Is this temp range normal ???

[Mewsy]

I have an 89 525 automatic, and now that it's summer here in Australia I have been using the air cond a lot more. Today was a hot day ( 37.5 C or 101 F ) and during stop/start driving I noticed the temp guage went up to 3/4 and even slightly past, but then went back down to just above half once I was motoring at around 70kph for a few minutes. The car has been well maintained and water pump changed about 20,000km ago, coolant 2000 km ago. any replies would be great !!
Thanks
Garry

[winfred]

not normal! it's a good chance that the fan clutch has died, make sure that the auxilary fan is working also, it should come on low with the ac and kick into high as the pressure rises above 250-275 psi in the ac system, when the resister fails (very common) the fan doesn't come on with the ac till the pressure gets up enough to kick it into high and starting off in high usually blows the fuse


I have an 89 525 automatic, and now that it's summer here in Australia I have been using the air cond a lot more. Today was a hot day ( 37.5 C or 101 F ) and during stop/start driving I noticed the temp guage went up to 3/4 and even slightly past, but then went back down to just above half once I was motoring at around 70kph for a few minutes. The car has been well maintained and water pump changed about 20,000km ago, coolant 2000 km ago. any replies would be great !!
Thanks
Garry

[mamilapon]

Hi Guys, I'm afraid I may have lost the remote fob for my E34 535is 1990. It has the Alpine security system from factory and is of the ' flick key' type.Any help on how I could get another one would be appreciated.Cheers from Sydney Oz.

[632 Regal]

definetly fan related, like Winfred said check that the aux fans come on as soon as you (or someone else) turns the AC switch on. If it dont turn them on thats the problem, if they do go on then its the clutch on the fan but more likely the auxillary fans.

[JonE]

Hi Garry,
That engine fan with the clutch should be blowing alot of air around under the hood when the engine is fully warmed up, if the clutch is bad, it generally won't really blow very vigorously. Also, when engine is fully warmed and you shut the car off, the clutch should bring the engine fan to an abrupt stop, if not, it is freewheeling and the clutch is likely bad.
The aux fan that is supposed to come on anytime the AC is on is visible from front of the car, look up under the bumper. The big black plastic fan should turn on and off with the AC button, or as stated above when the engine temp guage reads about 3/4 or so.

[632 Regal]

Hi Garry,
That engine fan with the clutch should be blowing alot of air around under the hood when the engine is fully warmed up, if the clutch is bad, it generally won't really blow very vigorously. Also, when engine is fully warmed and you shut the car off, the clutch should bring the engine fan to an abrupt stop, if not, it is freewheeling and the clutch is likely bad.
The aux fan that is supposed to come on anytime the AC is on is visible from front of the car, look up under the bumper. The big black plastic fan should turn on and off with the AC button, or as stated above when the engine temp guage reads about 3/4 or so.

[JonE]

Well, yah 3/4 usually means something is not right! All I was noting was that when my fan clutch was bad, the car did make it to 3/4 a couple of times while in traffic and this is when that aux fan seemed to kick in and "help" keep it from overheating. Until I could replace the clutch I often would run the AC just to have that aux fan helping a bit.
Jeff, the other thing I wonder about with Mewsy's problem is that he had coolant replaced about 2000km ago and whether the system was bleeded correctly could contribute to his problem? Perhaps the weather there was considerably cooler and his overheating issue didn't show up until it got hot. At any rate, checking both fans' operation makes sense.

[632 Regal]

it is possible that he never knew because he doesnt need heat, so he wouldnt realize an air pocket. I still kinda lean towards the fan issues, usually an airpocket lets you know more than just once in a while.

[Mewsy]

it is possible that he never knew because he doesnt need heat, so he wouldnt realize an air pocket. I still kinda lean towards the fan issues, usually an airpocket lets you know more than just once in a while.
One thing that I have noticed over the last few weeks before this was happening was that after shutting off the engine at running temp, with the air cond on, there was a whistling/squeeking noise that slowly petered out. So by what you guys have said, sounds like the fan clutch. The aux fans switch on straight away when i turn on the air cond.

[Dan in NZ]

I had the same problem this winter, my fan clutch was bad, but that didn't solve the problem. My problem was a blocked radiator, so if you still get overheating after changing the fan clutch try getting the radiator cleaned out.

[Reuben Lim]

Had same problem here in Manila with my 89 525i. Even after changed water pump, cleaned out radiator and replaced coolant w/ 50 distilled 50 bmw coolant, and changed clutch fan. Turned out OEM clutch fan I got was trash, couldn't get an original BMW clutch fan. Just so I could use car, my mechanic put in a Bosch clutch fan for Mercedes, and voila! overheat problem went away, temperature rock-steady a little over half, and my aircon even got cooler. It is much noisier than the original one though. You may also want to check if fuse for aux fan is blown. You'll know if so if temperature goes down when car gets moving. Cheers.

[Reuben Lim]

Sorry. Was referring to aircon auxiliary fan, the one attached to the aircon condenser, not the clutch-fan front of engine. Still, the overheat problem I experienced went away after I put in the Bosch aux fan. Did change the clutch fan earlier, but was still getting high temps causing me to blow my hoses a couple of times. Haven't had temp problems since the aux fan change, keeping my fingers crossed.

[JonE]

One thing that I have noticed over the last few weeks before this was happening was that after shutting off the engine at running temp, with the air cond on, there was a whistling/squeeking noise that slowly petered out. So by what you guys have said, sounds like the fan clutch. The aux fans switch on straight away when i turn on the air cond.
So, if your engine is fully warmed and running and you have the hood open then shut off the car, can you see the engine fan spinning for awhile or does it come to an abrupt stop? If spinning, is it the source of the squeaking sound? By the way, do this with your AC off to rule out the aux fan squeaking. If the fan clutch is good, it should blow alot of air around when that engine is fully warmed up. When my clutch was bad the fan would spin with engine on and warmed but I couldn't feel alot of air being pushed. As soon as I changed that clutch it started to really push air when engine warm.