POSTING THIS HERE IN HOPES OF MORE RESPONSES

Alright so my car has felt sluggish for the past couple of weeks which is strange since the temps are finally dropping a little bit here in South Florida. It's usually "fun time" this time of the year lol. The car has also had a strange overheating problem. The first time around it was a little low on coolant so I topped it off with water. It has happened a few times already, the temp is fine while running but begins to heat up at idle. Today the coolant/water overflowed A LOT and the car started to overheat. Shut it down and let it sit for about an hour as I had class. Came back turned it on and it seemed fine, topped off with water again and all is fine for now but the car still feels super sluggish.

I'm going to do a full coolant flush and replace with a 70/30 mix of water to anti-freeze along with a bottle of water wetter. But in addition I'm wondering if the thermostat is not functioning properly and not letting the coolant through, thus causing the overheating issue. May be time to swap out for an M7 thermostat since it's always hot here in South Florida.

I assume the overheating is what is robbing the car of power but worry it could be something else? I was thinking of replacing the coil and spark plug wires just for maintenance as the car has ~64k miles and they've never been replaced. I've read the #3 coil can have some issues on the earlier cars?

Engine mods are intake, 19% pulley, plugs 2 ranges colder than stock and a cat-back exhaust...

 

Does the fan kick on ? If so,check the cooling system for leaks first. If you find none, do compression and leak-down tests.

 

Um....dood...you might want to talk to Kalbone. He had the same thing as you. Everytime we started the car and ran it like 50 feet it would spew coolant all over the place....Not a good sign brother...

 

But...it could be as simple as a thermostat.

 

Don't scare me like that man. The car runs all day and doesn't overheat all the time but it does feel slower than usual all the time. For example, I drove about 14 miles (mainly highway) to school and the second I parked, out goes the coolant via the expansion tank. That was only once, usually it only overflows a little bit. I haven't had the chance to check out the thermostat but at only $40 for the M7 I think I may just replace it regardless, ***** getting old lol.

 

I just went thru a similar condition, although my car did not reach the point of boil over. There was a pin hole leak in the thermostat gasket. Just enough fluid was able to get past the gasket, but because the leak was so small, the fluid essentially burned off before hitting the ground when I arrived home or at work. But, if I got caught in a traffic jam...heat on high and windows open...the smell of coolant was palpable! The engine became very hot when driving at say 80mph as well...

I flushed the system and installed a new thermostat and housing - replace the housing too. The car runs as cool as a cucumber at any speed. If you are in a cool temp area, use a 50/50 mix...no reason to veer from this formula. You can add a little water wetter if you like...

FYI torque setting on the three bolts that fasten the housing to the head is 9 ft lbs! Do not over torque these!!!

Finally, although replacing the thermostat isn't rocket science, it is a huge pain in the ***!

The M7 thermostat worked fine for me especially during hot track events. But if you live where the snow falls, this thermostat will not allow the car to complete the warm up cycle in winter and cause an engine code to fault.

 

Thanks for the input, making me feel better about all of this. Should I just order the thermostat and housing and replace it or check it first? If it's a pain in the *** I'm thinking just replacing it regardless lol. Since I'm a full time student having the car out of commission while waiting for the new thermostat to arrive really isn't an option if I can avoid it.

As for weather, I'm in South Florida where the temps are rarely in the 40s lol

 

You know F....there are tons of MCS with bad radiator exp tank caps....that could be your leaking cause. But the only thing that sucks about that is you have to buy the tank to get the cap...

 

That's like $40 not too too bad, but **** piles up and its stupid none the less lol. Regardless the car is still overheating, I really think it's time for a new thermostat.

And on top of that, the car is running like ****. So slow, it's a noticeable decrease in power (which my car already lacks lol).

Maybe I shouldn't have redone the interior and installed the PSS9's lol

J, what's the news on your car? Getting things back in working condition or still running into problems?

 

I was waiting on dust covers for the 1/2 shafts. They are in but now that it is Turkey Day no one is open....I think I can press them on myself..its not like its a bearing. I could actually go bleed everything and put the radiator and crap on so the only thing left is the 1/2 shafts...but I need a Paradise Bakery Chocolate Cookie Frap first...

 

Trust me...I know about things adding up... Now that I have been drifting the BMW around everything.....my tires are bald and my front is clunking (from worn out bushings). My license plate was gonna go from RNGTAXI (you know what that stands for right?...lol) to CMLSPDR but I think I would for sure get pulled over ALOT... I still might do it tho.... Anyways....the radiator cap might be the cause of alot of your problems vato...if you lose pressure in the system....air gets in there and you will have inconsistant overheating problems..Just my crazy .02.