Billwill
Full Access Member
These bi-metal fan clutches have been around for some time.
I bought the new BMW 3 Series 323i in the early 2000s and this model as well as all the later models had this bi-metal fan clutch fitted...at least in the European, South African, Australian market....the USA had some changes on their 3 Series models so I am not sure about their cooling setup.
These fan clutches worked fine but they sometimes had the problem that they would fail but would still spin so the failure was hard to spot!
So all the BMW websites advised members to check the fan clutches by taking a rolled-up newspaper and s.h.o.v.e it into the spinning fan while the engine was at idle...a bad clutch would grind to a halt whereas a good clutch would shred the rolled-up newspaper into many fragments!
I do this test sometimes on my Export 2002 2.5 CRD to test the fan clutch....touch wood I have never had any overheating issues!
I bought the new BMW 3 Series 323i in the early 2000s and this model as well as all the later models had this bi-metal fan clutch fitted...at least in the European, South African, Australian market....the USA had some changes on their 3 Series models so I am not sure about their cooling setup.
These fan clutches worked fine but they sometimes had the problem that they would fail but would still spin so the failure was hard to spot!
So all the BMW websites advised members to check the fan clutches by taking a rolled-up newspaper and s.h.o.v.e it into the spinning fan while the engine was at idle...a bad clutch would grind to a halt whereas a good clutch would shred the rolled-up newspaper into many fragments!
I do this test sometimes on my Export 2002 2.5 CRD to test the fan clutch....touch wood I have never had any overheating issues!
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