My friend was driving from New Orleans to GA. First the lightening bolt in parenthesis came on, so he put antifreeze in his car prior to leavn N.O. On the way his check engine light came on and his engine started running hot. His car cut off in Montgomery, & we are trying to figure out whats wrong b4 he goes to car shop. Bc he does not have a owners manual. What does the lightening bolt in parenthesis mean?

Break free 2 bolts on thermostat housing, loosen hose going into housing and clamp, it will leak some antifreeze. Once the housing is taken off block clean off old gasket material from both surfaces. The block and housing, be careful not to scratch the surfaces. No sharp pointy objects, aluminum is soft. Then take the old thermostat out and put in the new one. Put gasket in place ,align housing and put , bolts in by hand first, so it doesn't cross thread. Just snug bolts and top off system with antifreeze . Start engine ,put on heat and run until thermostat opens. Check for leaks, tighten bolts 1/4 turn should be fine. Add antifreeze in overflow bottle if needed.

Follow the upper radiator hose to the engine. There you will find the thermostat housing, usually two bolts hold it to the engine. Go to the bottom of your radiator ,at left or right side you will find the radiator drain, remove about two quarts of antifreeze into a catch pan. This will bring antifreeze to a level below the thermostat. Then go back to thermostat housing,remove two bolts, lift housing, remove thermostat, scrap off old gasket, reverse process. replace antifreeze. Start engine and check for leaks. GOOD LUCK FRIEND.

IN some cars it means that the charging circuit is not working. Check the alternator out put and drive belt for condition and tension

follow your upper radiator hose from the radiator back to the engine. At that point remove the hose and replace it. Put it back together , fill up the antifreeze and you are ready to go.

You can go online and find the manual for it at BMW's website. It should be fairly easy to find. Wish I could help more. Good luck.

Have a repair shop check for codes every time
any light comes on your dash

Then you know if any systems have a fault & if you
should continue to use it prior to repairs

First you should drain the antifreez by opening the drain plug located by the lower radiator hose. Then take the upper radiator hose off. Then take the 2 bolts out that hold the housing on. Remove the housng and there is your thermastat. Accordind to VW they want you to put antifreeze on the o-ring I use RTV a little extra help sealing just don't put a lot on. The book says to put thermastat in housing and turn 1/4 turn to right. I'm not sure why but thats what it says. TIP If you close the drain plug now and put as much antifreeze in as you can makes it easyer to get air pockets out later. Mount your therrmostast housing back to block and tighten bolts. Again put as much antifreeze in that you can them put upper radiator hose back on. Again put as much antifreeze in that you can. Now come the hard part sometimes getting all the air out of the cooling system. Put the radiator cap on but loose run the engine till the cooling fan kicks on but keep checking the coolant level. WARNING ANTIFREEZE WILL GET ABOVE 200 DEGREES
both upper and lower radiator hoses should be hot and radiator full. If both hoses aren't hot you have an air pocket that you have to get out. To do this run the engine a couple minutes after the fan kicks on then turn engine off for 5 or 10 minutes and start over keep doing this till both hoses get hot and the air the fan is blowing is hot. Once this is doe yout ready to go. I hose off any antifreeze that got one car so if you see antifreeze under car you know something is leaking and not what was spilled.

Follow top radiator hose to motor. Thermostat is under housing that rad hose is clamped to. Drain antifreeze from rad after it has cooled down. There should be a drain **** on rad bottom. Using proper size socjket and ratchet, take out the bolts holdng housing then remove thermostat. Put new thermostat in same way as old one, put on a new gasket and replace housing. Be careful not to overtighten housing bolts. Refill with new antifreeze.

REMOVE 3 BOLTS MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT THREADS.IF BOLTS LOOK OKAY.YOUR BOLTS HOLES HAS DEBRIS OR OIL AND ANTIFREEZE IN THEM.OR YOUR BOLT HOLES IS STRIPPED.YOU HAVE TO REMOVE HEAD TO FIX THE THREAD PROBLEM.IF YOU HAVE NOT MADE THE FINAL TORQUE TO CRUSH AND SEAL HEAD GASKET THE. HEAD GASKET PROBABLY ALRIGHT.YOU HAVE TO LOOSEN HEAD BOLTS IN SEQUENCE BACK OFF A LITTLE AT EACH BOLTS.IF HEAD GASKET LOOK DAMAGE AT BOLT HOLES REPLACE HEAD GASKET.

disconnect computer and drive it ,if it drives ok then nothing wrong with it,after test drive put your hand held plug in gizmo under wheels and drive over it for what use it is.Skimmed head and new head bolts ?you must have more money than sense didnt you check it with a straight edge first??then clean it with a flat bed sander.head bolts ?? more expense .only expense should have been head gasket and antifreeze with a tube of instant gasket.Have you put all the little vac pipes back on that open the flaps on the air con and left the one off on the valve between the inlet and exhaust manifolds.Also did you remove and grind in the valves ??