Euro cruise disaster

Bugger! That's a sod mate. Not heard of a 2.8 head gasket going. I have little spanner knowledge but I changed one on one of my 4.0 jags and all was well.
As Dan has said though prices being so good on rhd you may as well get another car. Make sure you do tho, Don't want to loose you off the forum mate.
 
Sorry to hear the news Gary, I would definitely be tempted to take the head off for a closer look. At the moment we still do not really know what happened.
 
Sorry to hear the report on the engine damage mate. Good luck finding a good replacement. Another Auto?

Tony.
 
@FRANKIE @mwpe I intend to get the head off for a closer look, then I'll decide what I'll do.

I'm pretty much a "glass half full" type of guy, but was on a bit of a downer when I looked inside the cylinders.

I've been for a walk with my dog, sat down and talked it through with him. Don't think he gives a fook really, but I feel better for it =))

I'm having a couple of beers tonight and I'll feel better in the morning that's for sure.

Incidentally, the compression tester I bought doesn't have a "peak hold" facility, so the needle will return to zero once the pressure is released.

There's no sense doing a compression test now anyway.

There's a few things that have puzzled me today though, firstly, why has it just started to leak? It hasn't leaked for the week it's been in the garage. The leak is on the exhaust side of the engine.
Why can't I see where the oil was leaking from on the left hand side of the engine?
 
Not the information you wanted from the test - but hope you get sorted in the future - time to reflect and decide sometime later the direction you wish to take - best wishes!
 
That's a real downer.
If time is precious then another car is probably the quickest but not without risk of future problems.
Keeping hold of yours so your son can strip and rebuild it makes sense. You can decide at a future date if you go back to it. Other than your sons time (free to you of course! ;)) and just a few parts then hopefully it might be cost neutral. Buy a car to keep you mobile make it better and sell it for more. Got to be an option!
 
There are a lot of unanswered questions still and a strip down is the only way to find the answers. Another car would be the easiest solution as there are quite a few out there. That wikimotors article was a bit vague and I don't it is worth taking too much notice of it.
If you son is willing to have a look at it that would be worth while.
 
Reading that wiki i thought the only car that got the Nikasil-coated engine was E36 328i sport coupe. Hence you can only put fully synthetic 5w-30 oil in them other wise the Nikasil breaks up. ?????
 
Reading that wiki i thought the only car that got the Nikasil-coated engine was E36 328i sport coupe. Hence you can only put fully synthetic 5w-30 oil in them other wise the Nikasil breaks up. ?????

I think all the M52 engines had the Nicasil coated bores but by the time the Z got the six cylinder engine it was the M52TU with the sleevved bores.
 
Not the news you were looking for. Let's hope you find another and your son can manage to revive the old Z
 
I think all the M52 engines had the Nicasil coated bores but by the time the Z got the six cylinder engine it was the M52TU with the sleevved bores.

The early M52's had cast iron engine blocks but these were solely used in North America but were not fitted in any Zeds.
All 2.8 Z3's have aluminium engine blocks. My car was built 1997 and has the M52B28 engine. Later pre facelift Zeds had the M52TUB28 as do all the facelift 2.8 Z3's.
The M52TUB engine is dual vanos, M52B is single vanos
 
Gulp! :nailbiting:. Mines a single vanos. Z3 2.8 for sale £4000!
 
this could be a candidate for an M62 project!
 
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