help please
 

so i was driving along and a hear a sort of splash noise followed by a bag and all hell went lose ,,,,i pull over and i open the hood and the fan in front of the radiator is trashed no more fins on it and the protective fan shroud with a big hole in it and all my antifreeze on the floor under the car,,,,,,,im soooooo mad any help with what this could be ,,,,,,,it looks like a war had happened under my hood ,,its an 03 4.6 with 74k on the clock ,,,,,,

:dunno: any one im stressed I love my x5 how could she do this to me

Sounds like the waterpump bearings might have failed on you... Does the fan (or whats left of it) look like it's still straight or is it at an angle? If the belt got thrown off try to move the fan around, if it can be moved up/down the waterpump bomber on you. Also thoroughly inspect the radiator for punctured cooling passages from the fan.

Probaby the water pump/impeller & belts let go...
Tow it to Stlr, (Bring Money With you), or
any good BMW Independent, (Bring slightly less money)...
GL,mD

its scary as hell under the hood but she ran when i had to move her from the street to the driveway what parts would need to be replaced in front of the motor ?? do you know ,,,,,thanks for getting back to me ,,what do you think this could run me ??? I have a fair indy shop Thanks

ill go look right now if its straight ,,,,,thanks

hard to tell without having some pics to look at :dunno:

its straight and tight so is that a bad thing or is this a common problem ??

If is straight and tight, doesn't move at all... then maybe something hit the fan blades, breaking them. You said you heard a splash then the bang... Maybe the lower radiator hose popped loose from the thermostat and hit the fan?

If you could get some good pics up then I might be able to spot something.

ill try .......ill be back in 5

i cant post pics it tells me they are too big

resize them using a program such as irfanview (do a google search for this free utility)

Upload them to photobucket (or other suitable free online program) and just copy and paste the IMG code. Thats how I do it. :D

when i took the pics i reached in and it was a bit loose ,,,i think its a waterpump ,,,,,,,this sucks bad i hope shes not out for long and i hope i dont have to sell a kidney to fix her ,,,,,do you know around a fan ,,waterpump hoses and a shroud should run and maybe a radiator ,,:bawling:

thanks

pic up

Look around on www.realoem.com

You can find some pricing on there for parts at least. But labor hours wise it is a big job, probably about 4 - 8 labor hours total at shops labor charge rate = total job cost of over $1k. (labor hours depend on amount of damage)

If you are decent with the 'ol tool set you may be able to do it yourself, but it is a decently involved job as you can see in this recent thread...

http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...ment-pics.html

By the way, you posted the url from the address bar on photobucket... :rofl:

Go into your album and click on the picture, then click/copy the img code from the list under the picture. Thats the one you need.:thumbup:

ok thanks everyone I though i trashed her i feel much better to see this is a common problem and not a huge major engine problem ,,,,,, did you guys see the pic ??

its up and thanks alot you have ben a big help

Geez, ALL the fan blades got snapped off! But if the bearings let go, the fan probably hit the crank pulley.

that does not sound so good what does that mean

Simply that if it is indeed the waterpump bearings that let out, the pulley angle got pulled down by belt tension just enough to let the fan contact the main pulley of the engine, which would be why they broke off.

If you have a ratchet, short extension and either a 16mm or 5/8" socket you can remove the belt and see if the fan/waterpump is indeed the culprit.

she is getting towed to my trusted indy shop in the am ,,,,,,,thanks to all for easing my mind,,,,a bit ,,,,,,,,,this is why I love this forum ,,,,,,,,,,DOM

Good luck and enjoy that truck! :thumbup:

thanks i love her to death i looked for a while before i found her,,,,,,4.6 saph black on black nav folding mirrors and every other option im so pissed right now,,,,,,,,my e46 m3 needs a clutch so when it rains it poors ,,,,,,,, really nice to chat with you you have been a great help ,,,Dom

Man what a mess! Sorry that happened to you bro...Hey Weasel, how often should a water pump and thermostat be replaced? Kinda curious, just had mine done:dunno:

Usually only when a problem occurs. But they do last a bit longer it the coolant is kept up with as it is what lubricated them.

Most thermostats I change at work are due to a fault stored in the DME for map cooling, thermostat stuck open. As the BMW thermostats are normal in thermostatic opening, but also have a sealed body of wax built into them that is heated by the DME for additional control of amount open/closed.

As for the water pump, they usually get changed at high mileages due to either seeping water from the weep hole or excessive bearing slack/bearing failure as what happened to our friend M3dom here.

Maybe threads like this one should be a reminder to us that we may be due for a proper coolant flush job, and YES the BMW coolant is better than any other coolant I've come across. Partially because of the metals used in BMW engines, the coolant has to protect against electrolysis in aluminum, steel and magnesium, not just rust.

What about Zerex G-05 coolant by valvoline? I was told that it is just as good as BMW coolant by a local indie. I understand his opinion was a bit bias since he uses it exclusively in his shop. But I did some research and it seems legit...have you guys heard anything about G-05? Any opinions? It says that it is only formulated for certain car makes, and generally newer car models. My X happens to fall into this catagory ('01 4.4). Mercedes has been using G-05 exclusively for 20 years. Im curious to know what others have heard about this coolant:dunno:

I had never really looked too much into the technical details of the different coolants, since I've always had a readily available source of OEM BMW coolant at hand at work... but this sparked my interest and I looked around for some info. There is lots of great info out there!

The BMW coolant is G-48, and the G-05 is very similar and is fully acceptable as a replacement in my eyes from what I've read. If you would like to switch from OEM to G-05, just make sure you do a full flush and don't cross contaminate for best results, and of course mix with distilled water for better results as well.

As for which is better, I could not decipher one to be notably better than the other.

Here's a link to another forums thread that had plenty of good info and other helpful links hidden in it:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/arc...p/t-46962.html

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it:thumbup:

A very interesting post in that link you posted weasel. In particular, the one blogger who mentioned that there could possibly be a link between OEM coolant and failed cooling systems...not to say this is absolutely true but it seems like something cool to investigate. I am going to finish reading all the posts in that link when I have more time, since members in that site have posted various links as well. Thanks for posting that link!

I know I spent a couple hours digging around through the various links... very informative stuff!

Behold the power of GOOGLE!