Bmw Overheating Problem -please Help
 

My 318 overheated about 3 weeks ago, i immideiatley took it to the garage who changed the thermostat.

After driving it for 3 weeks it appeared to be ok until I went on a long journey. It overheated again the tempreature gauge was on full. I had it towed back to home.

When I am driving it is ok, when in heavy traffic - when i am stoping and starting or moving slowly then it appears to overheat. No hot air come through the heaters in the car any more. I am driving it short distances at the moment and the tempreature seems fine.

I have tested the big fan in the engine with a piece of paper and can stop the fan - should this happen? I also checked the coolant level, I only toped this up a few days ago and more than half of the coolant had gone.

Has any one got any ideas what the problem could be? I am annoyed with the garage as I thouht they fixed the problem but obviously this is not the case.

I dont know much about card so any help would be gratefull.

thanks

I'd say the fan is a good place to start.

while driving ur car the air is entering ur engine and the temp will be fine now if the temp if incresing (not too fast), while stopping thats means 2 things happen
1. the big fan clutch is not working
2. the electric fan is not working and comes with 2 speed (hight and low)

now start ur car and once the temp if half the big fan shuld work push the accelerator and u should feel big amount of air comes from the fan dont try to touch another noise of air should happen.
if the big fan is working that means electric fan not working turn on the a/c and check it if its running the fan is fine , now there is small thermostat on the side of radiator maybe its damaged of fan cutout if burn or fan fuse.

and maybe ur radiator having some air when ur car is cold open the radiator cap and also open the air removal screw start ur engine and start to fill the radiator you will found some bubble comes from the air removal screw once bubbles disapper close the screw and the cap.

some times if radiator is not full electric fan will not start coz the small thermostat will not measure the temp ...... have good day

i dont know if you fixed it yet... but you may wanna look at the fan clutch, mine had the same problem and thats what it was.

Hi they fitted a new viscous fan like you all said and its still over heating

what else could it be

thanks

overheat fast or slowly ?
as i told you before try to remove the air from radiator and fill it , also chk if there is a leak on the coolant,
if all cooling system is working properly maybe you have to chk head gaskit and the head coz if the engine heated and you just drive it another big problems happens ?

Check if there is no water in your engine.
Remove the oilcap and if look for some grey stuff.

I'm sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience with the garage you took your BMW 318 to. Though I'm personally not qualified to give out any technical advice regarding the situation surrounding your engine's cooling system, one thing I can recommend is bringing your vehicle to a Bosch Service Center that not only specializes in European auto maintenance, but manufactures many of the parts that going into engineering the cars we love so much.

If unaware of any Bosch Service Center locations near you, try typing your city and state, or zip code into our Service Locator App found on our Facebook page. The app makes for an easy search of nearby garages who will treat you and your car with the utmost respect and care.

As we get into the warmer months, antifreeze/coolant condition is still important. In addition to preventing freezing in cold months it also helps prevent your car from overheating. It also lubricates the water pump and prevents corrosion of the cooling system and heater core. Most manufacturers recommend changing the coolant/antifreeze every 2 years.

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