Ok tried again, this time I was able to get heat on and yes water pump flowing as expected, so I also topped it off this morning, didn't drive much today and no problems today, I'll keep an eye on it and report back any further findings
So I was downtown again today and it overheated again. This time all the antfreeze came out of the small cooler seal on the bottom of the radiator fan. I let it cool, refilled it and drive 20+ miles home . No issues on the way home, I can watch the temp while driving and when driving home it stayed right between 200, and 210, which should be fine. It only seems to be doing it in 20 minutes of consent lights in a row, downtown blocks that is, when driving it's fine.
All better, put about 70 miles on it no leaks no overheating kept an eye on temp most of the time, 50-65mph it runs about 180, stop and go it gets to 205 and fan starts running, it only got up to 209 that I saw fan runs about 20 seconds or so and it cools to about 185ish then turns off , while in stop and go traffic, it definitely appears the water pump, a coolant line and the thermostat have either been replaced or removed by previous owner. 185k on her
Install took about 4 hours seems slow as I never did it before, took a few pics, and a drive, no leaks...and Everything was cleaned up. had to take a break to cook for the kids too. I'll post again later when i realize for sure if this fixed it. Still no codes (2 weeks and counting)...
Well, it did it once again, after driving for about 20 minutes, got stuck in bumper to bumper, then a slow light and it overheated, moved 50 ft from the intersection adn its back to normal. I really have a fealing the fan is just not coming on when it should, as soon as there is air flow its fine. I feel another amazon order coming up....
still no other errors, whats that like 3 weeks... I think i just set a record for myself... Yikes
this looks like it may fix it, since now the fan is running all the time, just real slow at idle, its been keeping the temp at 187-190 at idle now. I'll keep monitoring the issue and keep you all posted.
ok, all this and it was still overheating at idle, meaning for me mainly in bumper to bumper traffic to and from work, and around events downtown in the city. now i could prevent it from happening, but not without inconvenience. i know when the air conditioning starts being not as cold the car is getting hot, and if i open the hood i could see the fan not running, start driving the car cools down. But heres the kicker, ever cold test i ran worked fine, fan runs perfectly, and normal driving its fine as well.
So I swapped out the radiator fan with my 04 530i m54 to this 07 525i n52, and although theres an extra plugin for the 530, the connectors still fit, and it still runs. Well I went for a drive last night, didnt get caught in any traffic, so i improvised and ran for a while then went to a park, and parked and idled for a while, air stayed cool, and never overheated. I'm thinking as my cooling fan is heating up, its also losing connectivity or just outright failing. so on to a new Radiator fan when i get the cash, for now ill run the 530;s cooling fan.
No more overheating since the swapped out raditor fan, so I bought a new one and swapped the old one back to the spare care, Everything running well since.
New additions, 4 new tires /alignment, new brakes all around, car runs great, 204500 miles now.
take it back and forth from STL to Chicago a few times as well.
Cracked a wheel though today in this little bit of snow, damn curbs getting in the way....
210k now, no issues since, she been purring, so I went ahead and replaced some fuel injector O rings and replaced the valve cover gasket and bolts. E60's can run forever...
Does your Residual Heat Mode work? If it doesn't then I'd say it's the water pump. Check out this link about the electric water pump in our BMW's, i think it'll help you out. =) https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/BMW-E60/15-WATER-Electric_Water_Pump_Testing/15-WATER-Electric_Water_Pump_Testing.htm
Figure 5 on the attached does not turn on the heat in my car nor does the pump start. If I start the car fluid does come out it as described,
Ok tried again, this time I was able to get heat on and yes water pump flowing as expected, so I also topped it off this morning, didn't drive much today and no problems today, I'll keep an eye on it and report back any further findings
So I was downtown again today and it overheated again. This time all the antfreeze came out of the small cooler seal on the bottom of the radiator fan. I let it cool, refilled it and drive 20+ miles home . No issues on the way home, I can watch the temp while driving and when driving home it stayed right between 200, and 210, which should be fine. It only seems to be doing it in 20 minutes of consent lights in a row, downtown blocks that is, when driving it's fine.
so the new leak is coming from the back side of the transmission cooler, I'm going to fully take it out tonight, maybe get some pics too.
there was also about 6 inches of leaves, sand, insects, etc... stuffed in between the radiators, that probably didn't help...
a little JB Weld should patch that right up! lol Glad you found the problem and nice to see it's not a super expensive part to replace.
Part came in today, will install it tonight and will update this with any new info.
All better, put about 70 miles on it no leaks no overheating kept an eye on temp most of the time, 50-65mph it runs about 180, stop and go it gets to 205 and fan starts running, it only got up to 209 that I saw fan runs about 20 seconds or so and it cools to about 185ish then turns off , while in stop and go traffic, it definitely appears the water pump, a coolant line and the thermostat have either been replaced or removed by previous owner. 185k on her
2 weeks plus, no overheating, plus now one week with no codes, so happy for that.
Its still doing it so:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PFZLZW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and the thermostat found on Nathans Amazon page:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-f7e032fa?listId=1SU5IVYCFKXGY
Install took about 4 hours seems slow as I never did it before, took a few pics, and a drive, no leaks...and Everything was cleaned up. had to take a break to cook for the kids too. I'll post again later when i realize for sure if this fixed it. Still no codes (2 weeks and counting)...
good job nice and clean too
Well, it did it once again, after driving for about 20 minutes, got stuck in bumper to bumper, then a slow light and it overheated, moved 50 ft from the intersection adn its back to normal. I really have a fealing the fan is just not coming on when it should, as soon as there is air flow its fine. I feel another amazon order coming up....
still no other errors, whats that like 3 weeks... I think i just set a record for myself... Yikes
It overheated again, so I bought a new Auxilliary fan switch.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-auxilliary-fan-switch-oem-13621433077
this looks like it may fix it, since now the fan is running all the time, just real slow at idle, its been keeping the temp at 187-190 at idle now. I'll keep monitoring the issue and keep you all posted.
I also got this as well:
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-engine-coolant-temperature-sensor-13621433076 Running good so far. still no codes as well.
ok, all this and it was still overheating at idle, meaning for me mainly in bumper to bumper traffic to and from work, and around events downtown in the city. now i could prevent it from happening, but not without inconvenience. i know when the air conditioning starts being not as cold the car is getting hot, and if i open the hood i could see the fan not running, start driving the car cools down. But heres the kicker, ever cold test i ran worked fine, fan runs perfectly, and normal driving its fine as well.
So I swapped out the radiator fan with my 04 530i m54 to this 07 525i n52, and although theres an extra plugin for the 530, the connectors still fit, and it still runs. Well I went for a drive last night, didnt get caught in any traffic, so i improvised and ran for a while then went to a park, and parked and idled for a while, air stayed cool, and never overheated. I'm thinking as my cooling fan is heating up, its also losing connectivity or just outright failing. so on to a new Radiator fan when i get the cash, for now ill run the 530;s cooling fan.
No more overheating since the swapped out raditor fan, so I bought a new one and swapped the old one back to the spare care, Everything running well since.
New additions, 4 new tires /alignment, new brakes all around, car runs great, 204500 miles now.
take it back and forth from STL to Chicago a few times as well.
Cracked a wheel though today in this little bit of snow, damn curbs getting in the way....
210k now, no issues since, she been purring, so I went ahead and replaced some fuel injector O rings and replaced the valve cover gasket and bolts. E60's can run forever...