Well, it's about 6am here in Willows, CA and am about to head out to Thunderhill Raceway. I got here last night thinking I had fixed my hot start problem but it turns out the car ate a lot of coolant on the drive up. ****....I've been in denial of lost coolant seal for the past couple months but I'm pretty sure that's what it is.

In any case, if I'm going to blow a motor, I'd rather do it out on the track. I'll probably going to need to bum a ride back on someone else's trailor so I'm going to drive this car like a stole it.

Wish me luck and hello raceport

 

overheating a motor that can be rebuilt isn't the most cost effective thing to do...you can warp your housing if the temp gets too hot.

$1200 for a new set plus your raceport and seals and springs, but if you have no budget, GO HAVE FUN, and report back!!

 

Good point...I'm just pissed that I drove all the way up here and annoyed at the prospect that I might be doing the point-by all day.

I'll keep an eye on temps and will try not letting it get above 210-220.

 

Don't do it!!

I'm with dubulup!

My friend did the same thing and he had a big bill. He thought he would keep driving it and just 'rebuild' it. It's better to be pro-active and pull it apart on your time. It's MUCH cheaper.

You can go really really cheap and pull it apart and change the oil (coolant) seals and be done with it.

 

maybe it's my student's budget, but that's just plain stupid.

i agree with everyone else, the most you'll need is an iron and possibly a few parts that were affected by months of exposure to coolant.

if you do burn it up warp it really well and post pictures of the grossness.

 

It is a nice cool day at Thunderhill, you will be making good HP. Watch your temps!

 

you'll be fine. Just watch the temps and take it easy on the boost every other lap. I know someone here...that ran a FD with your symptoms for at least 3 more track events. You might want to bring an extra set of plugs

 

If I were in your position I would race it till she dies. But, I'm a race driver. When I get to a track I can't help myself. Be carefull you may still be able to save the engine.

 

How did it go at Thunderhill?

 

breaking parts is easy.....

and it all costs $$$$$

 

Well, I just pulled into my driveway (San Jose) under my own power and didn't need to trailer her home. I was prety fortunate that Thunderhill was relatively cool all day and my temps at the track never went above 220. The morning was foggy and drizzling; and one unfortunate driver managed to wrap his M3 into the CONCRETE wall at Turn 14 within the second lap of the first session (we were running the course "backwards"). The M3 will probably be a total loss - poor guy.

In any case, the track started to dry out in the afternoon and with the cool temperatures, my turbos were loving it. I limited boost to 11 pounds and it wasn't until the 4th session when I noticed a coolant "burb."

As I was merging onto the track, I noticed my stock temperature gauge past the midpoint and climbing even though my aftermarket gauge showed 140F. WTF? But before I could find a good place to pull over, my thermostat opened and everything became "normal." I finished the fourth session and was considering going out for the fifth when I decided that I had probably pushed my luck far enough and that I should call it a day. We all drove down to grab dinner in Williams (about 30 miles south) and to continue our racing on the benches.

After dinner, I started to head home and noticed the same phenomena as I merged onto the freeway - the stock gauge climbing past mid point with my thermostat closed - and just as I was about to push the hazard button to pull over to the side - the thermstat opened and both gauges started to read equal. I made a quick pit stop in San Ramon (had too much ice tea at dinner) and just as I was about to continue my trip home, my gauges started to do the same song and dance. The only difference this time was my aftermarket gauge started to climb with the stock gague.

Oh $hit!!! I shut down and let the car cool down. Fortunately, I had 2 gallons of distilled water with me and nearly used all of it refilling the cooling system. So for the rest of the trip home, my eyes were glued to both gauges and I was a bit nervous.

At 70 mph, my aftermarket gauge would read 185, would dip down to 180 and close my thermostat. My stock gauge would then climb until the thermostat opened back up and both would equalize. This happened about 5 times from San Ramon.

So it now looks like the coolant leak is to the point where the combustion pressure is starting to work its way into cooling system, pressurizing it beyond .9bar, and pushing coolant out of the loop. I'm trying to relate this to what my gauges were doing this even but I'm really tired. And boy am I glad I didn't go out for that final session. I'll post some of the pics of my sessions tomorrow.

 

must be nice to hit the track on a Monday....do you work for a living?

 

Any pics from the event?

I looked around on the M3 forums and didn't see anyone posting about a crash yet. Always hate to see/hear about someone trashing their car at a "fun" event.

 

I wouldn't exactly call it work, but it pays the bills

 

I have some killer 8.2 megapixel shots of the car. Once I find a host for them, I'll post up the link.

 

That really sucks about the M3. Glad to hear that you made it back. Hopefully you can get it fixed and keep the FD on the track were it belongs.