BMW - radiator fan broke

[John Clay]

Do radiator fan blades just break? My second run at an autox yesterday with my E36, when I finished the car was shaking at idle. Popped the hood and the engine was shaking. Course worker brought me several fan blade pieces back to me.

I had it towed to the shop and I just picked it up tonight. They replaced the fan blade, but said nothing else was wrong. That just doesn't make sense to me, how do several fan blades just break off at the same time?

[Rick V]

Yes they just break. I have seen several snap for no reason. 2 of my own. Keep this in mind when running the engine, with the hood up, and working the throttle.
There was a TSB from BMW a couple years about this exact thing.
I nispect mine every oilchange.
Good news is that you know your fan clutch is locking up.

[VaSteve]

You should have been at the DE instead. Take that as a lesson!!

[John Clay]

You should have been at the DE instead. Take that as a lesson!!

:lol: :lol:

No kidding. Unfortunately, work got in the way for Saturday. :bang:

Roles were reversed this time, the 944 served well as the back-up, while the BMW went home on the flatbed.

[John Clay]

I inspect mine every oilchange.

Am I looking for cracks?

[Trak Ratt]

Plastic would likely show up as whitish lines. Very faint at first. By the time you saw cracks I would imagine you would be just short of holding the in your hand.

[Rick V]

DR is correct. You can also grab each blade and just wiggle them towards the engine and away. It should feel solid and make no noise.

[SkipC]

Check the motor mounts if there are any marks on the inside of the fan shroud. Good luck !!

[onboost]

Check the motor mounts if there are any marks on the inside of the fan shroud. Good luck !!


Ditto..

[John Clay]

Well, it must have been something other than "just broke", because it broke again.:bang:

This one broke with zero track or autocross events, just daily driving.

It's at the shop. Motor mounts are in the "not too bad, but should change if going to the track" shape. They are considering fan clutch as a possibility??

[Jase007]

Check the motor mounts if there are any marks on the inside of the fan shroud. Good luck !!

X3

for safety ... replace it.

www.bavauto.com (http://www.bavauto.com)

Part # : 11 52 1 712 058 $ 29.95

http://www.bavauto.com//assets/product_images/hardpart/11521712058.jpg

[Rick Lee]

Unrelated, but IIRC, the E36 water pump has an impeller failure problem too. Seems the plastic impellers break off and there's an updated pump with I believe steel ones.

[Jase007]

John:

It could also be the water pump bearing ... though if the fan & fan clutch were moving that much from the water pump bearing being shot ... you'd have other problems with overheating, seizing, leaking water pump.

What did the shop finally do on this?

[John Clay]

I take the BMW to sort of a one man shop over hear in MD. The "man" was sick first time through, so the car was diagnosed and fixed by his helper.

A few weeks later, it broke again during normal use. This time it knocked out some hoses in the process.

I had the motor mounts the second time around, although the mechanic still wasn't sure that they were the problem. Hasn't broken again yet.....altough it hasn't seen much in the way of hard use. I took it to Summit once, but the brakes kept fading on me, so I switched over to the 944 in the middle of my second run and didn't go back.