Engine temp and thermostats

[Crowz]

How many people have bought a bad thermostat?

My X5 was soft failing on the thermostat so I bought a new one from oembimmerparts and it acts like its bad too.

Tonight I went out and cranked the X5 to let it warm up (only way I could convince the wife to go with me to town) and after 10 minutes running it had made it up to 100 degrees.

After I got moving and driving for 5 miles it finally came up to 160. 160 to 170 is as high as it got in town but it finally made it up to 185 after driving 6 miles back to the house at 55 mph.

It had cooled back down to 150 after going up the driveway. That's just not right.

My other bmw's go up to temp and stay there best I remember. I never have noticed them going cold idling or driving slow.

[andrewwynn]

Definitely not doing its job. Even at zero F you should have 90C coolant temp within 10 minutes and no drop.

Until you resolve, cardboard in the grill will make life better.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Crowz]

Just ticks me off as much trouble as that thing is to change with the mechanical fan.

Guess I will order another one. I may go thru napa this time since getting an oem one didn't help me any on the one I just replaced.

[Crowz]

The one I bought is a Behr.

I found this info on another site :

The Behr thermostat is crap, as far as I'm concerned. I've gone through three now, and they all keep the engine too cold. I see the pending code most days due to an Ultragauge I have installed, and get a set code with engine light every few months.

[andrewwynn]

I bought Borg/wahler and worked perfectly going on two years.

$58 when I bought it's $45 now on Amazon.

Use the wrench and hammer method for the fan removal it takes one smack and done.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[semcoinc]

When I did all my hoses, water pump and idlers in association with my alternator seizing up, I also replaced the thermostat.

Once I got into the test menu and was able to display the coolant temp, I was running quite low, maybe 175° to 185°F at full bore on the highway. Most in town driving was a slow warm up and a couple of codes on thermostat triggered me into action to change it. So yeah, I got a bad one from the git go.

Thinking that was contributing to my poor gas mileage I bought a Behr unit and now go up to 230°F full bore on the highway speeds. Gas Mileage has been relatively unaffected so I'm disappointed on that score and would rather have the cooler one back truthfully.

The IBUS app sure makes monitoring temps a lot easier, both coolant and engine oil temps.

It doesn't throw the thermostat codes anymore though.

Mike

[andrewwynn]

230 wow. 90-100C is high as I would go.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[semcoinc]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

230 wow. 90-100C is high as I would go.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Yeah, that's what I said!!!

I sure as hell am not looking forward to changing this thing again!!!

I think I recall the Behr unit and most other OEM units being stamped 105°C .

A reverence I found on Xoutpost says that 225°F or about 108°C is about where the running temp is of the OE thermostats.

Mike

[Crowz]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

I bought Borg/wahler and worked perfectly going on two years.

$58 when I bought it's $45 now on Amazon.

Use the wrench and hammer method for the fan removal it takes one smack and done.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Oh that's not the problem. Its putting it back ON that is a nightmare for me. Getting that damn thing to thread back ON is the nightmare. I have done it instantly a few times but most of the time it takes me forever to get the fan to start threading back on.

[andrewwynn]

Once you get the hang of one smack with BFH (3-4# hammer) it won't bother you. The upper radiator hose works great as a catcher's mitt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro