1991 BMW 325i Overheating problems

Tiny
LTRANSFORM
  • MEMBER
  • 1991 BMW 325I
  • 6 CYL
  • RWD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 188,000 MILES
Hi, I went to get an oil change the other day and the serviceman said I was missing 1. Qt of oil. I went home and put in the synthetic oil that I had. Everything was fine, until I came back from a trip. I started driving yesterday and pulled over to get my sister stuff and then while my car was on the coolant started to leak out underneath the car ( the car started to smoke and it looked like it was just burning coolant?). The car started to overheat after that, I then pulled over and put more coolant in. The car continued to heat up and the coolant started to bubble when I checked the lid. It happened one more time that day until I refilled all of the coolant. Everything was fine until the car started to overheat (no smoke yet) and then the cars check engine light turned on after 5 minutes of driving. I picked up my girlfriend and pulled over and then waited for it to cool down. Then after 10-20 minutes I started it up and it was fine for about 5-10 minutes in which it did it again. Luckily I was close to home so I just went home and parked my car. I've heard from 3 different people 3 different things.

The previous owner: It needs an oil change
source/credibility: previous owner/but no mechanic skills.

Friend in Auto Mechanical school: It's the thermostat or the coolant reservoir.
Source/credibility: Going to school for it/ and teachers advise that the problem over the phone.

Neighbor/dad: It's the water pump.
Source/Credibility: previous mechanics and plane mechanic.

Myself: It's probably it not having an oil change in 2000+ miles despite being filled up with new oil which is causing the engine to overheat and thus burning through the coolant as such.
Source/Credibility: Electrical Engineering student intuition (not much).
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Thursday, March 26th, 2015 AT 9:49 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 107,922 POSTS
You first need to locate the leak and repair it. I'm sure that is what is causing the overheating. As far as the oil, why would they let you leave a quart low on oil? That makes no sense.
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Thursday, March 26th, 2015 AT 11:10 AM

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