Finally some HEAT !
 

In the last few month's I noticed my 3.0 was always running cool. The temp barely moved out of the blue zone on cold days, and made it to the 1st mark on warm days. I threw a new themostat in this weekend and all is good. Hard to believe a defective T-stat with only 55k miles, but after owning many BMW's, I never trust the cooling system on these cars. While I was in there, I put in a new water pump (metal impeller), hoses, belts and expansion tank. What a PITA getting the fan off without the special tool !!!!

What hoses you replaced? How many? basically i've done the same things that you have done, but have not done the hoses. Thanks! I agree on the fan, and I end up purchasing the special tools after 2 hours of cussing~

Replaced upper & lower radiator hoses, + the 2 small hoses from the hot water recirc pump that sits by the alternator.

where did you buy it from? I thought I could improvise something to remove the fan but if the tool is below $100 /i better buy it and save some time

I had the same issue, but do keep in mind you need to change the thermostat to keep your engine running at an optimum temp. Your gas mileage must have been really shitty beucase the motor was running so rich.

i had a similar issue back in the day.. before 50k miles. it was covered under warranty .. i miss the warranty days :(

You can find one on ebay for $20, I made my own .......