QuestionHi, My baby has a lot of little niggles wrong with it: cosmetic (crushed front fender), suspension (tie rods, etc.), in need of a complete brake job, a few minor leaks - so $4K in all - but now wifey drove after radiator hose popped and definitely in red at least 5 min. I got hose back on, 2 quarts of coolant later, engine seemed to purr and drive like usual for 5 min until came to temp and hose popped again. My mechanic says he needs to replace radiator, sensors, and other for $1100 before pressure testing to see if compression OK. Does this make sense? How easy is it to diagnose a cracked block or blown head gasket? I assume I need to dump the car if the block is bad but if it is the head gasket, would it be worth it to fix it? My mechanicc has always said that the strong point for this car is its engine whhich is is (was!) in excellent shape. He offered me $500 to part it out as he owns a similar year 525i, so I'm not sure he is being completely impartial. The car has 130K on it. Is it silly to dump $5K into this car? Pleease help! I'm not impartial either ... it is my baby!!
AnswerOK......Ready?
First, YES, you do have a great car! And fortunately, I have a LOT of experience in the area you're after.........I just finished replacing a head gasket on 740il (I bought it as a project car), so I know about that. So let's walk through this.
You need to find out about the engine first. You may have blown the head gasket. This will decide a lot about going forward......
Odds of a cracked block aren't very high.
Do you have the car now? Or does the mechanic? If it can run for a few minutes, you need to get a "compression gas in the coolant" test. A lot of places will do this for ~$50.
Rereading your write-up, I'd find another mechanic. No reason to do a compression check at this point.
IF THE HEADGASKET'S OK.......
Radiator hose popping. Strange. Between your comments on this and the mechanic saying it needs a new radiator, did the neck of the radiator break off? Was common on these. If so, do you do any work on cars yourself? Radiator really isn't bad to replace on these. Sensors shouldn't need replacement. Should be able to do the radiator yourself for about $200 and a couple of hours max. I'd replace the thermostat and the belts while you're in there.
IF IT IS THE HEADGASKET.......
Like I said, I just did one on a project car. Assuming you don't have a lift (I do), a lot of tools, and lots of time, you have a limited number of options. On mine, the dealers quote $4100 for a head gasket job. A used junkyard engine is about $2000 plus install, so it maybe a wash.
Should you put the money into it? Emotional question rather than logic. You have to decide that.
Let me know what you do.
ALSO, where do you live? I'm in Minnesota.
Good luck!
