[TrollToll]

Freeze plugs can leak with time. They aren't a maintenance item but they can fail. Usually it's due to electrolysis causing corrosion in the cooling system.

[N55Jamaican]

How about u dip ur finger in and taste it. U will know for sure then..

[RJ_]

30% coolant mix will get you in the range of 220-225*F boiling point. So it's definitely possible for the coolant to be boiling if there happens to be a hotspot near an oil passage or above the combustion chamber.

[N54Society]

Originally Posted by RJ_419

30% coolant mix will get you in the range of 220-225*F boiling point. So it's definitely possible for the coolant to be boiling if there happens to be a hotspot near an oil passage or above the combustion chamber.

I think you're right. I just did a 50/50 mix and drove the car really hard with multiple runs to 7k RPM with zero boiling! I do have a bad injector though. :/ Maybe you guys can't tell from the video but it's LOUD. I pulled my plugs and coils to make sure there was no water in the hole and in the process I found cylinder 3 with fuel smelling plug that was coated with oil. This is a brand new plug mind you, less than two weeks old.

[RJ_]

Originally Posted by vbp6us

I think you're right. I just did a 50/50 mix and drove the car really hard with multiple runs to 7k RPM with zero boiling! I do have a bad injector though. :/ Maybe you guys can't tell from the video but it's LOUD. I pulled my plugs and coils to make sure there was no water in the hole and in the process I found cylinder 3 with fuel smelling plug that was coated with oil. This is a brand new plug mind you, less than two weeks old.

Is it truly oil? Hopefully it's just soot from running super rich. Otherwise check compression and leakdown, hopefully your rings aren't shot on that cylinder.

Also, get that injector out of there ASAP and change your oil. Too many stories of spun bearings from fuel in the oil from bad injectors.

[Sgop335]

Originally Posted by vbp6us

I think you're right. I just did a 50/50 mix and drove the car really hard with multiple runs to 7k RPM with zero boiling! I do have a bad injector though. :/ Maybe you guys can't tell from the video but it's LOUD. I pulled my plugs and coils to make sure there was no water in the hole and in the process I found cylinder 3 with fuel smelling plug that was coated with oil. This is a brand new plug mind you, less than two weeks old.

This is a strange one. Didnt think 30-70 w water wetter could do that. Im running 40-60. Fwiw, do you run the water pump vent cycle to get rid of air when you change coolant?

[MDORPHN]

Again, the type of coolant and mix percentage has no bearing whatsoever on possible leakage!

Neil

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by vbp6us

I think you're right. I just did a 50/50 mix and drove the car really hard with multiple runs to 7k RPM with zero boiling! I do have a bad injector though. :/ Maybe you guys can't tell from the video but it's LOUD. I pulled my plugs and coils to make sure there was no water in the hole and in the process I found cylinder 3 with fuel smelling plug that was coated with oil. This is a brand new plug mind you, less than two weeks old.

I think I mentioned in another thread of yours that your VCG change my have gone wrong. You shouldn't have that much oil on the plug.

In regards to fuel, yea probably bad injector, if it's louder then the others its definitely time to change them.

Aside from looking at plugs, if you use INPA and check out the rough running section, it looks over all the injectors. It shows a graph that is green and red.

My cyl 5 injector happened to be very loud, bu no accident, during cold starts it was exceeding the green in the graph and going into the red, indicating it was out of spec.

It doesn't throw a CEL unless it's out of wack for a long period of time, I'm not exactly sure how long but eitherway I'll be replacing that injector sooner then later.

Keeping that in mind, with a lazy injector you should take it easy on the wide open throttle.

You should also datalog and take a look at your AFR bank to bank and short term fuel trims, you'll likely notice some abnormalities between the 2 banks with a bad injector.

Unfortunately on this platform it seems injectors are pro-active maintenance. Waiting for them to fail will be too late.

I'm starting to think fresh injectors are needed every 50K miles or possibly even sooner, especially those on index 9 or earlier still.

[Miller335]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

I think I mentioned in another thread of yours that your VCG change my have gone wrong. You shouldn't have that much oil on the plug.

In regards to fuel, yea probably bad injector, if it's louder then the others its definitely time to change them.

Aside from looking at plugs, if you use INPA and check out the rough running section, it looks over all the injectors. It shows a graph that is green and red.

My cyl 5 injector happened to be very loud, bu no accident, during cold starts it was exceeding the green in the graph and going into the red, indicating it was out of spec.

It doesn't throw a CEL unless it's out of wack for a long period of time, I'm not exactly sure how long but eitherway I'll be replacing that injector sooner then later.

Keeping that in mind, with a lazy injector you should take it easy on the wide open throttle.

You should also datalog and take a look at your AFR bank to bank and short term fuel trims, you'll likely notice some abnormalities between the 2 banks with a bad injector.

Unfortunately on this platform it seems injectors are pro-active maintenance. Waiting for them to fail will be too late.

I'm starting to think fresh injectors are needed every 50K miles or possibly even sooner, especially those on index 9 or earlier still.

Green and red in the graph? Whats is this injector monitoring you speak of?

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by Miller335

Green and red in the graph? Whats is this injector monitoring you speak of?

INPA is the program. It's BMW's factory diagnostic software. I got it from Wedge but I'm sure it's out there elsewhere as most guys who code injectors use it.

You need a K+DCAN Cable.

I'll see if I can get a vid later if it interest guys but aside from listening to my injectors and noticing my #5 was louder then others, INPA confirmed it with their "Rough Running" software.

I really need 6 new injectors but I don't feel like coughing up $650+ today.

[Antetokounmpo]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

INPA is the program. It's BMW's factory diagnostic software. I got it from Wedge but I'm sure it's out there elsewhere as most guys who code injectors use it.

You need a K+DCAN Cable.

I'll see if I can get a vid later if it interest guys but aside from listening to my injectors and noticing my #5 was louder then others, INPA confirmed it with their "Rough Running" software.

I really need 6 new injectors but I don't feel like coughing up $650+ today.

INPA has injector monitoring? More info please!

[Miller335]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

INPA is the program. It's BMW's factory diagnostic software. I got it from Wedge but I'm sure it's out there elsewhere as most guys who code injectors use it.

You need a K+DCAN Cable.

I'll see if I can get a vid later if it interest guys but aside from listening to my injectors and noticing my #5 was louder then others, INPA confirmed it with their "Rough Running" software.

I really need 6 new injectors but I don't feel like coughing up $650+ today.

Oh yes right, now that you mentioned it I have seen this when I checked to make sure my injectors were coded right after I bought the car a few years ago. Thanks!

[N54Society]

Originally Posted by RJ_419

Is it truly oil? Hopefully it's just soot from running super rich. Otherwise check compression and leakdown, hopefully your rings aren't shot on that cylinder.

Also, get that injector out of there ASAP and change your oil. Too many stories of spun bearings from fuel in the oil from bad injectors.

Yes, it's oil. The other plugs were nearly completely dry and looked pretty much new. I just changed my oil a couple of days ago. Might need to do it again after I install the new injector.

Originally Posted by Sgop335

This is a strange one. Didnt think 30-70 w water wetter could do that. Im running 40-60. Fwiw, do you run the water pump vent cycle to get rid of air when you change coolant?

I learned a very valuable lesson. Follow the freakin directions and stop making my own mixes lol. I say 30/70 but when I looked at the coolant that I drained, it was probably even less coolant than that. Drove the car to work and guess what? No boiling or leaking.

Originally Posted by MDORPHN

Again, the type of coolant and mix percentage has no bearing whatsoever on possible leakage!

Neil

You're wrong. Why do you keep insisting on giving shitty advice? You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. If I'm not mistaken you're the one that said "it can't be coolant"...WRONG. It was coolant and it was due to the fact that there wasn't enough of it to raise the boiling point of the distilled water.

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

I think I mentioned in another thread of yours that your VCG change my have gone wrong. You shouldn't have that much oil on the plug.

In regards to fuel, yea probably bad injector, if it's louder then the others its definitely time to change them.

Aside from looking at plugs, if you use INPA and check out the rough running section, it looks over all the injectors. It shows a graph that is green and red.

My cyl 5 injector happened to be very loud, bu no accident, during cold starts it was exceeding the green in the graph and going into the red, indicating it was out of spec.

It doesn't throw a CEL unless it's out of wack for a long period of time, I'm not exactly sure how long but eitherway I'll be replacing that injector sooner then later.

Keeping that in mind, with a lazy injector you should take it easy on the wide open throttle.

You should also datalog and take a look at your AFR bank to bank and short term fuel trims, you'll likely notice some abnormalities between the 2 banks with a bad injector.

Unfortunately on this platform it seems injectors are pro-active maintenance. Waiting for them to fail will be too late.

I'm starting to think fresh injectors are needed every 50K miles or possibly even sooner, especially those on index 9 or earlier still.

So much great advice in this post, Jeff, thank you. I honestly don't think this is related to my VCG. The part was installed correctly. I don't see any other leaks. I haven't seen a single leak for the past two months, when I replaced the cover and gasket. This is the first time I'm seeing some oil and only on one of the plugs.

The injector sounds like a tractor and the plug smells like fuel. Everything I've read on E90post indicates that's a bad injector. No CEL yet but I'm also pretty observant and I can say with certainty that this sound has gotten louder ever since I put my JB4 G5 ISO in. As always the JB4 exposes the weakest links. I'll be taking it really easy on the throttle till this part is replaced. If I datalog, do you suggest taking it easy there too? No WOT in 3rd like you normally would for logging?

You're right on the maintenance part. I'll likely buy a couple of injectors to keep as backups. Hopefully not every 50k though on index 11+.

[N54Society]

I just checked my injectors and they're all 13538616079 index 11. All 6 injectors were replaced 30k miles ago so it's strange that one of them has already gone bad but oh well.

Service bulletin:

IMPORTANT: Injectors with index 11 and higher have a different calibration and construction than injectors with index 10 and lower. Due to this difference, the injectors with index 11 and higher and injectors with index 10 and lower cannot be mixed on the same engine bank (i.e., cylinders 1-3 or 4-6). Once a bank of injectors is at index 11 or higher, the “bank set replacement” requirement no longer applies. For index 11 injector failures, only replace the failed injector

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by vbp6us

You're wrong. Why do you keep insisting on giving shitty advice? You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. If I'm not mistaken you're the one that said "it can't be coolant"...WRONG. It was coolant and it was due to the fact that there wasn't enough of it to raise the boiling point of the distilled water.

For someone asking for help, there's no excuse being disrespectful.

I did not say it can't be coolant, I said that the mix would have no bearing on whether it was leaking.

In other words, if it is in fact coming from a freeze plug, it would be leaking from there whether you were running water, water plus water wetter or a water/coolant mix.

And, btw, race cars all run distilled water plus water wetter (or Motul Mocool) since it's illegal to run antifreeze on the track. This does not make them prone to leak!

Google "MDORPHN" if you want to check out my credentials.

Neil

[N54Society]

Originally Posted by MDORPHN

For someone asking for help, there's no excuse being disrespectful.

I did not say it can't be coolant, I said that the mix would have no bearing on whether it was leaking.

In other words, if it is in fact coming from a freeze plug, it would be leaking from there whether you were running water, water plus water wetter or a water/coolant mix.

And, btw, race cars all run distilled water plus water wetter (or Motul Mocool) since it's illegal to run antifreeze on the track. This does not make them prone to leak!

Google "MDORPHN" if you want to check out my credentials.

Neil

I apologize for the rude comment. You were trying to be helpful and I actually do appreciate it despite how I responded.

Any idea why a 50/50 mix wouldn't also be boiling on the head after a bunch of hard runs and driving to work this morning? I'm just going by my observation. I changed the mixed ratio by adding more coolant and now it suddenly doesn't leak. I hope I don't have to eat these words.

Thanks for chiming in.

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by vbp6us

I apologize for the rude comment. You were trying to be helpful and I actually do appreciate it despite how I responded.

Any idea why a 50/50 mix wouldn't also be boiling on the head after a bunch of hard runs and driving to work this morning? I'm just going by my observation. I changed the mixed ratio by adding more coolant and now it suddenly doesn't leak. I hope I don't have to eat these words.

Thanks for chiming in.

Water mixed with coolant does have a higher boiling point. However, it should not be leaking whatever you're running.

Although I'm not aware of freeze plugs loosening absent freezing, you should make sure the plug is secure.

I'd then pressure test the coolant system and bleed it several times (since one time isn't sufficient in my experience).

Neil

[ferocity02]

It is definitely interesting that switching the coolant mixture made it stop leaking.

However, I think it may be a temporary fix. MANY of us run a 30/70 coolant/water mix (or less!) without issues. The properties between 30/70 and 50/50 is actually pretty small. This coupled with the fact that it leaked with 30/70 and not with 50/50 leads me to believe that despite it not leaking at this moment, it is probably on the verge of leaking.

Getting stuck in traffic on a hot day for example might be enough to set it off. Or just overt time it might start leaking again.

I think you found a temporary solution and you should fix the issue once and for all.

[Sgop335]

Originally Posted by vbp6us

I apologize for the rude comment. You were trying to be helpful and I actually do appreciate it despite how I responded.

Any idea why a 50/50 mix wouldn't also be boiling on the head after a bunch of hard runs and driving to work this morning? I'm just going by my observation. I changed the mixed ratio by adding more coolant and now it suddenly doesn't leak. I hope I don't have to eat these words.

Thanks for chiming in.

Yes he was trying to help, so glad you see that. Anyways, like others said im not sure about your fix either so keep an eye. I looked at redlines site, bp of plain dist water + waterwetter is 250f, whiles 50-50 is only 265, both at 15psi. Not sure what is our coolant system pressure. So the difference is not much. Major diff comes for the freezing point, hence called antifreeze.

Still curious whether you did the water pump vent cycle to remove air.

[N54Society]

Originally Posted by Sgop335

Yes he was trying to help, so glad you see that. Anyways, like others said im not sure about your fix either so keep an eye. I looked at redlines site, bp of plain dist water + waterwetter is 250f, whiles 50-50 is only 265, both at 15psi. Not sure what is our coolant system pressure. So the difference is not much. Major diff comes for the freezing point, hence called antifreeze.

Still curious whether you did the water pump vent cycle to remove air.

I'm beginning to doubt myself about that. Not whether or not I did it because I know I did it but when I was doing it, I don't think I bled the screw as often as I did yesterday when I did a coolant flush/change. These symptoms only appeared after I installed the JB4 and started boosting 15+ PSI.

Are you supposed to bleed in between each cycle the pump goes through? In the 12 minutes it stops and goes numerous times. Are you supposed to let air out each time?

[Sgop335]

Originally Posted by vbp6us

I'm beginning to doubt myself about that. Not whether or not I did it because I know I did it but when I was doing it, I don't think I bled the screw as often as I did yesterday when I did a coolant flush/change. These symptoms only appeared after I installed the JB4 and started boosting 15+ PSI.

Are you supposed to bleed in between each cycle the pump goes through? In the 12 minutes it stops and goes numerous times. Are you supposed to let air out each time?

Well, i have the reservoir cap removed when the cycle is running, you can see the coolant, air and all flowing. No need to mess with the screw, which breaks easily btw. Heres one...

[N54Society]

Guys, it's with great misfortune to announce that my issue has returned. I feel like an idiot right about now, and pretty hopeless. Could it possibly be a bad water pump that is working intermittently? I mean, that should throw a code, right? I have no codes...No overheating. Drove the car to work (22 miles each way). It didn't do this on the way into work because I checked. It did do it on the way back.

I ordered a water pump as a last ditch effort and it arrived today. How can I verify that my water pump is working with certainty? When I bled the system a couple of days ago, I could hear the pump working fine. I'm pretty surprised that no one has seen this before.

I don't want to say it but, could it be a head gasket?