Really noisy (archive)

First, the clutch can always be stopped, even when hot, or at least darn warm. I was told that if you could stop it with a roll of paper towels when hot it must be bad. My new one does the same thing. I do note that the fan clutch seems to be fully engaged when it is first cranked cold. You can tell by the noise and volume of air. It seems to release after about a minute. Note yours under same circumstances.

I have had my car very hot, and the clutch finally engaged, but not enough to really cool it down. My problem was the thermostatic sending unit on the right side of the radiator that turns on the electric fan. That may be your problem also, if it runs cool enough at highway speed. Even when well underway on local streets, if I stopped at a light even for a moment, my car would overheat and simply wouldn't cool back down. The sending unit is about $10 and takes 10 minutes to replace. Don't break your plastic radiator by screwing it back in too hard.

I once bought a fixed blade flexible fan. It was so noisy, even on the highway, I could hear it inside the cabin over the radio (not in a BMW) and took it back the same day. Junk.

Perhaps your fan clutch is indeed bad, but, in my opinion, you can tell they are bad when either they are so easy to spin they almost freewheel -- in other words, they will spin around maybe two or three times if you give it a spin with the motor off -- or they don't spin at all. But its easy to check the electric fan (assuming you have one) and not too difficult to simply remove the thermostat and see if the problem goes away. If it does, then buy a new thermostat. FWIW
Good luck.
Lin Gilbert
1990 750iL
Tamps, Florida

I am having problems with the fun clutch as can be stopped even with a hot engine resulting in some increase in temperature when driving in the city. Did anybody tried to make the clutch bypassed, in other words that the fan is always conected to belt speed? As I live in a warm area, the cold start is not a problem.
Will appreciate any comment on this subject
Thanks
Luca 735i 88 109K

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