How long does your 318is take to warm up?

Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:48 pm

After 15 mins of driving, my temp gauge is barely on a quarter... Takes a good 20 mins to get up past the quarter, and after a long run it gets close to the half way line.

it does my head in, because it takes ages before I can give it some beans...

Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:18 pm

possible viscous fan coupling is knackered, keeping the coolant too cool. or the thrmostat could be stuck open. or both?

even an air lock. mine warms up fine, but sits below the half way line coz my viscous fan coupling is mash up!! but i'll have the ellecy fan on there soon though!!!

Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:34 pm

dunno.. gave it about 7 minutes to warm then nailed it

Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:40 pm

Bob_S wrote:dunno.. gave it about 7 minutes to warm then nailed it

Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:57 pm

minutes? sorry I mean seconds!

I only potter about in the M3 and let it all get warm before I even think of half throttle lol! make sure it's upto the specified 80 degrees c on the guage, temp gauge is in the middle and only when I can happy that the situation is acceptable I open her up.. which is a rare occation!

M3 has actually made me a more considerate slower driver

Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:03 pm

mine takes about 7-8 minutes to warm up and sits just below the half way mark.

When i fitted my eletric fan i was checking the rad after a drive and the bottom outlet side wasn't even hot but did warm up when i left it a idle for a minute or so thought it was alittle wierd as the temp guage was sat at about its normal place the hole drive and the fan didnt kick in, it was a very cold day though.

Mon Mar 19, 2007 11:39 pm

Unusual, but not impossible for the viscous fan to lock on, but you would know this by the noise it would make, and it wouldn't significantly affect the engine warm up time in any case!
The engine temp is controlled solely by the thermostat, which in your case is probably not closing properly.
BME OE thermostats have a habit of breaking on one side of the bridge piece, which is probably what's happened to yours.

Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:24 am

Cheers Brian, I suspected the thermostat. I'll get one from GSF.

Tue Mar 20, 2007 10:13 am

Brianmoooore wrote:BME OE thermostats have a habit of breaking on one side of the bridge piece

yeah, that does happen an awful lot! why is that?

Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:13 pm

recently mine has been taking a little longer than 7 minutes - about 10-15 brings it to just under halfway

Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:16 pm

about a minute..... witha can of petrol and a lighter

Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:55 pm

iDreamBeemer wrote:recently mine has been taking a little longer than 7 minutes - about 10-15 brings it to just under halfway

About that for mine too, maybe even a little longer...mind you it's done 210k so i'm not surprised..

Pal