I have read a lot of posts in the last week or so regarding coolant leaks. For those of you that dont remember I was the guy that replaced ALL of the hoses (there 8 of them IIRC) The first thing to check when you are faced with a coolant problem and you dont see any visible leaks is the OIL CAP. If there is a whitish/ milky looking goo on the inside of the cap, this is a very strong indicator that you have blown a head gasket. Having said that, more often than not it is something much less disasterous than this. But I must warn you guys, do not use tap water when filling your Cooling system. In a matter of weeks you could wreck your engine block. Here is what happens: if you use tap water it has lots of minerals and imputities in it. These inpurites conduct electricity. You have a very powerful battery in your car, which is powerful enough in fact to actually perform the same function as electroplating only it will transfer the aluminum from your block and heads to other metal parts. Run down toyour grocery store and use distilled water. it is cheap as hell and will not cause problems.
In fact I have read a lot regarding the problems people had by not using BMW coolant, and my research indicates if you change your coolant every tweo years, and use distilled water you dont have to worry about the silicatre precipitation leading to the evil green goo in your cooling system.
In fact I have read a lot regarding the problems people had by not using BMW coolant, and my research indicates if you change your coolant every tweo years, and use distilled water you dont have to worry about the silicatre precipitation leading to the evil green goo in your cooling system.