E39 headgasket??? Its got me stumped

[abz2005]

Hello to everyone on here, ive been looking round this site for my previous bmw's, ive found this site to be friendly and extremely helpful.

ive now got another bmw that i bought last week, its a 2000 520i (2.2) ive got a sneaking feeling that the headgasket is going, but not everything is pointing to that,

my first inkling was the steam out of the exhaust even when the engine is warm, also on the oil dipstick where it flares out at the bottom, theres the tiniest hint of sludge i mean tiniest amount but its not always there.

im not losing any coolant, and under the oil filler cap is fine, the temp gauge stays exactly half way and the heating is fine in the car. i went to see my mechanic today who did the test at the expansion tank with the blue liquid that changes green if the headgasket has gone, he did the test and it stayed blue. my car isnt misfiring its running exactly as it should

one thing he did notice was he put the car up on ramps it was upto temp and we left it running, part of the exhaust system was stone cold

what could it be steam out the exhaust and a cold exhaust system? any advice would be appreciated

thanks in advance

[darkhorse737]

coolant is not contaminated, you are not losing it... no misfire or rough idling. Then head gasket is not the problem.

steam coming out of exhaust on cold days, that is normal...

to rule out condensate(or maybe water that got into the muffler for a recent carwash), drill a small drain hole in the lowest part of ur muffler, not bigger than 5/16". any accumulated water will drain there.

[winterh]

Was thinking it could be something to do with the cat as I had a 540 about 3 yrs ago and I had water steam from the back we tried everyting with no luck but the think did not pass the mot so we had to change the cat and the steam went, may have just been luck but it seemed to stop it.