Overheating and drivers door problems.

["Ashley R M Cox" <acactus@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear list,

Firstly and off subject for this list I know, please let me express my shock
at the news of this week to most of the people I see on this list that are
from USA. We sit in our little south Pacific land & it all seems so far
away. Surreal. I have been there and know New York well. I have spent some
very fine time in your land and to see this has upset me deeply all week.
>From excellent full time coverage I have seen the response unfold. So far
the effort has been great. The whole of the western world supports a country
that handles this issue in a smart way- I hope this trend continues for the
whole world's sake.

Well then, out for a weekend drive in my 1989 520i E34 and have noticed that
the temperature gauge that normally sits on exactly 1/2 way shot up to >
when I began to climb a hill in low gears. I thought the engine seemed to
perform less at this point- could be mixture though (we've been getting some
really bad fuel), but later was back to normal. I pulled over & stopped. I
did what you should never do & eased the cap. Not greatly hot, but a little
coolant raced up & overflowed. Screwed the cap on and with nothing else
amiss, carried on. Seems this only happens on hills under load through the
gears. On the flat its dead steady at =. Really scared of cooking it and
would appreciate any feedback. Had the thermostat & cam belt replaced 3000km
ago. Could it be: radiator, water pump, head gasket (gulp)? What order
should I get these things looked at? Is a TK test any good for diagnosing a
blown head gasket? Can a genuine BM garage diagnose easily & how? Any simple
tests I can do? Have Haynes manual.

Secondly, the same trip yielded another problem. In the morning drivers door
lock knob was observed to not go down when auto locking. On inspection,
neither did it when operated manually- the knob refused to be moved. When
key operated the solenoid threw the lock in the door- I could feel it, and
it locked all the doors but the drivers door. However, when I tried to
unlock the doors, it did, but then immediately locked them again! All the
time the driver's door was jammed unlocked. It is worth noting that holding
the key over in the respective lock/unlock positions kept the three doors in
the desired state.
This left the car easily able to be ripped off. Removal of the door card
exposed a latch that's plastic cover had been cracked at some juncture and
then glued back together. This did not seem enough on its own. I noted that
the plastic grommet that holds the rod from the key to the latch (at the key
end) was loose & fell out easily. I bonded it in with a flexible matrix
adhesive. The mechanism did not look too worn but for some reason the knob
did not wish to be operated.
Is this anything to do with the means of getting entry to the car when there
is a flat battery by overriding the central locking- ie lift the handle of
the drivers door, turn the key right, then lift the handle again? Some say
this is a feature of their passengers door, others I hear are like mine.
I have since disengaged the aforementioned rod, and the hiccup thing has
stopped, but the door is locked now when shut and only openable from the
inside. At least safe.
I suspect the solenoid is OK, but what is inaccessible is the lock/handle
above the latch- Is this likely the culprit or will a new latch solve it?

Thanks in advance for your patience and comments.


Ashley Cox
Registered Architect

Wellington
New Zealand

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