I had driven the car for about an hour and a half, smoke came billowing out of the bonnet and i had noticed that the temperature gauge was at its limit (on red) and water was gushing out of the car. I got it towed home and sent it to the garage. I just gathered the expander is broken and leaks water. Two weeks ago I noticed the anti coolant light came on the dashboard and I was advised to top it up water which made it to stop.
Please can you advise me on what I need to do to retify it without necesarily taking to the main dealers.

Chukzya, September 2008

i have change water pump new and still car getting hot what should do?

mithani, October 2012

If you are loosing water you may have a head/profile gasket leak. I currently have this problem with my 318. It slowly looses water which I have to top up every week. If it isn't topped up it will get hot. It also starts unevenly from cold. The only solution is a new gasket which is a labour intensive job so costly if done at a garage. It is apparently a weakness of this particular engine and happens to most of them.

Steve, April 2009

iv the same problem,your expansion bottle burst,its very commom.your car has over heated so now the termostate will need replacing in addition to the bottle,there will be a knock on effect now because of this maybe a head gasket a couple of months down the line they damage very easy on the 318.its best to get the whole cooling system done buy a garage not a dealership.

noel,dublin, March 2009

Hi, I had this problem with a 1997 BMW 328i a few years ago. The water pump has a plastic impeller that persishes over time. This stops water getting pumped around your engine. The impelller can be replaced with a metal one, fitted as standard on newer models. ask your garage to check the impeller in the water pump, if that's OK, check thermostat, then fan, then rad. Problem is many mechanics overlook the impeller so you could needlessly spend money replacing parts that are unneccessary unless you specify that they check the impeller

Colm Fox, September 2008