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Overheating was bad thermostat

2486 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  Machtig, 
N
I reported in an earlier thread that the beast experienced overheating and that I got a "check coolant" message. Turns out that the whole thing was caused by a bad thermostat. The car probably wasn't actually overheating, as the coolant had not boiled out the escape valve in the radiator cap even though the temperature guage rapidly climbed into the red. It was merely a false reading. However, fixing this took flying in the parts (thermostat and O rings), a wait of a week to ten days, and $500. These thoroughbred cars can be temperamental and expensive machines, but I guess we knew that when we bought them.
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I reported in an earlier thread that the beast experienced overheating and that I got a "check coolant" message. Turns out that the whole thing was caused by a bad thermostat. The car probably wasn't actually overheating, as the coolant had not boiled out the escape valve in the radiator cap even though the temperature guage rapidly climbed into the red. It was merely a false reading. However, fixing this took flying in the parts (thermostat and O rings), a wait of a week to ten days, and...
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Discussion Starter · #3 ·
Jerry,
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the coolant was circulating properly through the engine and was not at dangerously elevated temperature, even though the thermostat said that it was. Therefore, the mechanic determined the thermostat was bad and replaced it. Now the guage reads normal operating temp and the car runs well. The guy had a ***** of a time with pinched and leaking O rings, though, and had to take the air box off twice.
 
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Discussion Starter · #7 ·
Need4Spd said:
How many miles on your car? I think when we post failures of common parts, we should all get in the habit of posting mileage, so that others can know when to expect similar problems, and also if they want to try and head them off by changing parts before they fail. Glad your beast is back to normal. Aloha!
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Need4Speed,
I have just 38,00 on this '01 M5.
 
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