Fan or no fan

[rockin1978TA]

Well, my 89 535I has developed a pretty steady drip from the left side of the Radiator. I ordered another radiator, and will get it tomorrow. According to the Book, I need to remove the fan, by busting the big nut loose by going clockwise. Is it necessary to remove the fan, or can I just get away with un fastening the upper part of the fan shroud, move it closer to the engine to get the radiator out? Also, do the transmission lines and /c switch use any kind of o ring, and do I need to order them?

[genphreak]

Just remove the shroud first. it will fall back over the fan and once the thermostat wires and hoses are undone, the radiator will pop out the top(large flat screwdriver is required to do the two upper mounts (often brittle and crackable but very cheap). After that it just slips straight out. Be sure to change the thermostat and hoses if they aren't looking too good. Post up some pics to let us know how u go!

[rockin1978TA]

Cool, Yeah I was looking at it, and it looks like it would slip out. I'll give it a shot.

[rockin1978TA]

Well the e 34 got lucky and passed emission inspection today. Got her some new tires afterwords. When I got home she was gushing out antifreeze from the top left seem of the
radiator. I had to laugh after i said" good thing I've got a radiator in the trunk!!"

[rockin1978TA]

Mission Accomplished! Thanks for the info. Only problem I ran into was trying to move the powersteering pump to change the belts. The out side bolt with the gear, has a couple teeth broken off, it loosened up but I couldnt get the belt off. Do I need to pry off the belt with a scew driver or something? I was able to get the pump back tight by wedging a screwdriver to pull it back. It was raining, so I'll try again when the weather warms up.

[genphreak]

Sounds like you are not moving the adjuster far enough.What's stopping it? Wrong size belt or something in the way? BTW It is possible to get the upper and lower brackets around the wrong way on an M20 so that this happens.

[rockin1978TA]

I was able to loosen the A/C compressor all the way, but the belt did get loose, but wasn't enough to just lift off the pully. I tried a screwdriver, but was afraid of messing up the pully. I'm gonna have to wait til it stops raining and a little more sunshine.

[genphreak]

Some tend to fit belts that are a bit short, 895 is the norm I think. An 890 is hard to remove, I just twist the belt off the pulley a bit and turn it round to slip it right off.