my 2001 e39 530i sport seems to be overheating.....well it might not be, last night quite suddenly the temp gauge was in the red, switched the car off kept ignition on so the fan could do its work but nada, the fan wasnt doing anything. Checked the temp, still high, watched it fall after a few mins but it took around 15-20 secs to fall to midway and stopped bang on mid way point. opened up rad put a little top up of water in and started car up again and let it run. Left for a few mins and watched it, still didnt move from mid point. drove home again watching the thing like a hawk.

About halfway home (10 miles) it shot up again to red and back down to mid point all in the space of 20 secs ish?? Kept going......nearly home and it started doing it again, doesnt seem to be overheating could it be a thermostat, switch etc.

I replaced the radiator last month due to a crack in the plastic housing, maybe another fault somewhere???

I am just about to go out and let it run in the drive to see what happens, but thought i would run it by you guys first....

 

there is air in there by the sound of it.

 

bleed it again by unbolting the header tank and lifting it up and blow in it,with the bleed nipple open of course.

 

Yeah the "replaced radiator" + "now it's started overheating" is just too much of a coincidence

 

yep, first and foremost make sure its bled right,bmw,s can be awkward to bleed if you havent done them before.

 

Very true

Isn't there a switch in the rad somewhere that can play up?

 

ha now this isnt what i want to hear! i aint very good at fixing these things, good at breaking them!! will have a go and see what happens

 

It's better than hearing "It's fucked mate, probably the HG!".

Just bleed the system again or pay somepne an hour's labour to do it and you should be OK again. Defo sounds like an air-lock or similar.

Good luck.

 

OK, back to this ole chestnut......right we bled the car and everything seemed fine for a few weeks then on the motorway i noticed that the temp gauge was right up again! puled over and checkd it out, gauge went back down again! grrrrr

Decided to replace the water pump as they are meant to be a common problem, was told the bit inside.....wears and can flop about etc so it doesnt pump the water round very well, the old one did have a bit of play in it but nothing bad, problem disapeared for a month or so...

it started doing it again last week!!!

 

We replace loads of them week in & week out the inside of the water pump falls off so looking from the outside when running you see it turning mint but the inside blades come away from the sahft.

 

Carlo, you work on BMW's dont you?

I have another problem! could you have a look

https://passionford.com/forum/genera...indow-bmw.html

 

my water pump went last week on the inside.

 

Yes cutch is it about the battery drain? sometimes a door lock can keep the car awake if they have had the door panel off & the disturbed the wiring in the door
it dosent let the car go to sleep. My guess would possibly need a door latch, or is the heater staying on all the time heater resistors can fail draining the battery. Without checking its a guessing came but they 2 are top of the list.

 

Carlo, your a star!!!

Will say to the guys at Hillington, Douglas park BMW. Its going in just now to do a battery drain test over night.

Would you beleive it started fine this morning!!!

 

It may be just coincidence that the drain happend at the same time as the car locked mate,my money would be on the heater resistor although the door locks can cause this dont let them rip the hole out of you for checking the car. you need to dissconnect the door locks one by one & see if the car goes to sleep. Best way to save yourself cash is take the keys out the ignition & if the heater is still on or fans still work when keys out its the resistor.
Let me know how you get on even by pm

 

Right just checked, the keys were out of the ignition and the only fan that is working is the MAX ac button. All the rest didnt do anything but the MAX ac button to the left of the fan up and down button worked.

 

I have asked every tec in here mate nothing on the heater panel should work when the ignition is off so it sounds like a heater resistor fault.You could try one your self & save you a bit of doh they are very common so most bmw parts places should stock them.

 

Hmmm okay dokay, i aint that mechanically minded carlo, let alone sparky stuff! I wouldnt know where to even start. I will take it down just now and let them know your thoughts hopefully they will try and get to the route of the problem without bending me over. Funny how it started happening the morning after they worked on the door??? Ah well, cheers. I owe you a pint..

##If you know whats wrong with it over heating i'll buy you a case of beer!!!

 

Part number for heater resistor 64 11 6 923 204
Ł56.09 + vat

get them to check the overheating when your there as well they will be farmiluar with them & go straight to the prob

 

heater resistor "hedgehog" as its known is about 40 quid from ecp and easy to replace,sounds like yours is faulty.

 

euro will be cheaper as above

 

Just droped it off, they are going to look at everything you have mentioned.

They probably thought "fk him" and will do their own checks!!! Either way will let you know what they come up with.

Thanks guys,

 

Keep us posted mate

 

overheating: viscous fan problem maybe?