Fan Blades

[cheripie]

Hey Hey!

Haven't been here in quite a while, but I guess that's a good thing.
New problem.........After replacing the head gasket on my 1995 BMW 325i sedan, my husband went to test drive and the fan blades flew off under the hood, breaking a few (same thing happened to my neighbor for no apparent reason). Anyway, we ordered a new one, husband installed it, started the car and the same thing happened (blades broke). This time, the car hadn't even left the driveway. Anyone know why this could be happening?

Thanks,
Cheripie

[97alpineM3]

95 E36 engines are prone to water pump failures... if you can take one of the left over intake blades, look down.. and push it up and down.. you will probably see the drive shaft that extends into the engine... moving up and down... thus a water pump failure... which requires you to remove the fan... pully... water pump... might as well change the thermostate while in there...

Good Luck and dont drive the car... you car will end up over heating.

Les

[cheripie]

Oops! Sorry, I misposted. My husband says it wasn't the fan blade that flew off this time. It was the shroud that popped out of place and broke every other fan blade. Any ideas on how that may have happened?
Cheripie

[97alpineM3]

The shroud just pops back in... mess with it... zip tie it... do what ever to keep her in place... thats what I do... and I've removed mine many times.

Les

[DesmoBob]

like Les said, water pump is one possibility. bad pump can induce a wobble, causing fan to touch shroud or aft part of radiator.

another possibility
sounds like you had some major engine work done changing the head gasket. might just be a minor oversight on the mechanic's part, but check engine mounts. if they are bad, the engine can tilt forward or backward just a couple of degrees, pretty much imperceptible, but it can be enough for the fan to hit the shroud.

[bitcore]

I had the pump bearings seize up and COMPELTELY fail on me, stranding me in raleigh (100 miles from home and with my girlfriend [who's now my ex ]) for 5 days until I could find a shop to help me fix it.

Once they fixed it, a week afterwards the fan they put on it lost some blades. What I figured out was that the vanos solenoid is *suprisingly close* to the blades. If there's any play in the water pump shaft in any direction other than perfect rotation, replace the pump asap and be sure it's got the metal impeller. (replace thermostat & change to a metal thermostat housing while the cooling system is drained... while your at it... cheep & preventive) You might want to see if you could put some washers as spacers between the fan and the fan clutch to give it a little more distance from the vanos solenoid, if thats what you think it's hitting.

You can get cheep (& OEM!!!) fanblades at autohausaz.com. The one I got from them hasn't given me any trouble at all and is very balenced.