excessive coolant pressure - help!

Sorry, only just noticed second page of thread, so hadnt seen the most recent two messages before my last reply.

Temperature guage began to climb fairly rapidly toward the red. I am always cautious about this sort of thing, so as soon as the guage reached the red zone, I realised that there must be a problem, and pulled over into a layby around 50 yards ahead. When I topped the car up to get it home, the temp stayed just above the middle all the way back. 

Added a lot of water, dont remember exact volume, but I made several journeys back and forth from the pub using 2ltr bottle, and a large jug, I remember being astonished at the amount of water the car seemed to hold.    Didnt fill  with water until car had been resting for around 15-20 mins, then as said drove the few miles home.  Vibration is not excessive, the car is not shaking visibly, but is felt more when sitting in car.

I will make sure that all the tests that have been suggested to me on this forum are carried out before I start wielding any spanners, but thanks for the consideration.  Want to have pressure test done next week, and am planning on buying kit to test coolant. Hopefully beyond this point a clearer picture will begin to emerge.  In the meantime Im going to continue to swat up on the procedure, so that if the worst is confirmed, Ill be nearer to being ready to tackle the next steps. Guess Im hoping at this stage that Ill get away with just replacing the head gasket, without there being any damage to the head or other potentially price increasing areas.

Thanks once again.  ps. I live in Deal, in Kent.

If the V8 has 2 heads? . Do a compression test to determine which head to remove. you may get away with replacing one head gasket and one head skimmed. Dunno if you can remove one head at a time. But if you keep your own head screwed well on :) , you could DIY. . remove and label all parts. mark the timing cam pullys and chain before they are removed on the way off. have the head skimmed. replace with a new head gasket. Tork down as per BMW Specs. there is a special routine for this.. reset valve clearances after you replace the cam chain. - assembly is the reversal of disassemble. -or something like that. - allow plenty of time if you are not in a hurry. Somebody knowledgeable can give you advice along the way if you get stuck.

If youve got nothing to loose -y not. Costs = head skimmed and new head gasket (thats if the head is not damaged). borrow a torque wrench and feeler guage at the end when theyre needed.

j

Thanks to everyone for their supportive and encouraging comments.

Apologies for delay in replying on this forum, but we have had an unexpected bereavement in the family to deal with on top of everything else.

Noticed today when having a quick look that whilst sitting there the level of water in mixed with the oil has greatly increased, oil in sump is now a chocolate milkshake and timing chain and surrounding areas are fairly thickly coated in creamy, emulsified scum, so CHG replacement/skimming is now probably coing to be my best case scenario.

Hope I havent cracked the block, but cant help thinking that if id left the car for another twenty minutes before refilling on that fateful day that I wouldnt be in this situation right now, and my baby would still be purring like a kitten (or perhaps recumbent lion is more fitting for a v8). The distinctive and satisfying growl of this cars engine when opened up after a quick flick into sports mode is perhaps what I am missing the most, even  if I did use it as a smooth cruiser most of the time.  I used to even turn off the radio when driving as I preferred to listen to the sound of the engine!

Will have relevant tests done soon - I keep saying it, but money has been that tight, and thus I will have to put up with that sinking feeling every time I look out of the window and see the car, giving me a sharp and piognant reminder of its current useless condition.

Pdf offer of Bentley manual from Bigian would be fantastic. Thanks.

I agree whole heartedly with  Mike that it would be a travesty to let this car die, but with no car on the road, and an increasingly disgruntled and (should I say) slightly nagging wife, can only hope that I will make it out of the other side before I am forced to replace her. I have already convinced my partner that doing this job myself will be cheaper than replacing the car with another, but time will be the main factor involved, as I have a track record of being overly cautious and meticulous, resulting in sure, but often very slowly forged results.

All I can say is that Ill post again when I have any more news, and (hopefully)a bit more cash! 

I was told off the other for asking my girlfriend to shut up for a bit while we went through a tunnel  All was well though - I got my rush and she got over it soon enough!

I think I wasted the best part of £1500 on my sound system as I never use it either!!

I really hope you get your head gaskets done. Might even give you a chance to decoke, clean up and check for any wear!

If I had a spare £9k I'd buy a new engine for my car and keep it for another 200k miles  Although they don't seem to sell the Nikasil engines anymore, which is a shame. If there was somewhere in the UK that had a machine big enough to rebore then replate the bores then I would buy a second hand engine and slowly build it over a few years, accidentally forgetting to keep a tally of the cost!!

Best of luck, Villman and I've just realised I have a .pdf of the Bentley manual if Bigian can't find it. Also browse over this site: http://www.bmwtechinfo.com/repair/main/741en/index.htm for little jobs. I find sometimes the diagrams can explain a little better than the Bentley manual for certain tasks.

Crispin