Coolant leaks, oil pan gaskets leak started

If your 2012 BMW 535i is losing all of its water but not overheating, there could be a few possible causes:

1. Leak in the coolant system: The coolant system of your car may have a leak, which is allowing the water to escape. This could be caused by a faulty radiator, a leaking hose or a cracked engine block.
2. Evaporative loss: In some cases, the water may be evaporating due to high temperatures. This is common when driving in hot weather, and it can be caused by a malfunctioning pressure cap or a faulty radiator cap.
3. Leak in the water pump: The water pump may be leaking, causing the water to escape from the coolant system.
4. Leak in the head gasket: A leak in the head gasket can allow coolant to leak into the engine oil, causing the water to disappear.

Finding a small mysterious coolant leak can take time. If your engine is loosing coolant it can only leak three different ways. Externally, on to the ground. Internally, into the engine oil. Lastly the head gasket, head or block could be to blame. When this type of failure occurs you may see coolant build up on a spark plug, coolant system over pressurizes, pushing coolant into the over flow tank or cotton white smoke out the tail pipe. Regardless of what the pressure test yielded, there is a leak. Look around the radiator and engine for white dry coolant trails/stains. If none are found check the oil pan. Water will sink to the bottom. If that passes I suggest purchasing a "Compression in Coolant Test Kit". I the leak is very small you may need to run this test twice. One when the engine is cold and one when the engine is hot. Be very care of hot antifreeze. You could get badly/terribly burned removing a radiator cap from a hot pressurized coolant system. Any questions please write back. Good Luck.

A leaking head gasket would cause oil to leak into the coolant or coolant into the oil pan, also coolant into the cylinders and compression into the cooling system.
Lack of coolant would not keep the engine from starting but coolant in the cylinders could foul the spark plugs.
If you take the radiator cap off and can see bubbles in the coolant when the engine is running, or the radiator builds up an excessive amount of pressure, it could be the head gasket.
You could remove the thermostat to make sure it is not stuck closed.
The only way to know for sure if the head gasket is leaking is to take the cyl head off and inspect it.

Does the empty radiator have anything to do with the AC? OR is it always empty? You should fill the radiator and the tank when the engine is cool. Never take the radiator cap off a HOT engine. It can shoot hot steam and water all over you and cause serious burns. With the engine cool, take the radiator cap off and fill it with the proper coolant, not just water. The coolant instruction label should be on or near the radiator. Fill the radiator completely, You may have to finish it slowly because of air trapped in the system. You can run the engine a short time to assist in filling the radiator. When the engine is running, if a lot of air bubbles out it could have a blown head gasket. DO NOT ALLOW THE ENGINE RUN UNTIL IT GETS HOT. If there is air in the system the coolant will go down and you can continue to fill it. When it is completely full, shut off the engine, top off the radiator if necessary and put the cap on completely and tightly. Fill the coolant tank to the full mark with the same coolant as the radiator. Drive the car and see if it overheats. If it smokes and has water coming out the exhaust, it probably has a blown head gasket. After it cools, check the radiator again. If it is low or out of coolant, again - blown head gasket. A blown gasket can **** coolant into the combustion cylinder OR can blow exhaust back into the cooling system. It can also allow motor oil into the radiator. Look for oil when you are filling the radiator. Also check the engine oil, if it has coolant in it, it will be a thick gooey mixture. In either case you should have the car towed to a qualified mechanic for testing and repair. If none of these things are occurring, look for a leak in the coolant system. A bad hose, or a leaking water pump. A defective radiator cap or the cap is not on tight. Look for the easy things first. Good luck.

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Gaker

Does the vehicle overheat on the road? If it does and pushes big burps of coolant into the reserve tank then you could have a head gasket leak. Usually what happens with a head gasket leak is that the engine will often start and run normally but will soon start to push coolant out in a kind of foamy burp as the combustion gasses that accumulate in the engine block force their way out. You can have a small head gasket leak that allows combustion gasses to escape into the cooling system without getting coolant back into the engine and often the first symptoms of this kind of a leak is a motor that suddenly overheats, the heater quits blowing hot air and after a short while everything returns to normal for a day or so. As the leak worsens however it may keep pushing coolant out of the reserve tank with a cool or cold engine as the pressure builds to quickly for the reserve tank to handle it fully. Having said that if you have a perfectly good cooling system that is hot and take off the radiator cap it will spray blistering coolant coolant all over so never remove the cap from a warm or hot cooling system! Most additives won't stop a head gasket leak as there is just too much pressure for them to "stick" in the leak and they just get forced out of source of the leak. It's rare but you could have a water pump that's not circulating enough coolant around but usually you have different symptoms than this.

Overheating can be the result of several things including: No coolant, stuck thermostat, cracked head, blown head gasket, bad water pump, cracked radiator side tanks, and poin holes in one or more hoses.

Start with the easiest things first. Check coolant level, if it's low you need to find out why. If it's at a normal level you know the coolant is not circulating through the motor. To test this run the car to temperature then feel the upper radiator hose, it should be hot and firm to the touch. Next feel the lower radiator hose it to should be hot and firm to the touch. If it's not the coolant isn't flowing through the motor which is the result of a stuck thermostat.

If the thermostat checks out ok crawl under the car and check all the connections between hoses/motor/radiator. Look at the side tanks of the radiator. If there's a carack in one they will only leak while the system is under pressure. Next check to make sure the water pump is circulating the coolant and not leaking. A siezed water pump will usually stop the pulley from turning resulting in a broken belt.

NExt look around the area of the head gaskets for signs of leakage, again this will only leak while the system is under pressure. Check the oil, if it looks milky there's coolant in it which is a sure sign of a gasket failure or cracked head. Good luck.

buy a drain pan,drain the liquid and take it to your local steets and roads department,they have a recycle center there for free in domestic amounts.

problem could be heads bolts . i put new bolts in put a little sealer on them . make sure your bolt holes is clean free from debris. put a lillte sealer on intake gasket on top and bottom where coolants travel. if all was done . drain engine oil in clean container .set it aside. take radiator cap off .you a coolant pressure rise kit .put a pan under oil pan with drain plug still off .pressure your radiator about 10 psi. make sure you have antifreeze in radiator and engine . when you pressure up to 10 psi look under the car if coolant comes out oil pan. you got leaking head gasket. if not .put oil pan plug back on . put oil back in car . check your freeze plugs also.

Did you check the thermostat? brand new thermostat sometimes went bad too; happen too me once on my 1989 toyota supra....; Check the water pump and hoses. Flush the radiator really good then get 50/50 mix water & coolant;

Good Day,

Sounds like the thermostat is working properly, the only other cause for the valve/lifter noise could be the oil pump is not pumping enough oil up to the top of the motor. I suggest doing an oil change(if you haven'y aleready), be sure to flush several quarts through, after sitting for 5 years I'm sure the old oil is pretty sludgy, this well help rule out this possibilty. As far as the water pump goes, It either works or doesn't typically when they are on there way out the will leak from the gaskets. A bad head gasket would cause white smoke form the exhaust as coolant get's into the oil and is burned off, so I don;t hink this is the problem.

Here's a start for you, hope this helps and good luck