E30 Zone

Hi guys.

Having read as much as I can find on here about overheating problems I think I've diagnosed the viscious fan coupling as the problem. Got the part, got the spanner, got the enthusiasm to do the job.

But, with all my searching I've not found any answers to my current quandaries. Which are, do I need to remove the rad (Doesn't look like much space down there, but nowhere mentions removing the rad first.)
And is there an easy way to stop the spindle from spinning on the pulleys. Obviously I can shoot over the road to the local autopart shop and get a rubber collar to try and attach to the pulley. But I thought I'd just throw it out there for the e30 massive to take this golden opportunity to show me the error of my ways.

Cheers dears!

No nead to remove the rad jusr put spanner on nut and hit with a hammer the wrong way
The thred is wrong way round

You need a pretty thin spanner. Its 32mm and tightens in reverse.

You also need to hold the pulley its bolted to to remove or tighten - which will require a special holding tool.

The tool and a special thin spanner are £10 each - worth the aggro of bodging it...

Didn't need to get a holding tool, just gentle tapping and it came right off. Easiest job I've had on the old girl yet.

Still confusing me though. First time I've heard the fan working in ages so I guess it's been dead a while. But she is still over heating when stationary, although after my test drive I sat her for a bit and whilst she did climb up to just over three quarters she held there with the hot air on. But when I turned the air off she started dropping and held just above half way for a while.

The air was also getting cooler the higher the temp went. And then got hotter when the temp fell. To my small and feeble mind, that's not how these things are supposed to work.

Anyone know the macabre and mysterious world of engine cooling and why this might be?

Thanks for your help anyway guys. I tried not to be one of them that didn't 'search' first, but I didn't realise just how easy it would be.

air in the cooling system. bleed it and try again

unfortuantly my bleed nut is rounded of by the previous owner. I've tried at the thermostat as well. But water comes straight out of there.

Apparently another good place to do it from is the where the water pipes head through the bulkhead to the matrix. Will try that.

New bleed nut is pence from any motor shop or online. Always have 2 or 3 spare.

First job is bleed it - and I wouldn't drive it whilst it overheats even a little.

Have you given it a coolant change including thermostat change. It should solve your problem:
http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... _Servicing

Thats for the M20 engine mind.

Thanks for all your help guys. Bled the Bejesus out of it. Seems to have brought all temps down to a far more reasonable level.

I'm still learning my way around cars as this is the first one I've actually invested time, effort and money into. I don't want to break her by being a numpty.

I'm using water at the moment whilst I was diagnosing the problem and wasting it as it fell out the engine but, a rhetorical question really, I should swap in some coolant as soon as possible yea? Especially with winter heading in.

Always use it. Coolant contains antifreeze and equally importantly corrosion inhibitor.

Essential to use a proper coolant with inhibitors on any engine with aluminium bits. A week or two on water isn't going to hurt, but the alloy corrodes faster than you may think. If the crescent shaped holes in the head deck corrode back under the fire rings of the head gasket, then you have problems.

It's still playing up on me.

Sat in traffic on the m4 last night was not making me a happy man. Had to spend a few cigarette minutes on the hard shoulder waiting for the traffic to start moving again so my 'Air cooled' engine didn't think that red is the new black all the time.

Think it's going to be a thermostat change. Which is a bugger because I was hoping not to have to take the fuel line off to get to the bolt. Oh well. Alls fun and frolics in the world of car maintenance.

Thermostat change shouldn't present you with any problems, you can do the test on the old one to see if it was knackered to for peace of mind. Just stick it hot water and see what happens (read wiki article).

And also, although you've bled it have you actually taken the bottom hose off to see if a load of crap comes out with the water?

There's also a small tube near the front of the engine bay which you should blow down to get some crap out - Brian etc might be able to shed more light on where and what exactly that pipe is and where the end is (I can't remember exactly). Pacer Pete knows.

Have you tried turning the heater on full when it overheats?
Is part #12 present and intact on your car? http://2009.bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/ ... tor_frame/

Yea, thats all there. And the heating side of things is whats confusing me. When the engine temp rises, the heat gets colder. And gets hotter again when the temp starts falling.

I always took that cold air in an overheating engine means no water. I got plenty of water, and been bleeding it pretty much continuously since I've learnt how. I'm only getting small amounts of air out now. I'll go for the thermostat change, and refill with proper coolant.

Are the heater pipes connected the right way around?
Pipe from the back of the head goes to the lower stub on the bulkhead.

I do believe, gentlemen. That with your brains and my skinned knuckles Operation 'Cool e30' is successful.

One new thermostat, a refill, bleed and general tidging, tadging and a quick roundabout to roundabout I couldn't get her over half way. In fact I've never seen her sit so low before. Sits between three quarters and half way.

Hopefully, thats the nail hit on the head.

Thanks again gents. 'Till the next time.

Sounds like it. The needle being where it is is a very good sign.

Is this a M20 engine? If so, the gauge is still reading several degrees higher than it should.
If it's a M40, it's still reading a little high. Should be fractionally past the centre mark on these.

Funnybear wrote:I couldn't get her over half way. In fact I've never seen her sit so low before. Sits between three quarters and half way.

A bit of a contradiction there.

Which is it? Below half way or between three quarters and half way?

M20 should be just above the quarter mark. M40 should be on the halfway mark.

Ben

the little nut and contacts in the dash gauge can cause offset readings to. when i tighten mine up the temps lowered alot on the gauge but ofcourse the engine never changed how it ran