Fan on 95 325is

My car has not been driving as smoothly as normal so I open up the hood
to find that the fan is missing about half of its blades. The have
snapped off somehow. My question is this: Is it dangerous to drive
the car like this? And how could this have happened? Also, is this a
big job to have fixed? Thanks...

This is not uncommon to see. The heat will weaken the plastic blades over
a period of time. This is something that you should have repaired
immediately, since it can take out the bearings on your waterpump. This
is not a major repair. A shop should be able to do it in a half hour.

You can get a new fan from the dealer for about $60 (USD) and install it
yourself. I was doing a routine oil change when I found several of the
blades scattered about the engine bay ...

There is a single reverse-thread nut on the center of the fan that holds it
on. I forget the torque spec, but it isn't very high, and I took mine off
with channel lock pliers and used a screw driver to hold it still while
working the nut.






"madloof72" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> My car has not been driving as smoothly as normal so I open up the hood
> to find that the fan is missing about half of its blades. The have
> snapped off somehow. My question is this: Is it dangerous to drive
> the car like this? And how could this have happened? Also, is this a
> big job to have fixed? Thanks...
>

I feel comfortable doing it myself but it seems to be in a tought area
to get to. Do I do it from underneath the car or do I have to remove a
few pieces to get access to the nut?

In article .com>,
madloof72 > wrote:
> I feel comfortable doing it myself but it seems to be in a tought area
> to get to. Do I do it from underneath the car or do I have to remove a
> few pieces to get access to the nut?

Not sure about your model, but on mine you remove the top half of the
radiator shroud. Easily done.

--
*Too many clicks spoil the browse *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Jeff Strickland wrote:
> You can get a new fan from the dealer for about $60 (USD) and install it
> yourself. I was doing a routine oil change when I found several of the
> blades scattered about the engine bay ...
>
> There is a single reverse-thread nut on the center of the fan that holds
> it on. I forget the torque spec, but it isn't very high, and I took mine
> off with channel lock pliers and used a screw driver to hold it still
> while working the nut.
>

The thread on the fan is reverse so that when the engine is running it
drives the threads tighter. The "official" spec is 40nm (29 lb/ft).
You really do not need to tighten that fan coupling much. It only makes
it more difficult to remove the next time.


--
-Fred W

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
> In article .com>,
> madloof72 > wrote:
>
>>I feel comfortable doing it myself but it seems to be in a tought area
>>to get to. Do I do it from underneath the car or do I have to remove a
>>few pieces to get access to the nut?
>
>
> Not sure about your model, but on mine you remove the top half of the
> radiator shroud. Easily done.
>

Not on the E36. The fan shroud goes all the way around and is easier to
remove after the fan is off. To remove the fan is just a matter of
getting in there with the right wrench and knocking the nut loose
(clockwise) from the top. It's a tight squeeze but can be done.

The easiest way to get it started off is to actually strike the (long)
wrench using a hammer or mallet with a sharp blow . It should spin off
easily after that. Then you have to finagle it out from between the
engine and radiator (shroud).

--
-Fred W

It was pretty easy, actually. Take the shroud off, and you can get to the
fan pretty easily. I don't recall if I did mine from the top or the bottom,
but whichever is easiest is the way I went.





"madloof72" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I feel comfortable doing it myself but it seems to be in a tought area
> to get to. Do I do it from underneath the car or do I have to remove a
> few pieces to get access to the nut?
>

In article >,
Malt_Hound <Malt_Hound\@*spam-me not*yahoo.com> wrote:
> The thread on the fan is reverse so that when the engine is running it
> drives the threads tighter. The "official" spec is 40nm (29 lb/ft).
> You really do not need to tighten that fan coupling much. It only makes
> it more difficult to remove the next time.

I simply give it a tap with the hammer on the spanner - same as when
undoing it.

--
*Can fat people go skinny-dipping?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article >,
Malt_Hound <Malt_Hound\@*spam-me not*yahoo.com> wrote:
> The easiest way to get it started off is to actually strike the (long)
> wrench using a hammer or mallet with a sharp blow . It should spin off
> easily after that. Then you have to finagle it out from between the
> engine and radiator (shroud).

In the UK, Sykes- Pickavant sell a special spanner for fan removal. It's
in either the common sizes - 32mm and IIRC 34mm. It's made out of thick
pressed steel and has an offset before the jaw to clear the fan. It's long
enough to clear the top of the fan and housing making it easy to hit with
a hammer. Costs about 10 gbp retail, so much less than a full sized one
which is unlikely to be long enough anyway.

--
*It's o.k. to laugh during sexŒ.Œ.just don't point!

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.