fan clutch

[misty]

Situation: overheating in idle

- I have no fan clutch (is this normal??)
- I have an electric fan run by thermal sensor
- I have replaced the radiator, water pump, thermal sensor and temp gauge

I was told that every BMW has a fan clutch, but I do not. my car has not always overheated, but started to recently when in idle.

Any suggestions? Please help!

Thanks!!

[bimmerboi318]

well im not sure what to do about the overheating but our cars dont have fan clutches. we only have an electric cooling fan. the only thing i can think of is to replace the coolant or maybe the thermostat. good luck.

[misty]

thanks for the clarification! the service guy at BMW told me that ALL BMWs have a fan clutch but obviously he was wrong.

[J!m]

A couple things to check:

1) Fan actually works as it should, (a quick check would be start A/C system- fan should start immediately)

2)Air is not in the system. Air can come from a small leak, or not being properly 'burpred' when service is performed.

[318tibimmer]

I have the exact same problem, but when I rev the engine the temp will drop back down, any Ideas?

- if I were you I would replace the T-Stat - but if you are going to I would goto www.understeer.com there is a metal T-stat housing and then you can goto a local autoparts store and get the t-stat for like $3-5, instead of paying BMW $35-45 for the Plastic T-stat housing with the T-stat molded into the plastic.

[J!m]

318ti:

Sounds like you definately have air in your system. Get it bled, and keep the tank filled as required. The heat probably sucks at idle, right? IE if you start the car on a cold day to warm it up and the interior never really warms up until you start driving around- that's air in the system for sure.

If you do have air, it got there somehow. Check for small leaks, and/or single drops of coolant under the hood or on the floor. These new cooling systems are hard to bleed out after work is completed, and can sometimes take a few days (heat cycles) to completely bleed. Similar on my 3.2 and Land Rover 300 Tdi.

Small leaks can be a bastard to find. If you have the budget, the UV dye kits RULE for finding small leaks...