2007 328XI Breakdown ?

[Frank B]

Wednesday on the way back from grocery shopping with my wife the yellow temperature light came on and seconds later it went to red and the engine shut down. Fortunately, I was able to coast off the main road and onto a side road. I contacted BMW and the truck got there about an hour later.

It turns out that that the electric water pump ceased to work and needed to be replaced. Here is my question. If the car had a heat gauge would I have received more warning? The water level was O.K. I had driven about 10 miles to the store, been there for about an hour and a half and this happened about 3 or 4 miles after leaving the store parking lot. I am concerned that if something like this should happen again and I am on the highway I could get stuck in a dangerous place. Thanks.

[mryakan]

Well if it was a catastrophic failure (e.g. pump seized all of a sudden) then it would not take too long for the engine temp to shoot up and overheat. It is a good thing these cars have all the electronic nannies, many people wouldn't notice the temp gauge till steam starts coming out from under the hood.
As for being stuck, well once the car overheats, you are stuck anyway. It is better to be stuck with an intact engine than stuck with a blown head gasket and a hefty repair bill to add salt to the wound.

[Critter7r]

+1

With a failure like that, even if you did have a temp guage, it would have shot up pretty quickly and you'd have had only seconds to pull over. However, in the older models, the engine isn't smart enough to shut itself down electronically before major engine problems arise. When previous models overheat, it's up to the driver to shut off the eninge, often with catastrophic results.

[Frank B]

Thanks for your replies. I guess I would not have had anymore time if the BMW had a heat gauge.