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Thread: Water in plug wells

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
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    York, PA
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    1995 BMW 525i Touring

    Water in plug wells

    Hey everybody. I think this is my first time posting here, so I'll give a little background.

    I own a '95 525 touring with a m50b25tu engine at 197,000 miles.
    The most recent problem with the engine is that a few of the cylinders weren't firing.
    After further investigation, I found water in the spark plug wells. I'm going to assume that it's coolant.
    I cleaned out the wells, cleaned the plugs, and sprayed the coil packs with some contact spray.
    Now all of the cylinders are firing and the car did a great job on a short 2 mile hike around the neighborhood.

    Now I need to make a decision on what to do about the engine.
    • Do I pull it apart and do some investigating?
    • Do I look for another engine from a yard near me?
    • Do I try to sell the car as it is?
    • Do I try to sell the car for parts?


    I'd love to get this car in good running condition, but I think that it will be a better option to sell it.
    I have student loans and another project car to throw money at, but if this could be a cheaper fix than I think, I'm all ears.

    I need advice from owners, hobbyists, and mechanics alike.
    What say you?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Location
    Perth, Western Australia
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    09/90 E34 525i (M50)
    Coolant can't get into there, only oil.
    I've had water in there before, I stopped working on my car due to bad weather and waiting on parts. The hood wasn't completely shut and I left the black plastic engine cover off. It rained so hard that week that water got into the spark plug wells.
    Someone pressure wash it? Or have you had the black plastic engine cover off in bad wet weather?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
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    Carrboro, NC
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    365
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    '91 525i (5sp)
    Quote Originally Posted by fo3 View Post
    I've had water in there before, I stopped working on my car due to bad weather and waiting on parts. The hood wasn't completely shut and I left the black plastic engine cover off. It rained so hard that week that water got into the spark plug wells.
    Same here; in my case, the hood was completely shut, but water still managed to get to the wells. I don't think you have a serious problem at hand, especially since your car runs great after cleaning the plugs. Maybe your hood seal is damaged?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Beaverton, Oregon
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    336
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    1992 525it
    I thought I'd killed mine, too, when it started misfiring and bucking, then I discovered a spark plug well full of water. I sopped up the water, replaced a cracked spark plug boot, and it's been fine ever since. You should be okay.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
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    1995 BMW 525i Touring
    Quote Originally Posted by fo3 View Post
    Coolant can't get into there, only oil.
    I've had water in there before, I stopped working on my car due to bad weather and waiting on parts. The hood wasn't completely shut and I left the black plastic engine cover off. It rained so hard that week that water got into the spark plug wells.
    I'm an aircooled engine guy, so this fancy new coolant stuff doesn't make sense to me yet

    Thanks for your responses, everybody!

    While we're here, does anybody have a preference to brand when replacing the thermostat housing with an aluminum one?

    Many thanks!

  6. #6
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    1989 BMW 535i, 1993 740i
    Genuine or Behr, my Wahler failed on me and anything else is cheaper, and shouldn’t go in your car.
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
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    '06 X5/6spd 3.0
    In my case the seal between the hood and windshield had failed. Water runs down the glass into the bay and pools up in the plug wells.


  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Spain
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    193
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    e34 525i
    If you removed the plastic cover from the cylinder head cover, then, there you have the problem. If you removed the interior foam from the front hood, then you have condensation. Also make sure you have the hood sealing near the front window properly fixed and fine cause some water could be going in that route.
    I had that problem aswell and the plastic cover solved them all. It is there for a reason and I found it the hard way.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
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    '91 525i (5sp)
    Quote Originally Posted by Avary View Post

    While we're here, does anybody have a preference to brand when replacing the thermostat housing with an aluminum one?
    I don't remember what brand I got, but I bought it from FCPEuro, and they usually don't sell crap. Couple of tips, though: supposedly, the aluminum housing uses just the inner rubber gasket, but not the profile gasket from the composite one; in my case, the rubber gasket was stiff as a pencil eraser, and so much thicker than the original that I had to reuse the latter (which, luckily, was in reusable condition). Also, I did use the profile gasket. That was early last year, and so far, so good.

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    09/90 E34 525i (M50)
    fcp euro sold mtc brand but they are no longer in stock. I researched them heaps and most brands weren't very good and had poor reviews except for one...
    Uro. Yeah that's right, I went there. In another forum I go to there's a general BMW thread with most people growing up with them over the years, so everything is mixed up with some going from e30 to m2s over the past decade. Nearly all of them said that back in their m50/m52 days the alloy t/stat housing was the single good part Uro made. Anyway, I haven't had a problem with mine (got it from pelican parts)

    Your old thread where I ask about the gasket seal situation is here: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...t-running-temp

    If I bought a t/stat with a proper edge wrap around seal then no gasket is needed (my last post has a imgur link to show what I mean - and I saw them while shopping for e36 t/stats). But when I bought my t/stat I think I bought an older one with just an o ring. So I used a paper gasket as well. It didn't fit quite right due to the orange rubber seal on the t/stat housing designed for a e36 but it hasn't leaked.

  11. #11
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    hiss by my window
    I don't understand the perception that the factory plastic/composite one is no good. It will seal properly and from what I see they last a very long time. Let's not forget how old these cars are before condemning the original parts.

    If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue

  12. #12
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    '91 525i (5sp)
    Quote Originally Posted by fo3 View Post

    Your old thread where I ask about the gasket seal situation is here: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...t-running-temp
    After re-reading this thread, and after checking my FCP account, it seems the one I got was MTC, not Uro as I stated there; as mentioned in that thread, the machining on the mating surface was very uniform, although a bit on the heavy side, but the profile gasket took care of that. I installed it in February of last year, and checked for leaks after using the car for a couple of days; a couple of months ago, I replaced my radiator and water pump, and I remember I re-checked the thermostat housing since I was already poking around that area- no leaks whatsoever, I guess it depends on a case by case basis, as long as the mating surfaces are uniform...

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by ross1 View Post
    I don't understand the perception that the factory plastic/composite one is no good. It will seal properly and from what I see they last a very long time. Let's not forget how old these cars are before condemning the original parts.
    It's not so much that (at least in my case)… When I got it I was like "whoo, for the price, what the heck, it's aluminum, it's gonna last forever!", and of course I hadn't read the horror stories about them! Guess I got lucky, and I'd say the moral of the story would be to get one with a perfect mating surface, or stay with the composite one.

  14. #14
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    Why I thought I'd try an alloy one is for 2 reasons. First reason is because I was new to BMW and when looking at getting one the first hundred of opinions you'll get is "cooling system failures due to plastics, the cyl head will go one day due to overheating - (probably due to cooling system plastic failure).
    Second reason is I bought my car from someone that rescued it from the scrapheap - they got it cheap non running due to head gasket blown due to cooling system failure. They replaced the head gasket, valves, radiator, water pump, added thermofan and they were so paranoid about it overheating again they removed the t/stat I found out later.

    When I went in for fitting a t/stat I was wary that the t/stat housing would break or crack so an alloy housing was pre-purchased as a backup plan (I didn't know if the PO replaced that or it was old and brittle). The plastic housing ended up being OK but I wasn't sure if it was OE or some cheapy no name brand. It was so badly gooed in I thought may as well fit new gaskets and backup alloy housing.
    Last edited by fo3; 06-17-2019 at 10:39 AM.

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