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Failed plastic impeller is v. common on BMW's.
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Yes it is which is why I am planning to do a waterpump/thermostat (and now a viscous coupling) change in the next couple weeks. I have a 1995 520i and while my car exhibits no signs of overheating, it is a thought I have in the back of my mind everytime I drive simply because of the many overheating cases I have heard of. My temp gauge will rise to exactly midpoint and never go above it, no matter how hot the day, motorway (or slowing down from it) or town driving etc. This contributes to my not trusting the gauge to accurately tell me how hot or cold the car is running, therefore my only solace will be in knowing that all the cooling components are fully up to scratch.
The wrench needed to remove the fan coupling is indeed a 32mm, but I have yet to find one in my searches (Halfords, Machine Mart etc) so would appreciate it is someone could direct me accordingly.
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It is possible to remove the viscous couplings by a few sharp taps on the edge of the nut using a hammer and heavy drift , cold chisel or such like . Remember it's a left hand thread (usually) , and a sharp tap to tighten it is sufficient as it tightens itself as it rotates .
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I drilled through the Viscous coupling on my car, and bolted it up so it went at engine speed all the time. I used two bolts 180 degrees apart so it was still balanced. Worked a treat for on my old Ford.
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I drilled through the Viscous coupling on my car, and bolted it up so it went at engine speed all the time. I used two bolts 180 degrees apart so it was still balanced. Worked a treat for on my old Ford.
Good grief. Don't do this!! The fan will be spinning at engine speed all the time (i.e. up to 6000rpm). They were never meant to do this - the coupling slips a lot at high rpm so the fan never goes that fast. There is a serious risk of a blade flying off and causing serious damage/injury.
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Trancer,
You may not need to buy a special wrench. There was plenty of room to use an adjustable wrench on my 1992 525i. Other cars may be different of course. Mine was quite tight and I had to lock the pulley before the nut would crack free.
I used to have a long thin 32mm wrench that I made myself for undoing these nuts but I gave this away to a friend with a V6 Ford Granada as they don't have room for a standard thickness spanner.
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I found this on the website
www.kenlowe.com/fans/consumers/fans06.html
REPLACEMENT ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT VISCOUS OR ELECTRIC FANS
Original equipment replacement Viscous slip clutch fans are almost always more expensive than a Kenlowe thermo-electric fan which has the advantage of improved m.p.g., reduced noise and a quicker warp-up. Whilst the benefits alone make a strong case, the financial saving when compared with parts for cars from mainland Europe and the Far East can be significant. Kenlowe replacement Original Equipment Electric fans are a low cost, high quality, immediately available option for British, European, Japanese and American manufactured cars. Models are generally directly interchangeable and therefore easily installed. Alternatively, use a larger size Kenlowe for improved cooling - universal mountings make installation simple. Kenlowe thermo-electric fans are available for almost all vehicles fitted with a viscous fan or an original equipment electric fan - ring Kenlowe Technical Services for details, price and your nearest stockist.
Maybe a good idea to use one of these and gain a few hp and mpg if replacing the viscous coupling anyway. Has anyone had any experience of these ?
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This has been a great thread with the sort of advice that you ignore at your peril, and I would personally like to thank Aprilla for his superb input into this forum and also Dizzy for his practical advice and suggestions, - I for one appreciate this sort of knowledge, which unfortunately is sadly non existant from BMW main "stealers".
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The wrench needed to remove the fan coupling is indeed a 32mm, but I have yet to find one in my searches (Halfords, Machine Mart etc) so would appreciate it is someone could direct me accordingly.
Laser tools do one (v. widely available).
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In response to your statement yes I had to remove the viscous fan on an E30 325I recently as part of the awkward water pump replacement procedure. I scratched my head for a while then used a standard pair of grips ( Stilsons ) with a bit of persuasion it wasn't too bad.
Hope this helps.
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My temp gauge will rise to exactly midpoint and never go above it, no matter how hot the day, motorway (or slowing down from it) or town driving etc. This contributes to my not trusting the gauge to accurately tell me how hot or cold the car is running, therefore my only solace will be in knowing that all the cooling components are fully up to scratch.
BMW temperature gauge is very insensitive around the mid-point. The sensitivity is high at low temps and at high temps. i.e. it climbs quickly from cold, but the 'mid-point' covers a wide range of temps. When the cars really overheat the needle goes screaming from the middle to the right-hand side in about one mile!
Normally, the needle sits just to the 'cool side' of the centre marking (about a needle's width). If it sits just to the hot side then (in my experience), although still apparently in the 'normal' rnage, its is a sign of trapped air in the system or a dodgy head gasket.
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Thanks for the tips. I did a search for Laser tools, but apparently one needs to have a traders password to do much there. I did find another (Draper)when doing a basic search so I will try one of those. I could always try an adjustable, but I don't want to risk rounding the nut.
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Thanks for the tips. I did a search for Laser tools, but apparently one needs to have a traders password to do much there. I did find another (Draper)when doing a basic search so I will try one of those. I could always try an adjustable, but I don't want to risk rounding the nut.
Most small and high-street factors (but maybe not Halfords?) stock laser tools. Many should have the fan coupling spanner on the shelf because its a popular job!
One little tip - the 32mm laser spanner can be ground out to 36mm (2mm each side) to fit the propshaft coupling nut on Mercedes cars. That's handy because a standard adjustable won't normally fit into the propshaft 'tunnel' and a slim-jawed open-ended 36mm spanner is both difficult to get hold of quickly and expensive!
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I had the plastic impeller explode at 130,000 miles on an 1998 Omega Elite with BMW 325/525tds type engine. It overheated so quickly, that although I regularly check the instruments, I ws alerted to the problem by sudden loss of speed/power on the motorway, a check of the instruments showed temperature full max. I pulled over, and opened the bonnet, the coolant bottle was having a riot and you could hear boiling and I could feel the heat radiating from the engine on my face.
I had it towed to the dealer, who said the head gasket had blown, it had, but the watepump was the cause, Total cost £1200, but the water carried on pressurising at high speed, I kept taking it back, they replaced the fan coupling and radiator for a total of £400, still did it, then a year later, they changed the head gasket again under warranty, and said the head was warped but could not be skimmed.
I now have a new head which cost me £800, and other seals/gaskets/bolts and tools to fit it have cost me £300. I also feel I should replace the camshaft and hydraulic lifters while I'm at it but not sure.
so far the use of plastic impeller has cost me nearly £3000 on a car woth not much more than that. (But the car is worth more to me than that so I'm doing it)
This Omega Elite is a superb frugal, and reliable car, let down by a BMW engine!
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Can any of you let me know whether or not this fan might be able to fit my E30 318IS (M42 16valve engine) as I have decided to buy one fast!
Please don't bid against me!!!
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=...1
Many thanks,
Matt
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You could look on
www.eurocarparts.com
and see if the part numbers are the same for these sifferent engines/models.
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If I remember rightly, Halfords have the Laser 32mm spanner but it's at the end of the row in the miscellaneous tools, rather than in the spanners where you'd expect to find it. It's shrink wrapped on a large piece of cardboard.
All BMW M52 engines are prone to:
Failed thermostat
Cracked plastic thermostat housing
Stripped threads in the block
Faulty waterpump with plastic impeller
Faulty viscous fan
Air locks in the system, notice the M54 has an extra bleed screw
Oil leaks from the rocker cover
Cracks in the coolant header tank
It's not until you own a BMW you realise how very average their engineering can be.
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I do own a BMW and unfortunately totally disagree they have built their reputation from the cars they have built. Mine is twenty years old and runs like a dream and I'm sure many others would agree.
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