M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS

DISCUSSION => Engine + Driveline => Topic started by: manuel on April 13, 2007, 03:55:31 AM

Title: doubts about profile gasket
Post by: manuel on April 13, 2007, 03:55:31 AM

Hi everyone, I have been reading quite a bit on the forum to get to know my car better, it is a 1990 318is, form the forum it seems as if the M42 engine is known to have a faulty profile gasket, as I have recently bought my car(2 weeks ago), I am worried about this issue, I spoke to the previous owner and he mentioned that he had the head gasket replaced, no mention about the profile gasket, my car has 127.000 kilometers, is there a way to know if the profile gasket has been changed?. I observe no leaks at all, but am worried that this gasket will soon go. Also I saw on the forum some advice on changing by sheepdog, however I can not downloasd the pictures. Any advice will be welcome.

Title: doubts about profile gasket
Post by: b318isp on April 13, 2007, 07:06:07 AM

There is a very high chance that it has been replaced. On the basis of age and on the basis that a head set includes a profile gasket, I would guess that it is extremely unlikely that you would have a problem lurking. Do you know why the head was off?

Title: doubts about profile gasket
Post by: Choking Hazard on April 13, 2007, 07:09:40 AM

odds are good that it has been replaced.  Ya gotta take the head off to do it.  They supposedly go way before 120k miles if they are gonna fail too.  On my car the indication that it had been replaced was big globs of black sealer stuff oozing out around the edges.  That is what the BMW service bulitin said to do- use copious amounts af RTV sealer....

Title: doubts about profile gasket
Post by: manuel on April 13, 2007, 08:07:43 AM

Quote from: b318isp;23687

There is a very high chance that it has been replaced. On the basis of age and on the basis that a head set includes a profile gasket, I would guess that it is extremely unlikely that you would have a problem lurking. Do you know why the head was off?

No, all he said was that one day he found his garage floor covered in oil, and had the head gasket replaced

Title: doubts about profile gasket
Post by: Choking Hazard on April 17, 2007, 10:34:05 PM

I beleive if the head comes off the upper portion of the profile gasket has to be separated anyway, so it is removed if the head is removed...

Title: doubts about profile gasket
Post by: bmwman91 on April 17, 2007, 11:52:10 PM

Quote from: Choking Hazard;23959

I beleive if the head comes off the upper portion of the profile gasket has to be separated anyway, so it is removed if the head is removed...

Correct.  Only a really bad shop would have reused the old profile gasket.

Title: doubts about profile gasket
Post by: strad on April 18, 2007, 10:21:23 AM

Quote from: Choking Hazard;23688

They supposedly go way before 120k miles if they are gonna fail too.

Yup, I have service records for my car indicating it was done at 34K miles, 3 years after purchase.

Title: doubts about profile gasket
Post by: JOEBMW on April 21, 2007, 07:54:35 PM

I wont worry...epecially if the area is dry and clean.