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How have you identified that you are getting water/coolant into cylinder 5? Parked the car up over night after being used, next morning removed all the spark plugs and placed some old blankets around the engine bay and front wings. I then got someone to start the engine whilst I observed .... which...

Again, big thanks for your support ... just want to leave that all behind now and get on with life and of course get drving again.

Apologies for the tardy response, I should sign out when not using the forum :roll: Funny enough I asked James (Redish Motorsport) who had already done work on the Alpina including a full suspension replacement and torque converter replacement - and had also done work on the M3, if he would be happy...

Thank you gentlemen, both for the support and feed back. OK, great - will have a look, luckily my eldest got an A* in his German A levels .... about time it came in handy :lol: Charles, was going to get the head skimmed as suggested (and pressure tested just incase) but suprised the block needs doin...

Well, I am back after pretty much 4 years away and finally the old Cancer stuff now finally beaten. Crickey .... has it really been nearly 4 years since I last posted anything :shock: Anyway, its time to get the old girl out of moth-balls and back on the road but there is a catch, it needs a new cyl...

['ve got my workshop slot booked for next week, Kev. I'll feed back my impressions here once completed. All being well, my feedback to Platinum highlighting a couple of areas of 'weakness' has helped the MD to get his team going the right way again, as I've always previously had a really good servi...

I'm on my fourth HG (courtesy of the famed 3.4 engine "characteristics"), so have quite a bit of experience :shock: Feel free to drop me a line to discuss what it entails. I can also highly recommend CPC to do the work, when the time comes. Many thanks, actually, quick question, I understand that m...

Mmm, shame, used Platinum (Swindon) to refurbish my M3 wheels and they did a great job of the Shadow Chrome affect, this was a couple of years ago. Will have to keep an open mind when it comes to refurb the Alpina wheels, may think about using Lepsons and their collection service, as recommended by ...

As always, I appreciate all your comments and advice from all you wonderful Alpina aficionados. When the time comes to start the work I will keep you all informed. This will not be until the new year (probably), not really sure. I want to refresh all the cooling system as well and make sure it is do...

Sorry to hear this - it certainly sounds like you need a new HG. The good news is that the 3.3 gasket is a standard BMW part and should cost about £180-200 (unlike the 3.4 which is more than double that!!!) When you change the HG, you should skim the head and block as lightly as you can get away w...

It could also be a cracked head. They can go around the valve throat. My old E36 with the 3.2 engine did this on cylinder no.5 It must run rough or on 5 when its cold? Lets hope it is just the HG. Yes, initial rough running, thought it was the MAS but assume is now a red herring and rough running i...

Will you use Redish? Not really sure at the moment, time will not be an issue as I was going to stop using as a daily drive due to a 60 mile a day journey and rising fuel prices, etc. James and co will definately be on my radar when the time comes, but I also have friends in the trade who could hel...

Well, my fears were confirmed today, water in cylinder 5 and a failed leak test on the same cylinder. So, I guess I need a new head gasket, even though, at the moment I have no over-heating issues etc but of course I am loosing water and upon cold start up I create my own fog as all that water is be...

Just an update ... Replacing the fuel filter did not remedy the issue. We then performed a smoke test on the CCV system and this resulted in a number of leaks emanating from the pipes. So, have decided to replace all the pipework including the oil breather pipe, just waiting from BMW the exact part ...

It does seem the schock absorbers are different from Alpinas, probably best to buy Alpina to retain the driving performance, i tried to check all absorbers from Sachs but couldn't find any that looked the same. As I bought the Alpina suspension kit from BMW, I assume they are specifically ordered t...