keeps overheating

[JordE30 325i]

My car too overheats quite frequently, actually everytime i drive it. As it was climbing in tempeture i popped the hood to make sure the aux fan was running, the fan attactched to the engine block that can be seen from the inside of the engine compartment, it was. I then proceeded to check the fan which is in front of the radiator, which can be seen throught the grill. It wasnt running. I think this could be the problem but would like to make sure before i overpay some guy in a garage something i already know. I have already replaced the thermostat to see if that was it... HA, no luck, so im gonna go with my guess of it being the fan. Let me know what you guys think the problem is and what i should do to fix it. thanks.

 

[jrt67ss350]

First of all, the auxilliary fan is the electric one in front of the radiator. The primary fan is the belt-driven one attached to the engine.

Probably a bad fan clutch. You can test it by having the engine hot and running and carefully sticking a rolled up newspaper into the fan blades. If the fan easily stops, then the fan clutch is shot and needs to be replaced. Costs about $40 for a new fan clutch, and is easy to change if you have a 32 mm wrench. The fact that your auxilliary (electric fan) isn't coming on when the car gets hot is probably due to a bad auxilliary fan switch. On the driver's side top of the radiator, there should be a metal thing screwed into the side of the radiator with wires attached to it - that's the electric fan thermal switch. I think it costs about $30.

I had to replace both the fan clutch and the auxilliary fan switch on my car - they were both shot. If the primary fan is working fine, the auxilliary fan shouldn't even need to kick on unless it is extremely hot outside.

 

[ODDferkOUT]

It might just be the temperature guage sensor like in my car...

 

[JordE30 325i]

ahh, thanx for setting the facts straight, I'll probably just bring it in to a shop though.

 

[Ben]

could be the water pump too, does it overheat when you are driving or when its idling? if your fan wasnt working, it would most likely not overheat when you were driving, but when its idling.

 

[AutoXfreak]

The aux. fan comes on only hen the car is right next to the red end of the guage, or when the A/C is on. Also you need to make sure that you have at least a 50/50 coolant to water ratio. If you want it to run nice and cool, get youself a bottle of redlines "WATER WETTER" that stuff works!!

 

[epj3]

Are you getting heat out of your heater? If so, then your water pump is definitely working. If not, then it's probably your water pump. You could also be low on coolant, or there could be air trapped in the system.