This has probably then worst several weeks of my car history and or life. Recently I had my 528i at Zim's auto technik to repair an EWS problem in which it took them 3 weeks to repair. Over that course of time I lost my job becuase I had no car to get back to Lubbock Texas so I wound up moving back here to DFW. At first I replaced the starter because it was a starting issue and then Zim's said it was an immobilizer issue and replaced the following the EWS unit, battery, cam position sensor (why?), transceiver, key (they broke mine in half while working on it). When I got it back I couldn't figure out why the temp sensor was in the red and thus got ready to take a look when I got home from work (New job in Dallas). On the way home I heard a loud BOOM and coolant shot all over my car. I pulled over and noticed that they didn't even tighten the band clamp to hold on the coolant hose attached to the top of the radiator. I went and got more fluid and refilled the radiator with coolant and thought all was well. I was sorely mistaken. The next day I tried to start the car and noticed a horrid noise coming from the engine and then it started after starting it was rough idling then it ran like normal after about 10 minutes of white smoke and smell.

At this point I can't tell if the Head or the Head Gasket is blown and need advice to tell if it is either of those. First the car does seem to be eating coolant at a slow rate. Second the car does white smoke out of the exhaust for 10 min until after it is warmed up and then it's fine. Third the oil looks a bit dirty but not frothy like it should be. All of this happened due to the negligence of Zim's and I have picture of all that they did in the case I need to follow litigation with them.

Is a product like K & W Block Sealer worth a try since a new head gasket job is obnoxiously expensive?

Thanks again.

-iToast

eeek, well, first thing, white smoke is bad, could be a cracked head...i wouldn't do a thing to it, just have it towed to that place and show up with a lawyer...

white smoke = coolant leak, from what i've heard. Ihope you get your car straighten out. good luck!

Is a cracked head more likely than a gasket or no?
I am having it towed to a place called ICC (Import Car Center) tommorow morning to have a compression test and leakdown test run on it to determine the issue. Anything else I could ask them to check? I am going to attach some photo's of there less than stellar job on the car. Thanks again for the help.

-iToast
***Edit***
Haven't seen any frothy mix in either the oil or the coolan resivoir as of yet.
What are some tests I can run to check the gasket?

<a href="http://img407.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc06138gb7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/3490/dsc06138gb7.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
^What happend when the coolant hose busted off due to Zim's negligence.
<a href="http://img442.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc06141tn7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8420/dsc06141tn7.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
<a href="http://img264.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc06136wu6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/4547/dsc06136wu6.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
These were all taken just a few moments after the incident and after the steam cleared from all of the mess it made. You can see it dumped a lot of coolant on the ground and on my car from the explosion. After this event I filled it back with coolant and the problems have gotten worse from there. Another thing I have noticed is when the car is running at first it almost seems like it isn't firing on all cylinders until after 5+ minutes of driving.

again, (this is what i would do) tow it, do not drive it, back to the original place that did the work and show them what happened, ASAP...if you bring it anywhere else they will blame it on them and your chances of getting completely screwed will increase...+ don't say a word about adding coolant and driving it more...and for crying out loud do not start it anymore...!!!

Sounds like a cracked head or blown head gasket and after the 10 min the gasket or the head swells and slows the leak down. On my 2000 528i the head gasket was $2100, but quickly turned into a $7900 cracked head

BKphoto is right. You need to tow it back to the shop that worked on it. Also, ask them for the old parts they claimed to have replaced on the car the first time. By Federal law they have to produce the old parts. Keep all of your reciepts from this shop. If you take your car to another shop, the screw up shop will use that as a way out. DON'T DRIVE THE CAR ANY MORE! They will also use this against you. Good luck!...................how do you break a key in half?

Quick Update. The reason I am so hesitant to take the car back to Zim's is due to the fact that I had a little "chat" with the owner to let him know I was not satisfied with the work on my car. A sort of "I'll see your ars in court sort of thing." Which means he is more than a bit apprehensive about taking the car back in. I am most assuredly not driving the thing and it will be taken via flat bed to Import Care Center have it checked and based on their diagnostic I intend to use that agains Zim's to say "Hey this is what you did and now they say that it was YOUR negligence that broke it." I haven't been driving it as to keep the damage to a minimum because I can understand the danger of continually driver a car with these sort of issues.

Note: Since the occurrence in the short time I drove it from work back to home yesterday (The only time since the incident). The car does not over heat at all and stays at normal operating temperature during the drive. Since then it has sat in my driveway and the tow truck will be here in a few hours to retrieve it.

How possible is a CRACKED head in lieu of a BAD gasket?

I only ask because I would have figured that the car would have run like crap all the way home instead of a short burst of nasty smoke and a bit of rough idle for ~2 minutes.

Right I had forgot to mention how the key got magically broken. You see the original problem was the EWS Immobilizer got activated some how and cause the car not to start unless the key was turned about 40 to 50 times and then it would start with no prob at all. As they were testing the car out the mechanic cranked the key so hard that the plastic IC (Integrated Circuit) on the key snapped clean in have leaving the other half of my key in the ignition. Needless to say I got a bit irked and demanded that they replace the key (which they did oblige). We are at T minus 34 minutes before the tow truck will arrive.

Sounds like a cracked head or blown head gasket and after the 10 min the gasket or the head swells and slows the leak down. On my 2000 528i the head gasket was $2100, but quickly turned into a $7900 cracked head

I read stuff like this and I think "Why did I buy this car again?" :eek:

If you try to do anything to the car it will ruin your claim against them.