Fan clutch woes..... =(

T

TeamPSI

New Member
#1
Messages
2
Likes
0
Location
Sin City
#1
Hi guys,
I recently purchased a 92 325i. After having the car for a couple of days I noticed the temp guage creeping up towards the hot mark. I read a few online articles that pointed to the fan clutch. Being the mechanica that I am (ya right! ;) ) I wrapped up a nice stick of newspaper to stick in the fan to check the clutch. Sure enough... stopped all too easy.

Cool... I found the problem. So I go to Autozone...mhhmm... and got a replacement "made in china" clutch for it. After installing it I re-tried the newspaper trick and the thing chopped right into it. Worked like a charm! ... Well after about 20 minutes here goes the guage traveling toward red again. :( I stuck the newspaper in and, sure enough, it stopped again. Thios clutch works maybe 20% of the time, but it seems like after I rev the engine up a time or two it dies on me. If I drive at 2500rpm or lower it always engages perfectly.

I went over to BMW and grabbed another clutch for it today, and it never even tried to work. It barely spins at idle, and the car heats up REALLY fast with it on there. Same thing with the newspaper again. No dice...

:(:(:(

Have you guys ever seen bad clutches this much? I mean...geeez...could they be this unreliable?
 
mjbst111

mjbst111

2
#2
Messages
880
Likes
0
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
#2
use a different trick to test your fan clutch...

pop your hood, and with the engine OFF and keys in your hand try to turn the fan. It should turn easily....

Now let your car overheat, turn it off, pop the hood, keys in hand etc., try to turn it again... it should be more difficult to turn. If that is the case then the clutch should work fine.

Also if you are sitting at idle and your engine is getting hot, if you rev your engine a little bit for a second you should hear the fan kicking in at a higher speed.

One last thing... is your engine hot while sitting at red lights, or on the highway, or both?
If you overheat while driving down the highway, it probably isn't your fan clutch.

When i bought a new fan clutch it fixed my overheating woes last summer. Then again this spring (i say spring cause its been a little warm out lately) its running a little hot so i'll have to look into why that is soon.
 
T

TeamPSI

New Member
#5
Messages
2
Likes
0
Location
Sin City
#5
Im beginning to think that the guage is lying to me. The car gets to RED in about 3 minutes after starting it. =/

I checked a repair manual and it said to test the temp sensor to unplug it, and if the guage reads absolutely cold then it was faulty... I dunno though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


Top