had the car in a garage today. The head gasket is gone. he checked this in the spring, but then the problem was to small to get noticed by his equipment as a real problem. now it is. My mechanic did this head-gasket job on another 4.4 L322. And he means its better getting a replacement engine than fixing the head gasket, because the cylinders gets broken by this. I have no idea what to do. Would love any tips.
 
had the car in a garage today. The head gasket is gone. he checked this in the spring, but then the problem was to small to get noticed by his equipment as a real problem. now it is. My mechanic did this head-gasket job on another 4.4 L322. And he means its better getting a replacement engine than fixing the head gasket, because the cylinders gets broken by this. I have no idea what to do. Would love any tips.
If it were me, I would take the head off to see what the damage is.
If the mech was any good, would he not have suggested fixing the problem before it got bad enough to do damage?
 
If it were me, I would take the head off to see what the damage is.
If the mech was any good, would he not have suggested fixing the problem before it got bad enough to do damage?

I would have thought so. I can`t fathom why he gave me this advice. He testet the car in spring. 7 sylinders in the pressure test were green. one were light green to yellow I think. Told me not to worry about it. Now its completly ####ed. Thing is that the car at that point also was under warranty, so I could have gotten it fixed then for free. So he will not be doing the repairs. I am really annoyed, but I can`t do anything about it so I choose not to think about it.

Reparing cars in norway is insanly expensive. 120£ pr hour. So the head gasket job is likely to cost at least 2000£. Not an option. I will send the car to Gdansk in Poland. 4land specialices on LR and RR. They can to a complete build up for 3.500£. Lots of norwegians use them. If its more damage than the head gasket, what is the likely next thing they will repair. What does such a job cost in UK?
 
If it were me, I would take the head off to see what the damage is.

+1, the older p38 4.0 and 4.6 v8 would almost guarantee cracking the block which then meant you would need top hat liners fitted but i have read of a few people that have replaced head gaskets on the 4.4 successfully.
maybe worth scanning a few BMW forums for the 4.4 M62 engine as its almost identical
 
+1, the older p38 4.0 and 4.6 v8 would almost guarantee cracking the block which then meant you would need top hat liners fitted but i have read of a few people that have replaced head gaskets on the 4.4 successfully.
maybe worth scanning a few BMW forums for the 4.4 M62 engine as its almost identical

Not an option fixing this myself. Talked with my lawyer. Probably this problem has been there since I bought the car. Laws are really strict here about this. And my lawyer is good at his job. But I have to pay out of my own booked and get reimbursed. And the smaller the bill, the less fuzz the seller of the car will make. Hopefully its not more than the head gasket. The engine has not run warm/overheated, its runs well. its just the heating crap and the test showing bad head gasket. So hopefully its not to big of a job. Will know more tomorrow.
 
Well. I drove the car to Poland. They have done a compressiontest and cant find any head gasket failure. They also did a acid-test of the coolant and no traces of acid from the exhaust in the coolant. Good pressure on the cooling system as well. What they have found is a couple of other gaskets that need changing, but nothing serious. But they have found a faulty waterpump and valve to the the heating system. Everything is now working. So thats that. Luckily I didn`t trust the norwegian garage and started chaning the engine or do the unnecessary head gasket job.

In poland they will fix the gasket, change all oils and filters, fix the coolantsystem, change coolant, change oil on both diffs and the transferbox and change all parts on the front suspension. They will also paint tree scratches on the car and change to parking sensors. Still cost half of the head gasket job in Oslo.
 
I am realising that, allthough I often just want to get a new BMW 3-series and have an easy life, I will probably never be able to sell this car. Everytime I am sick and tired of it, I take it for a drive and fall in love all over again. And I`m getting back what can practically be called a new car so it will be in my ownership for the untold future.
 
I am realising that, allthough I often just want to get a new BMW 3-series and have an easy life, I will probably never be able to sell this car. Everytime I am sick and tired of it, I take it for a drive and fall in love all over again. And I`m getting back what can practically be called a new car so it will be in my ownership for the untold future.

Well that's one of the reasons why you will never be able to sell that car:D:D
 
So!

Update. Car is back from the garage in Poland. Worked like a dream. Uses far less petrol. Blows hot like a sauna. Until yesterday. Then suddenly I get no blowing from the heater in the front, just the one in the back. A tiny breeze of hot air in the front.

I checked the fuses and then concluded: Final Stage Resistor.

I gather this is not the worst or most time consuming things to do in the world. BUT: WHere is the damn thing loacted on a LHD-car. On the drivers side or passangerside?
 
So!

Update. Car is back from the garage in Poland. Worked like a dream. Uses far less petrol. Blows hot like a sauna. Until yesterday. Then suddenly I get no blowing from the heater in the front, just the one in the back. A tiny breeze of hot air in the front.

I checked the fuses and then concluded: Final Stage Resistor.

I gather this is not the worst or most time consuming things to do in the world. BUT: WHere is the damn thing loacted on a LHD-car. On the drivers side or passangerside?

Was the FSR. Blowing nice and warm again. Lovely
 

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