Pal I work with has A E36 316i compact 98 R reg. He lives in dagenham. works at oxford circus. His problem is after his 30/40 minute drive to work and the car is idleing the temp gauge shoots up to the red. It is fine on his way down to work moving in traffic. Could it be the viscous fan or do these not have them?
Cheers
E36 overheating
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Ant
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might be blessed with a plastic impellor water pump, best place for that is the bin.
works fine until the plastic impeller grows a little with heat, then the shaft spins freely whilst the impeller does nothing.
Check the viscous as stated, but given the low ambient temps @ the mo, I'm going to stick my neck on the block and go for the pump.
If you change the pump, use a new stat too, no sense saving a few £Â£ on parts that are vital to engine longevity.
works fine until the plastic impeller grows a little with heat, then the shaft spins freely whilst the impeller does nothing.
Check the viscous as stated, but given the low ambient temps @ the mo, I'm going to stick my neck on the block and go for the pump.
If you change the pump, use a new stat too, no sense saving a few £Â£ on parts that are vital to engine longevity.
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The M43 engines on these have the all in one plastic top elbow with the 'stat integral. They can fall apart inside and block water flow. But if it only gets hot in traffic, new viscous coupling. The pump is easy enough on one of these and I would also replace the drive belt. The thermostat is about £20 from BMW.
A word of advice though; before you take the belt off do a drawing showing all the pulleys and which way the belt runs - if you don't there's almost no chance of ever getting it on again!
A word of advice though; before you take the belt off do a drawing showing all the pulleys and which way the belt runs - if you don't there's almost no chance of ever getting it on again!
Ant wrote:might be blessed with a plastic impellor water pump, best place for that is the bin.
works fine until the plastic impeller grows a little with heat, then the shaft spins freely whilst the impeller does nothing.
Check the viscous as stated, but given the low ambient temps @ the mo, I'm going to stick my neck on the block and go for the pump.
If you change the pump, use a new stat too, no sense saving a few £Â£ on parts that are vital to engine longevity.
I will second that!! i changed so many on e36's whilst working at Tech Tuning... all coming in coz they were over heating... cant believe bmw put a plastic prop on a metal shaft




