Water In The Oil Of My E36 97 328I

[sennamanuk]

I have a problem that I am a little confused about

I have water in the oil but it doesnt seem to have lost any, doesnt overheat or run badly ? Someone said it might be an oil cooler but its not an auto, its a 328i Manual Cab 1997.

I am at the point of deciding what to do with the car, its in good nick but a head gasket job is well expensive I have been told

Many thanks to anyone that could help???

Cheers

Andy

[Snypa-D]

erm......I think the words Im looking for are 'OH DEAR,VERY NOT GOOD' !!

I may be wrong but one of the mechanic type guys will be along soon to give you a proper answer !! Soz cant help any more than that but it def doesnt sound good as water in the oil usually means a pricey head gasket job,best thing to do in my opinion is to NOT DRIVE it until it gets sorted,dont make the problem any worse !!

[IanIOM]

Is the oil on the dip stick or just the oil cap? How often is it used and for what length of journeys?

[Steveg3por]

Hey, Get someone to follow you to see if steam is coming out of the exhuast pipe, a sure sign. There can be a minor hole in a gasket that gradually develops into some thing major. If you are sure its water in the oil there is a problem. I have had this happen twice and yes I agree it is very expensive because the head will have to be skimmed. Please let us know how you get on. Steve

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Earliest sign of head-gasket failure (Trust me), have it done before the inevitable "overheat" that will leave yo stranded !

[kee1173]

Check the oil cap, take it off and seeif its got creamy gunge on it, if it has sounds very much like a head gasket as the others have siad but get sorted asap as might end up with a cracked head and that is not good, but agree with dabsy and Ian, get sorted asap

[Guest DazH]

The part in which water and oil can mix differs from car to car. On your engine and tran, the only likely part in which water would find its self in contact with oil is between the coolant and oil channels passing right through the head gasket. They can mix at this point in two ways. The gasket is letting the oil and water mix OR there is a crack in the head allowing them to mix.

What happened to me was, my head was cracked. the oil compartments where in direct contact with a water channel and the result was, my engine was a mayonnaise making machine (Your welcome to look at my Facebook too see how bad it was lol)

Either way you look at it, if you find a significant amount of water in your oil (From the dipstick, not under the cap) your going to want a head job. That involves yanking the head off and examining the state of the gasket and the head. Getting a head professionally checked over is advisable but if your getting a grease monkey to do this for you, he will sort all this out. As far as I'm concerned, its not that expensive for what they do. If it conforms with standards after its been check you wont need it skimmed but a pressure test is a must to identify any small cracks. If there is a crack, no need to panic straight away as the engineer could possibly repair it.

It's not a massive deal in comparison to some things that can happen. Many people over exaggerate this when at the end of the day, its just changing a large gasket in a hard to get to part of the engine. A good BMW specialist has done this billions of times and its systematic to them. Speak to a good German car or BMW specialist and not just Keith up the road who has a stripped nissan micra outside his garage.

Please keep us posted and if you feel like jumping in there yourself! We will help :)

Daz

[kee1173]

As Daz said, and ive met kieth very dodgy bloke and the nissan micra ....Dead now...but agree with Daz ,my post was very similar but lot shorter, less explanitary, less information but if you can imagine what i wanted to write ..well Daz has done it....

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

If you are not losing Coolant then it could be a case of Internal condensation...

Place a sheet of cardboard very near to your exhaust-tail and come back with results...

If the cardboard sheet gets WET then it could be gasket - "hydrocarbon emission" will cause these symptoms aswell, but I will guide you thru that at a later stage... ;)

[kee1173]

thats a good tip dabsy....didnt know that one....but makes sense

[Guest DazH]

As Daz said, and ive met kieth very dodgy bloke and the nissan micra ....Dead now...but agree with Daz ,my post was very similar but lot shorter, less explanitary, less information but if you can imagine what i wanted to write ..well Daz has done it....

Two great minds holmes ;) two great minds....

[Ben328]

Well before thinking its head gaskit. How often do you find water in the oil, do you use the car regualy and how much do you find...

The reason why im asking is, i have a 328 and if i dont use the car for a few days i get a tiny(and i mean tiny) bit of sludge around the cap... thats happend to me twice this year so far when the cars been parked uup for a couple of days..

But if its more then that then like everyone else says.. its head gaskit. Its not a hard job to replace tho.. just make sure you take the time to do chain, water pump, pullys etc.

It'll all be worth it in the end..

[kee1173]

Two great minds holmes ;) two great minds....

few and far between mate

[kee1173]

i think i am right in saying you should never find water in oil, also sludge on the cap definately a head problem, hopefully a gasket but also becareful not a cracked head but all sortable

[Guest DazH]

Well before thinking its head gaskit. How often do you find water in the oil, do you use the car regualy and how much do you find...

The reason why im asking is, i have a 328 and if i dont use the car for a few days i get a tiny(and i mean tiny) bit of sludge around the cap... thats happend to me twice this year so far when the cars been parked uup for a couple of days..

But if its more then that then like everyone else says.. its head gaskit. Its not a hard job to replace tho.. just make sure you take the time to do chain, water pump, pullys etc.

It'll all be worth it in the end..

thats why I said check the dipstick. If there is a small amount of mayonnaise under the cap its usually due to a wee bit of moisture and nothing to really worry about.

If you find it on the stick, your in trouble as it pokes into the bottom of the engine where moisture should never be idling

[bonner 330ci]

i had the big mayo crap on my e36 328is cap aswel as a small amount on dipstick this was due to short journeys ona daily basis its the hot and cold thing? causing condencation both oil and coolent were fine as soon as i gave it a good run it dissapeerd same goes for my e46 330 it has plenty of mayo on the cap untill i drive for around an hour!! i did panic when i see it on dipstick so i give it the good old in out in out whilst cleanin in between and did all clear up!