it was from remaining water and puddles on the roads.
3. On our way to our 2nd stop for the day, we noticed the engine was having a tough time idling. By the time I found a spot to park, the car was barely running. That's when I noticed the temp gauge was pegged at max. Opened the hood and saw coolant splashed everywhere and a bit of steam.
4. Got a U-Haul + trailer and towed the stricken vehicle home.

In trying to piece together what happened, my best guess is: head gasket. Coolant got into a cylinder over night or at idle, then highway/city driving and increased cylinder pressure sent gases into the cooling system causing it to pop and leak the coolant out.


I'm planning on doing a compression test later this week, but I am assuming the block or head will be warped after such an egregious overheating episode. My wife and I have a decision: fix it or look for a new one. We have put a lot of work into this X5 over the last few years, and we just bought all the parts to do an HVAC system overhaul. As I dig into it, it'll probably become clear what we need to do. Anyone have experience getting an overheated 3.0i back on the road?

If you didn't get the overheat until the last minute it's quite likey no head damage. There are numerous threads on replace head gasket on m54 and apparently one of the easiest engines to do this repair.


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My guess is that you were leaking coolant on start-up... and maybe before that.

In CA, I bet this car has seen some traffic... I would check to see if both fans are working..Do the newspaper test on the mech fan... The fans do fail and will not generally give a code.

I have done a head gasket on my '05 3.0...It's easy...even for a first-timer. We can talk you through it.

I rent the time-sert tools.

Up to you whether to buy another one..They are pretty cheap...But if your X5 is in good shape and you like it, I would fix it.

You can try and put more coolant in it and see if it holds, but I think the head has to come off... it will give you a chance to replace coolant pipes and a few other things.. Compression test might not tell you much...I had coolant pooling in cylinder 6 yet I had good compression on all 6 cylinders. I think swabbing the cylinders for coolant the morning after running it to op temp is a better test.

Blocks can and do warp, but the likely issue in your case is that the head is warped and the block is okay...

Dive in, man...

Thanks for the encouraging words. You’re right, it was probably leaking coolant before that morning startup. First objective when I start digging in is to find the coolant leak. I just want to know what failed there. Fans are in good operating order; mech fan passes the newspaper test and the electric fan seems to operate normally. The coolant pipes under the intake are only about a year old and the hoses all looked intact, so my money is in the expansion tank or radiator.

I worry about head warpage mainly because I do not know how long the temps were so high. I did not have the presence of mind to glance at the coolant temp gauge until I shut the engine off. The engine developed a knocking sound right before I shut it off; could have just been detonation?

Did you see the $1500 X5 on the Craigslist post? It needs a head gasket.

Wow! One more reason for me to replace a new installed expansion tank. The coolant level warning won't turn off. I would say without a current refresh, we should check fluids once a week. Even pressure test before a long trip.

Good luck!

Don't worry about head being warped...it is...but most of the time a machinist will take care of that for $250-$300.

If it is too far gone, - which I and my machinist believe is when it is warped 12 thousandths of an inch or more - I just go find a good used cylinder head..

The M54/M52tu cylinder head is really the key to life to these engines. I have 3 on the shelf ready to go.

It's Dead, Jim ('01 3.0i)
 

This is sounding more encouraging! Thankfully there are at least a couple machinists in town (small town) I can get it measured and machined at.

I saw that Craigslist X5. Super tempting if it was local to me since it’s an LCI. I’ve put so much into my ‘01 though: factory tow hitch, t-case rebuild and front propshaft, new brakes and master cylinder, oil pan gasket, cats, windshield, airbag module, window regulators, door handle carriers…plus it was spec’d with the sport package which is fun.

There is a part of me that wants to fly into Dallas or wherever that X5 with blown head gasket is, with a fresh cylinder head, gaskets, bolts, some tools ..fix it in 2 days, and drive it home.

Not wild about its gray interior, but that's a preference...and one that could be changed also...

If I had the time to do that... Imagine trying to get a cylinder head through TSA, much less hoist it into the overhead. 🤣

The prior owner of my X changed out the beige seats and everything else below the beltline with black stuff from a donor, including door panels, and aside from the seatbelts. That must have been a LOT of work. I dislike black interiors though, gets super-hot in the summer.

The hot in summer is ok in winter. I park facing south in winter to get pre heated seats. My first X5 was black everything and when I bought the AC wasn't working so for a road trip was hell. After vacuum and fill of freon find out the damned pressure switch wasn't plugged in!

Ugh. Yeah in winter that's fine. It rarely gets much below freezing here, although we did get some wet sloppy snow last xmas. People lost their damn minds...

Hot in Georgia isn't the same as hot in Wisconsin though 🥵

I've driven black leather black top car in tx in summer. You learn quick to park butt into the sun.

It's Dead, Jim ('01 3.0i)
 

Update: The oil is dark but no sign of coolant in it. Ran the engine for several seconds. It runs without a knock and sounds smooth after the VANOS settles in (gotta fix that). I’m thinking I’ll have to pull the head regardless to be sure.

I found the leak culprit: the trans cooler! [emoji2357] The retaining clip is just gone. I don’t even know how that happens.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...878f0154af.jpg

Edit: wrong cooler

No need to jump the gun. Get the test kit to sniff for exhaust in the coolant.

Wife had expansion tank rip in half drive about a mile to a parking lot and then after letting it cool I drive about another mile to where I work on cars. She saw the needle go red and steam from the front when she called me.

Engine got pretty hot but no damage out at least 10,000 miles on before trading up.

I finally got the clip to secure the trans cooler. Started filling the system with coolant and after about 3/4 to 1 gallon heard a dripping noise. I have a leak somewhere near the two hard coolant pipes under the intake manifold; the pipes themselves were replaced ~2000 miles ago. The heater pipe connection appears to be okay. I can't get a good view of the return pipe connection, so I might have to pull the intake manifold to get a closer look.


Is there anything it would make sense to check before pulling the intake? Coolant in the cylinders, compression test? I can't imagine the head could warp so much as to cause an open leak when cold, but I'm new to blowing engines :)

Can you move the power steering reservoir for a better look? A mirror or scope camera can work.

I stuck a bore scope in there and could not determine where the leak originates. I could see a drip into a pool of coolant in one of the cast webbing features in the block just below the pipe connections.

A Harbor Freight pressure kit works great for coolant checks. I checked mine thoroughly before installing the intake. The yellow adapter fits the expansion tank. After testing all the pipes, I found the water pump was also dripping. The o-ring was flat. A new steel impeller pump was installed.

It's Dead, Jim ('01 3.0i)
 

Well the leak is at the heater pipe. The intake had a bit of dripping oil in the runners but the CCV was replaced not too long ago. I scoped a couple cylinders and they were normal looking, a bit of flaking carbon on the pistons.

Compression test results:
1: 182 psi
2: <30 psi
3: 180 psi
4: <30 psi
5: 180 psi
6: 168 psi

From sticking my crappy bore scope down there I can’t tell anything obviously wrong with pistons 2 and 4.

Doesn't really matter at this point. Your compression losses are either: due to warped valves and they don't seal and air either goes to the intake or exhaust side. Or, breaks in the head gasket where air can exit into the coolant system.

In order to determine which, you need to get a leak-down testing tool. Compressed air at 10-20 lbs is sent to your cylinder while at TDC and if you see bubbling in the coolant tank that's a failed head gasket. If all the air rushes through exhaust or intake, your engine head valves no good.

If just the head gasket, go ahead and replace it.

If bad valves, Buy a known good used engine from wrecker, take the head off, install onto your existing block. Run compression test again, more likely than not going to solve the issue the most inexpensive and quick solution.

Before replacing head or gasket, did you put any oil in the two leaky cylinders? I've read it's common to put a tsp of oil in the cylinder for the compression test but then +1 on the advice above.

Another tool I get to add to my box it seems. Hopefully I’ll run that down this week. Fingers crossed for a head gasket but there was almost nothing on 2 and 4, it sounded like how kicking over a bike with no rings left feels.

Regardless of head issues, is there any reason I should be concerned about the block? Seems the head is what sees the most extreme temps.

This has been an interesting exercise in troubleshooting. I’ve not had to do this on a 4-stroke engine before (let alone a car).

when you take the engine head off, you can use a flat-edge and feeler gauge to measure for block warpage and the maximum variance will be listed in the engine specifications. it usually doesn't happen as it's most often the head that warps.

If like you said, cylinders 2 and 4 have 30, you should have noticed the engine misfiring when you started the car. In your earlier post, I thought you said the engine ran smooth.

I would agree with the other post above, add a tea spoon of oil in cylinders 2 and 4 and check for compression again. I had noticed this in my 330i a few years ago where I did a compression test on a healthy engine and I remember cylinder 1 had 30 psi. I added a spoon of oil to all the cylinders and it helped.

I’ll check them again with some oil squirted in. The engine did seem to run smooth when I started it last week, no misfires.

You want to confirm not the rings brie you decide to do head job so hopefully you get some pressure even if not great. Changing out a valve or three not bad at all. I had to do 8/32 the last time I did a head overhaul. (broken timing chain whacked 1/3 of the valves)

Do you have an air compressor? Can you do a leak down test?

It's Dead, Jim ('01 3.0i)
 

I do have an air compressor but no leak down kit. It’s easy enough to retry the compression test with a squirt of oil in 2 and 4 that I’ll do that first.

Edit: I did try multiple runs on cylinders 2 and 4, so it shouldn’t be a gauge seating issue. Hard to believe that the rings could be so dry that they don’t seal worth a damn anymore but testing again is not a huge endeavor.

You can probably borrow a free leak-down tester from one of the auto part chains... it will likely tell you where the leak is... although if you are still low on compression after putting a little oil in cylinders, it won't matter much...the head has to come off.

I have seen only one instance where a piston or piston ring failure has caused the kind of compression loss you are seeing...It's almost always in the valves...or the head gasket..

Yep but def want to eliminate that possibilty since it's relatively easy


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this is either your taking the compression test wrong (not fully insert oring / thread from compression hose) because no ignition on two cylinders would register as misfire and you would feel large engine shakes.

do the compression test again, don't get distracted by the other 9 people here telling you to pour spoonfuls of oil and sugar inside your cylinder it's doing nothing but waste time in your diagnose. do the job properly, move forwards.

I am curious why you say that putting some oil in the cylinders doesn't help? Fuel tends to wash away the oil that is on the cylinder walls and sometimes doesn't help seal the rings. I've ran into this issue with my car, but like I said curious to know your thoughts.

that's not how it works. compression tests are to be performed with the fuel and ignition disabled. so if you're washing away your cylinder with fuel when doing this test first of all you're doing it wrong.

because the troubleshooting process for adding oil into the cylinder only makes sense if you first register a 150 psi and you can determine that your rings are clogged / worn out if you see an improvement of 190psi. minimum pressure for fuel ignition is 140psi. it's basically an indicator if you should plan for an engine rebuild or try to add an oil additive like MMO or autorx and check again compression at the next oil change to track for improvement.

when there's 30psi in a cylinder oil added is not going to tell you anything useful. :iagree:

It's Dead, Jim ('01 3.0i)
 

I retried a compression test on 2 and 4. Still sub-30 psi.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e16cdddbc7.jpg

I did a poor man’s leak down test on #2 and #4. Pulled the 1-way valve out of one of the compression tester adapters and shot 40psi compressed air in. Definitely air coming out of the exhaust side on cylinder 2, but air coming out the intake side on 4. Yes they were at TDC. Upon further investigation of #4 with a bore scope, there’s a bunch of crap (looks like flaked carbon buildup) on the valves and in the intake runners. Cylinder 3, below, is clean by comparison on the seating surface. I would suspect #2 is like this as well on the exhaust side.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a8d85b17f3.jpg

I ran some fogging oil for men and compressed air through #2 and #4 with the intake and then exhaust valves cracked open. #2 got up to 140psi on the gauge. Okay.

I gave everyone a couple shots of oil from the little oil can, and re-ran the compression test:

1: 200
2: 220
3: 210
4: 240
5: 215
6: 225

At this point I’m planning to patch up the cooling system and run the engine to check for gas.

Not sure exactly how to explain your results but seems like adding the oil was sealing the valve seats ?
I feel like you should take the head off and get it pressure tested and rebuilt.

It's Dead, Jim ('01 3.0i)
 

Yeah maybe the oil is covering up a problem. But, again, this is my first go at troubleshooting this kind of thing.

Just cleaning the valve seat surface as much as I was able to seemed to take care of a majority of the problem, and explains the audibly smooth running I heard before I tore in.

I re-skimmed this thread from beginning...it's a bit crazy

-Overheat and possible warped head. Car towed home
-Multiple coolant leaks, including from recently installed hard coolant pipes.
-Low compression on 2 cylinders magically goes away with a little oil.

Since the car has not been sitting long, and hasn't been driven in a cold climate, and hasn't had trouble starting (no mention of it) I doubt it is bore wash on cylinders 2 & 4 although its a remote possibility..

A head scratcher for sure, let's see if compression in #2 & #4 remains.

It's Dead, Jim ('01 3.0i)
 

Yeah it’s been a roller coaster for sure. Thinking the engine is toast, it’s maybe not, the head’s probably toast, maybe it’s not…

It’s never been hard to start. Used to get a misfire every once in a while but new coils and plugs fixed that maybe 1,000 miles ago. Compression tests were done with the intake off so no cylinder washing would have happened. The car is sitting outside but the intake ports are plugged with paper towels and the little air swirler ports are plugged with vacuum caps.

The only thing I can think of is that flaky carbon buildup I saw got on the valves and borked the seal pretty bad. Best case is that’s the only issue, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the valves end up having more problems than just being dirty. I reeeeeeeally would like to get away with not pulling the head off this thing, but we’ll see.

I really appreciate all the support and suggestions so far, guys. Thank you!

Wow! What kind of camera did you use? Picture detail is nice!

Carbon flakes may come off with FI cleaner.

If it has not run for a while, some valves are open or not seated properly.

I have the Ames 2.7”, $90 at HF. Had to take a pic of the screen with my phone.

The engine last ran on the 23rd or 24th of December, so not even a month yet.

Same thing happened to me
 

Wow...I was just skimming this thread because I recently just blew my 3.0i due to complete coolant loss and this is exactly the same thing that happened to me. My trans cooler popped off and I had no idea the coolant had dumped out and engine was overheating until the car starting idling rough at a stoplight before I got home and then died. I just barely made it home and it started knocking a bit as I pulled into the garage. I didn't realize the car was overheating because I was previously having issues with my coolant gauge pegging to the right on startup, and my in cabin heat was not working either. So when I was driving without heat on a very cold day (-25C) I expected it was the cold weather causing the issues with the rough running of the car. Unexpectedly as I popped the hood it was steaming and I realized the car had been overheating at that point.

The next day I discovered the coolant leak came from the trans cooler popping off because the clip was askew. I fully expect that this had happened upon me reinstalling the fan and shroud and accidentally knocking that clip for the trans cooler with the shroud. I'm surprised this isn't a common issue documented on this forum because it is SUPER easy to hit that clip with the fan shroud and knock it loose. Even when carefully re-installing the shroud I checked from beneath and saw I knocked it again. So note to anyone reading this, check your trans cooler clip each time you re-install the fan shroud.

Anyways, I poured coolant back into the system and ran it and noticed a leak from the coolant tubes under intake so I had replaced those because it basically disintegrated where it enters into the head. Once I replaced those the car ran fine for a couple of days and then developed a misfire on cyl 3 and 4, and started over pressurizing out of the expansion tank cap. It was at this point I realized that this was more than likely a head gasket failure.

This was about 2 days before I needed to leave for work and I'm not back until June of this year...so my wife just bought a beater car until I get back to replace the head gasket. We put the car up for sale thinking someone would buy it for 3k CAD as it's near perfect paint and body with zero rust but only a couple tire kickers. We've decided to keep the car as it really is comfortable and drives great and you can't get this much luxury in a used car for that price in the used car market anymore these days. I'll spend the time and money to just fix it myself so we can keep driving this thing...

I've come to same realization. I can put in a fully rebuilt n55 in my e70 for not half what best case scenario finding an equivalent replacement.

Make a thread for your HG job when you do it people will be very interested

Glad I’m not the only one who feels this way about their E53! Makes me feel a little less crazy. I’ve been on business travel the last few weeks so I haven’t had a chance to get back to work. Once I’m back and I get the E46 off its jacks I’ll get back to work on the X.

I don't think the compression test results make sense. I don't think you're getting the gauge to seal on those two. And when you put oil down in there there was some oil sitting on the metal ledge that helped the gauge seal. I would maybe try another gauge. Unplug the injectors and make sure you're holding the throttle down.

Dry v.s. wet the oil should help a few PSI if you have piston ring issues. Which you probably would have known if you had and you wouldn't have gotten from losing coolant.

If it's running okay and isn't smoking, it can't possibly have 30 PSI on two cylinders.

I've blown coolant on my b58 and m52 and both were fine after hitting the red. Maybe I'm just lucky but I think it's overstated. And I think people also overstate the head gasket job and many end up junked over a medium amount of work.

I saw that one on Craigslist too and really wanted to go get it. Mine doesn't have a roof and a tow hitch yet but if it did .. that was a good buy.

Well, I’m perplexed. Replaced the heater pipe and that took care of the last of the leaks. Then I reassembled the engine to get it to a running state.

First start. Idling a little lumpy. I let the engine continue up to operating temp, HVAC heater on high and fan on. Throughout the warmup, I got no hint of exhaust gas in the coolant. Once the thermostat opened up, a rush of gas came through until the coolant hit the tester in the filler neck. No change in the test fluid. Shut the engine off to avoid too much of a mess. Here’s some videos of the lumpy idle:

https://youtu.be/QnOdEsyxqm8?si=XqiDUoQtbQmMh01q

https://youtu.be/a6oymgFkHS0?si=Y94G3IWHkUffKYBy

Second start. Continued to sniff the coolant with heater open. Nothing. But this time the idle was silky smooth. I ran it until the thermostat opened and sent radiator fluid into the tester. There were some bubbles as it spilled out the filler neck. I haven’t done much with hot open cooling systems; I’m guessing the surge of coolant has more to do with it being hot and finding the path of least resistance.

https://youtu.be/vImaF5KG-ys?si=mi3WlzWhMwb6Kssh

Just to make sure, I took the tester to the tailpipe to make sure the fluid turned yellow sniffing straight exhaust and it did.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6bf5e032c9.jpg

So I’m confused. My gut feeling is that there has to be something wrong with this engine, but all tests seem to point to it being okay. What am I missing?

I hate coming across threads with no conclusion when I am searching for advice, so I’m here to put a long overdue pin in this.

Against all odds the M54 seems fine. After getting the engine running I sent an oil sample to Blackstone. They didn’t detect anything anomalous with the sample, just some slightly elevated bearing material compared to their average data (first sample I’ve sent out for this engine).

I’d estimate we’ve put between 500 and 1000 miles on the X5 so far after getting it running again. Coolant temps have been on the money, it runs well, and my main concern is back to the AC and some electrical gremlins.

Thanks to the forum for offering their insights here. Lesson learned to document symptoms better as they are happening (I.e., take a pic of the cluster if it overheats!)

Nice to see follow up.

Wife's engine hit the red very hard when her coolant reservoir blew. I had her drive less than three blocks to a parking lot where I could assess the damage. Temps were in the range of 240 ten minutes after shutdown but no bad mojo came of it.

Make threads for your other issues xo is the best place to DIY your X5!

I've driven n52 motor with non working coolant pump and n55 with an intermittent pump (these are both electric). Watching the temps all the time and they will go into warning like 240f and into engine will only idle about 250-255. I've had each of those hit the limit (for on the order of 1-2 minutes "in the red") and they survived. I think the m54 overheat program is engineered to save the motor and does the job.