I have an '86 535i, not a 528e, but I've had heating problems. Here's a few observations, based on my experience: -If the cooling system is in good order, the car doesn't overheat, but not much has to go wrong to make it overheat. -The temperature needle should point straight up. I put a cooler thermostat in and now it points a little to the left, but still overlaps the thermometer graphic on the gauge. -A cooler thermostat won't make the car run cooler unless the old thermostat was broken and was your only problem. If your gauge is in the red, the thermostat should be wide open, and the replacement thermostat can't do better. A cooler thermostat doesn't open more, it just opens at a cooler temperature. -Water Wetter is one of those things that get people up in arms around here. (Does it work? Is it snake oil?) In my experience, it MIGHT make a system that is SLIGHTLY overheating overheat a LITTLE less. Of course, an equivalent amount of tap water might do the same. It won't turn running in the red into running normally. -Check if the auxiliary fan is coming on. Invest in a Bentley manual, which will show you how you can test it. -For the longest time I thought that BMW used a weird fan design. It turned out that someone had mismounted a hose clamp, and the fan had hit it and broken a large identical chunk off every blade. As far as I knew, it worked fine. It's just that my car tended to overheat. I own a 83 528eA and last friday in the 90+ degree weather in NY I was driving with the a/c on around town and I saw the gauge go all the way to red but no light came on. The a/c compressor shut itself off. (it turned on later) I immediatley let the car cool off and went home. I was slightly low on coolant which I substituted with water wetter. A little better. Now what should I do to try to bring things to normal. I already have a new fan clutch and im going to flush the system and add water wetter. I'm also going to change the termostadt with a 71 degree one instead of whats in their now. Where should the needle be on this car and have other eta owners experienced similar problems. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
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