E30 Zone

Okay so after the old driver side 6k 35w HID kit finaly died after a good two year run i decided to get some new ones, this time i went for 55w 5k however after installing them i've run into a few issues. First time turning the new HID's on, just one of the HID's went to its correct colour / brightness however at the same time the driver side HID was a similiar colour and brightness to the stock halogens. Whilst looking at the light i noticed that the colour was fluctuating very slightly every couple of seconds like a little flicker. I left it on long enough to warm up but just resumed what it was doing. I then swapped the ballasts over but kept the bulbs in the housing, this time, the driver's side bulb dident even turn on, just the sidelight! The passenger light however lit up correctly.

Seems to me like a dodgey bulb perhaps? However coming to think of it, it was the driver side light that went on the old kit so perhaps some of the wiring for the lights? I have no idea im bloody useless when it comes to electrical crap! Any help would be apreciated

Power up the ballast and burner directly from a 12 volt battery off of the car to see if the problems with the kit or the car.
Two years isn't a good life for a HID kit. I've had several cheap Chinese kits in use for up to seven years, and have only had one single ballast failure.
I take it any dim dip driving light wiring on the car has been dealt with?

7 years wow! I use my car for work which involves alot of stopping and starting of the engine, i've heard that turning HID's on and of constantly can shorten their life. So perhaps thats why they dident last long?

I havent checked the wiring but i assumed it'd be okay as i've recently been using normal halogen bulbs which where fine.

Okay i hooked the hid to the battery and the bulb did not light up. I can understand that this indicates that its a HID issue however why did the exact same thing happen with my previous set and why is the brand new set doing the same? The wiring seems fine as its lighting up a normal halogen bulb, could the wiring be damaged in such a way that is damaging my HID's but not a halogen?

Also my luck hasent been to great this last month, after recently relpacing shocks,struts, calipers and disks, both inner wishbone balljoints have gone so thats was another £100+, now to top my week off my car is starting to overheat!

I havent had a chance to have a proper look at whats causing the overheating issue, however it looks like the radiator is okay. The car overheats whilst idling and moving, unlesse im doing 80mph with the blowers blowing hot air into the cabbin it keeps getting hotter. I've let it reach the red mark on the temperature dial but have turned it of before it gets any worse. I've got tommorow off but have zilch ££ so is there anything i can do/check without money? Oh my block is a M40B16

The overheating in our current climate sounds like it could be a thermostat staying closed...unless air has got into the coolant system...I don't think there's a test for the thermostat but I think they're around £10...

I can't remember the air expelling procedure...it's in the haynes manual...I think on the M40 it's as simple as having the blowers on, temp up full on blowers and open the bleed screw on top of the Radiator.

Yeah i did forgot to mention its like 3 - 4 degrees overe here in sussex, ill try bleeding the radiator and replacing the thermostat and see if that has helped. What is the thermostats purpose? Is it there to regulate the heat, controlling other parts depending on the temperature?

it could also be the waterpump - check to see if both your rad pipes are hot - or if one is hot and the other is cold.

It could also be the visous fan - you could try the newspaper test for that one

To me it seems like the thermostat is okay, i checked the haynes manual and it says

"If the engine runs hot, use your hand to check the temperature of the upper radiator
hose. If the hose isn’t hot, but the engine is, the thermostat is probably stuck closed,"

So i let the engine got hot, checked the upper hose and it was almost to hot to hold. The lower hose however felt warm on one half and cool on the other half.

Also what do you mean by the newspaper test? All parts of the fan seem to be in moving-working order.

Ignore the last part, i think i found out what you mean by newspaper test^^

Roll up a newspaper and when the engine is up to running temperature use newspaper to touch the fan and see if it stops. .. viscous coupling knackered
or shreds the paper. .. viscous coupling good.

Roll up a newspaper and when the engine is up to running temperature use newspaper to touch the fan and see if it stops. .. viscous coupling knackered
or shreds the paper. .. viscous coupling good.

Okay yeah just tried that supafly, got 6 - 7 sheets of a4, rolled it up, placed the end of it against the fan and with a small amount of force the fan came to a stop. Is this whats causing the car to overheat? How!?

Was the car up to running temp i.e. half way mark on the temp guage. It will only shred the paper when the car is hot and the fan is active.

Also check the top and bottom hoses from the radiator to make sure you have flow from the pump \ radiator. One should be warmer than the other. Can't remeber which way round at the moment though.

Never mind the bit about flow, just read your post above.

I made a quick trip to the local shop to get some food, once i got back i left the car running for a few minutes, the temperature dial was past the half way mark when doing the newspaper test, and as i stated above the upper radiator hose is hot when the engine temp is up, almost to hot to hold, however the lower hose is cool where it meets the radiator however its warm where it meets the engine.

The fan should come on progressively from when it goes past the half way mark as far as I understand.
It should also be engaged when the engine is cold or has been standing for a little while, for around 20-30 seconds, depending on engine speed...if you set straight off it'll probably stop after only 5-10 seconds...if idleing low it could be partialy engaged for a minute...you get the idea. If it doesn't wooosh when just started and reving slightly, it's probably leaked it's fluid and or just needs replacing.

In this weather I doubt the fan will need to engage very much...I stopped my pretty much new one yesterday for a minute or so when hot and the car didn't overheat, so I suspect something else...probably the water pump.

As the Fan clutch fits to the end of the water pump, get both...but try to remove the fan clutch before you remove the water pump from the car...just saves clamping the pump on a bench...the only thing you need from your old assembly is the pulley bit....I had to get a garage to heat up the fan clutch nut to get it off...only cost me £5!

Hope this makes sense

Thanks soul4t ill check that tommorow. I had to go out in the car again, it was only a short trip but the car got up to temperature quickly, the symptoms are strange and inpersistant.

First of the temperature dial reached the red mark, i was stuck at traffic lights for a while, the car was idling and i had blowers blowing hot air into the cabin. After 10 -20 seconds of being idle the air coming from the blowers turned cold, another minute later, still stuck behind a red light, i noticed the temerature dial went down to about 2/3rds of the way. Once i got moving again the car quickly got back up to temperature.

Finaly, i had got back home, turned into my road and was aproaching my parking spot, put the clutch down as i came to a stop to notice my idle had gone from a solid 800rpm to 1500, fluctuating up to 2000rpm. Shortly after engine stalled, i tried starting her up again but after 4 or 5 cranks she dident start and i thaught it'd be best to push her into the parking spot.

I hope there isn't any damage...it does sound like the water pump is just not pushing water through the system! See if you can get it done asap! Check your oil and coolant levels each day if you need to drive it...

You need to stop driving the car until you have these temp issues sorted. A trip into the red can crack the cylinder head, and who knows what local heating/hot spots you can have if the water pump has failed.