Been looking at this site for a while and finally decided to join in the fun
The car goes into a garage on Tuesday, but any thoughts advice in the meantime would be appreciated.
I have a 1990 E30 318is, with 148,000 or so under it's wheels. It's a top car that looks better on the inside than on the (pinkish red) outside! It's got FSH, but I admit that I've been neglectful and have been putting up with a noisy fan belt for the last few weeks...
Well, a couple of days ago I was driving down the road when the battery charging light came on, along the the handbrake and brake warning lights (I think). There was also a very loud squealing noise from under the bonnet. I stopped the car, considered my options (am I fu** going to walk home!) and started the car again. It ran ok and I got home.
I got the bonnet up and I can see that with the engine running, the shaft that the viscous fan is connected to is actually moving up/down, and left/right
sounds like some bearings have broken up in there - am I right in saying that the shaft leads back into the water pump?Also, the reason that the charging light came on is that sometimes, again while the engine is running, the alternator and water pump (both driven by the same belt from the crank pulley) stop rotating. Yes, scary.... I suspect that it's the water pump (or whatever the fan is connected to) that is stopping the alternator, not vice versa. Anyway, enough of the message/vent/cry, I would appreciate any thoughts you might have, cheers!
