Car has been sitting for about a week literally not turned wheel because of a collapsed air spring...

Today went out to drive as normal and the temp guage went into the red once it warmed up (it was fine before), phoned breakdown......guy appears because I was EK (east kilbride) going to Clarkston about 4-5 mile's, but I was sitting just before the Thornton hall roundabout....

Anyway....he bleed's the system and all's well (or so I/we thought) I then drive into Clarkston after sitting with him dam 30 min's checking this n that.

Then not even 5 min's later after driving away the bl00dy temp goes into the red again!, but I manage to get home, Iv'e bled it again and been out just briefly, but it seem's to me (as he said too) like a faulty therm as it's opening to late (I prefer them to open to early).

But just why the hell does this happen as stated above....it hasnt moved at all for dam near a week and then this happens as was fine before..

Check the water level now its cold and make sure its sitting around the proper level. If its not leaking water id put my money on

Waterpump, waterpump and possibly the waterpump

Oh and welcome back

So the water pump then...but why would he (the breakdown guy) say the thermmostat..

I forgot to say also......it's been sitting with the offside back up on an axl for a week too, would that have anything to with the lying "cockled".

I still dont understand why it went fine untill it was sitting like this...it doesn't make any sense to me at all..

Yea I'm back...and under my old u/name

What I forgot to say too....

The bottom radiator pipe (from the therm to the bottom left) is cold till the engine warm's up, this is when the temp gauge goes dam into the red then (hopefully) down to half way again.

But kinda move's from bewteen "12oclock" to "1oclock" infact dam near "1.30"....

Is this still a water pump....that's why the breakdown guy thought it was the therm....as it's not opening as it should..

Btw....mine's a 98' E39 523...will it still have this plastic w/pump or metal?

W/pump's fine...

I added more coolant and bled again today (as the coolant was low since yesterday) took it out and all was fine, took for a pressure test this afternoon and again all's fine.

So it must have for some strange bl00dy reason got alot of air in the system when sitting on the axle for a week , the thing is wasnt even near the front so god know's what happened.

I will put a new therm in it though...either that or take mine and leave it out!

It wasn't as hot as this last week.  Your cars cooling system is just having to work that wee bit harder this week.

Your E39 will have the dreaded plastic water pump that the E34s had.

If you replace the thermostat, you are more than halfway there to replace the water pump.  The replacement water pumps have metal impellers and are far more robust.

I replaced all that stuff on mine in January and bled it and have had no problems. http://www.bmwcarclubforum.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=25689&PN=8&TPN=2 - Read my post about halfway down the second page.

I found that you need to bleed the system with the engine running. VERY CAREFULLY though as you will be using a screwdriver very near the viscous fan blades when turning the bleed screws.

With the car's ar$e in the air you might have somehow made an airlock.  Just out of interest where exactly did you place the axle stand as I thought you can only place an axle stand under the sill jacking point - exactly where your trolley jack is positioned that you have just used to lift the sodding car into the air!

HTH

Andrew

the cooling system. the achilles heel of the might e39.

my old one was overheating once, it was the thermostat, though I know those silly plastic water pumps can be a common cause too.

Do the thermostat test, take it out drop it in a basin of water and if it doesnt open, you know its screwed

The thermostat test isn't worth it anymore as on the E39 by the time you have the old stat out you are worthwhile putting a new one back in.  You have to take the thermo viscous fan off to get to the stat cover housing bolts.  Once the fan is off you are worthwhile doing all the jobs at once, hence why I also replaced my water pump when I didn't need to.

You would need a new O ring anyway and probably a new thermostat cover if the orange/red seal on the adjacent water gallery on the stat cover is showing signs of age.

Andrew

Davy at BM Motor's is doing the therm on Monday...it's running fine but just for piece of mind..

Andrew Rolland wrote: The thermostat test isn't worth it anymore as on the E39 by the time you have the old stat out you are worthwhile putting a new one back in.  You have to take the thermo viscous fan off to get to the stat cover housing bolts.  Once the fan is off you are worthwhile doing all the jobs at once, hence why I also replaced my water pump when I didn't need to. You would need a new O ring anyway and probably a new thermostat cover if the orange/red seal on the adjacent water gallery on the stat cover is showing signs of age. Andrew

thanks for the info andrew. i never changed my stat myself had it done by my local Indy, hence my lack of real knowledge on the subject