2002 540 Touring Overheating...Just purchased!

[idfotou]

So I went to a local auction this morning and I previewed a very nice but a bit rough looking 2002 540i in TOLEDOBLAU METALLIC. The paint is rough but the interior looks great. 120K miles. Automatic transmission.

While previewing, I checked all the necessary items and such. All was okay. All the bells and whistles work. The engine sounded remarkably quiet. There were no immediate leaks I could see although the engine was dirty.

There was one glaring issue I noticed...The temperature gauge was in the red. The engine felt warm but not hot and it wasn't overheating. The radiator hose was COLD. The fan was running. The belt is okay.

Unfortunately for me, I placed a nominal bid of $900 BEFORE looking at the car. What are the chances of winning THAT car for $900?

While I was watching the auction, you can watch the cars driving up to the podium before they sell. When they brought up the 540, the driver turned off to the right and stopped the car. The temp gauge was in the red so they pulled the car to the side and turned it off.

Guess what!!! After that episode, everyone was afraid to bid.

I got the car for $900!

Did I just waste $900 or with knowing just what I have described, is this car salvageable?

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[GenericUserid]

Could just be a faulty sensor or dodgy cluster, worth checking the fuses, failing that, a full service and fluid drain & change and maybe see if the head has a crack or anything.

Plug it into the laptop and see what the temp comes up with in inpa.

If it is actually buggered, it’ll break for more than $900 so whatever happens, you’ll not loose any money


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[idfotou]

Thanks for the info. I have a Schwaben scanner. Will that help?

[CPHES]

Simple stuff. Does it start? If yes, how fast does it go into the red? If there is coolant in there, and it goes at once, you have a sensor issue. If it takes time ( minutes ), then you need to look at the water pump, thermostat, etc - If there are no leaks. If it runs and drives in the lot/driveway, then maybe you are ok. Schwaben will likely only pickup error codes- I don't know which one you have. These guys are discussing tools ( inpa ) that take dynamic data and display it real time.

[jclausen]

Typically if the engine is warm the hoses to the radiator are cold then the thermostat would be stuck closed, you could use a heat gun to read temps, it's possible if the water pump had the plastic impeller and it came apart, no coolant would circulate and cause over heating