since its warmed up, my '83 533i (5-speed, ~144,000 miles) has started to chug 5-W30 like kool-aid. would going to 10-30 help at all???

also: the head gasket is leaking slightly (oil out the side of the block) I'm tempted to just re-torque/over-torque the head-bolts by a smidge to see if I can mitigate the losses from that source... any thoughts on that one??

NEXT: the oil seems to dirty fairly quickly after a change, my brother (classic car restorer, therefore not an idiot) suggested I pull the oil-pan and scrape the sludge to reduce transference to the fresh oil. good idea or not? (I'm not too mechanically clumsy, just careful).

FINALLY: my Power-steering is having some interesting issues... including the box leaking fluid like its going out of style... I was thinking of just removing the PS aparatus and sealing off the steering box. is this possible/advisable, and how would you effectively "idle" the pump and will the steering box still function?

if it won't work.... is there any way to convert to manual steering and what does it take to accomplish it.

thanks all!

help??????

As far as what oil to use, I use Castrol GTX 20-50 in my old 325 with 240k on the clock...

holy crap... the dealership here uses 5-30 in all the old cars, as do the independent shops, not sure why but I do trust them

The oil weight question is fairly subjective. Basically, you should try different wieghts until the leaks go away and/or it stops drinking it. Typically higher weight oils will tend to get used up slower.

I seriously doubt that overtorquing the head bolts will help stop the oil leak. In fact, it might make it worse. Unfortunately, the only way to fix that one for sure is to pop the head off and replace the gasket.

Your brother is probably correct that there's a bunch of sludge in the oil pan. Amsoil (and probably other folks) make an "engine oil flush" that is supposed to get rid of this junk for you. Basically, you change the oil with something disposable (not $5/quart Mobil1) and dump in this engine flush stuff. Run the engine for a couple of hundred miles and then change the oil again (with the good stuff this time). All the sludge should be gone.

I'm not sure that it's possible to convert back to manual steering (or that you'd even want to in a 5-series). The leaks are most likely at the hose connections. The best way to fix it is to get new hose clamps and/or get new hoses. Mine is leaking fairly badly also and one of these days when I have some time I need to crawl under there and put new hose clamps on. I'm 90% sure that will fix the leak in my case. Not sure about your case, though.

the hoses leak a little on the PS...the box is WASTED, I'm not kidding on that one.

oh, and the car tips the scales a hair under 3000lbs, so its not too heavy at all.

This is going to sound like a hair-brained idea, but if you add a quart of trans fluid to your oil and run for 100 miles or so, that sludge will be gone.

According to what I've read, the engine will be clean as a whistle.

That 533 is < 3000 pounds? cool!

It's a big enough enough engine, you should be able to move up some weight without any problem.

I ran castrol 20w-50 in my 2.5 liter 944. It's gets hot enough in Atlanta, prolly gets hot enough in Nebraska too.

Try 10w-40 or even 20w-50 and see if it don't calm down. Move back down a weight for the winter.

my .02, actual street value: .01

I run Castrol GTX 20w-50 with good results during our Nebraska summers in my high-mileage, high consumption engines. Not BMWs, but I think it'd be worth a try in your case.

On most cars, PS elimination involves simply running a hose from the inlet to the outlet of the rack/box, and chucking the pump and related hoses into the woods. Not sure how much this will help your leak, though, if it's coming from the rack...But PS is for pansies anyway. :P Go for it! You can always disconnect the belt (is it a seperate belt?), install your bypass hose, and leave the pump and orig. hoses in there. That way if you don't like it it's easy to change back.

The various 'De-sludgeing' methods can work, (ATF, additives, etc) but typically will require more than one useage for real effectiveness, and quite frankly you can't beat physically removing the oil pan and cleaning it out, followed by an ATF or additive flush to get the head and passages cleaned out.

I'm pretty sure its a V-belt, and as long as you have a clue what we're doing sounds like we're SET! the pump & hoses leak too... so if I can isolate the box long enough to afford a new one, I'll be happy.

any chance I can rent the Celica for a few days while I tear all this stuff apart?????

when we pull the pan I'll step-up the oil, and hopefully the tune-up will be done by then as well.

ok , now who's gonna tell me the cheapest place to get all the parts forthe tune-up as cheap as possible.

I would always start my search for the most affordable parts at:

www.bimmerparts.com

Maybe that's just me, though.

already working that route... thanks man.

Yeah, I'm sure the celica loan would be no problem, we just have to go get it. (You don't want the truck?!? :) ) Greg is talking about borrowing it eventually when he does his RB26DETT into his 240sx, too... it could be the official High St. Rental Co. car. :D

We can take a look to be sure, but I'm pretty certain that the PS elim would be no problem. It's a ball-box, right? Not rack-and-peanut.

mmm... rack and peanut steering....

yep, ball-box is right.

I should have the new pan-gasket and tune-up pieces next week...