So on my way to work today all of the electrical components in my car started to dim out and get all whacky. No biggie, I thought. Just the alternator, I’ll pick one up and swap it out tomorrow.
If I was only that lucky. On my way to Geoffs after work, however, the car started to get super hot and was showing low coolant. I get to geoffs and the car is leaking coolant pretty bad. As we investigate the problem to see where the coolant is coming from, Geoff picks up a piece of plastic that resembled a fan blade. And it was. Every single fan blade wasa sheared off. I have no fucking clue how it happened, but they are gone.
One of the pieces must have punctured a hole into a closeby coolant hose and it was spraying all over the alternator.
Question 1: I’m assuming that once the leak is fixed, the alternator will dry off and resume normal operation without any further issues. True?
Question 2: Should I replace the fan with same part? I’ve heard about a lot of guys going to a slim e-fan instead of the stock one that attaches to the motor.
FML. I don’t have a whole lot of money lately so I’m trying to do this on the cheap.
ive replaced my fan before with just a stock fan. you can find them used on bimmerfoums with no problem, but will have to wait to get it. if you need one asap… with discount i can prob get it from bmw for about $70 new. should have them in stock. at least they did when i had to replace mine fast.
Your water pump is probably bad…bearings shot which caused the fan to wobble and hit everything. It happens just like that every time, its most likely where your leak is too, check for coolant under the pump area and move the pulley to check for play.
There’s also that place locally that does like BMW parting out. A friend of mine sent me the link a while back, I have yet to use it and am not vouching for anything.
yea replace the water pump, will be a wise move especially if you have the older plastic impeller version. and i have been running with no engine fan since i bought my e36 about a year ago haha. in socal. just turn on the heat if im ever sitting for more than 5mins. not a huge deal. i plan to do the fdm soon tho. your lucky the fan blades didnt take out you radiator
Paullo I have a pretty large set of let overs from my M3. I have a stock clutch fan that is perfect as well as a great used metal impeller water pump. I have used hoses as well as a belt. Call me or something and I’ll get them overnighted to you for $65 for everything if you want them.
I went with the e-fan mod, full aluminum rad, ported pump yata yata.
Save yourself a head ache later and overhaul your coolant system. If you shop around you can do it for under $250. Get the Fan Delete Mod kit. its a waste of money to get another OEM fan as it will break as well. Go on ebay and get a behr E36 radiator and a metal impeller water pump. It take 2-3 hrs to replace everything. Super easy DIY and you will never have any more problems down the road. While your doing it, get a new expansion tank and level sensor. Super easy and it isnt too much $$$$ if you look around.
i had a similar problem; the thin hose that runs along the top of the fan shroud into the overflow bottle; that clamp broke and the hose came out and sheered my plastic fan. i just replaced the clamps, fan clutch and blade and it’s all good. There’s a little wobble there though so I think I the incident knocked my new fan clutch out of whack, need to replace it again I guess lol.
i would never go without a fan. i got stuck in traffic in my e34 (m50 powered) and with a failing fan clutch the bitch heated right up. going without? madness, unless you never sit in traffic.
If you need a wrench for the fan clutch (slim 32mm) I have one you can borrow. remember, it’s reverse threaded
