[Pinscher]

Hey fells, other day i ou of my my car and it was running. i though, "Dayam, that is loud." So I lifted the hood and the car is loud!.

I turned off the car and made a recording. The sound, to me, sounds like it's the radiator fan hitting the radiator. This awful sound happens while the engine is stopped.

What do you think?

Clip is stored here
https://vocaroo.com/i/s0HBs2b0M4Q8

[Phyrexia]

Sounds like your fan. Go buy a mechanic's stethoscope and poke around and see what you can hear that way.

[Pinscher]

IP made a youtube video. Still think the same?

power dies as soon as I pull the key out of the ignition.

[Pinscher]

From video's I've seen, it' sounds like a water pump failure.

[Pinscher]

Anyone else have a comment to add before I start buying parts?

[nsjames]

yeah, actually diagnose the source of your sound before you buy parts.

if you suspect it's water pump, do the bleed procedure with the engine off and see if it makes noise.

[Pinscher]

Originally Posted by nsjames

yeah, actually diagnose the source of your sound before you buy parts.

if you suspect it's water pump, do the bleed procedure with the engine off and see if it makes noise.

Thank you for the advice. It would have been great if you also told me how to do the bleed procedure as I'm clueless. Lucky people on youtube are more clued than I so I found the procedure, but I'm not sure if you are talking about the same thing.

I assume you're talking about holding the gas pedal down for 10 seconds which the engine off.

Pretty neat test, really. Thanks for the hints, bro.

[atmosphericM]

Considering the water pump is electric, I'd imagine there is a way to "run it" without the car's engine running. That would help you diagnose, surely.

[nsjames]

Originally Posted by Pinscher

Thank you for the advice. It would have been great if you also told me how to do the bleed procedure as I'm clueless. Lucky people on youtube are more clued than I so I found the procedure, but I'm not sure if you are talking about the same thing.

I assume you're talking about holding the gas pedal down for 10 seconds which the engine off.

Pretty neat test, really. Thanks for the hints, bro.

it would be great if you used the google.

https://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tec...ing_System.htm

literally the first result in google.

don't get snarky, or you won't get any help. This isn't kindergarten, I'm not here to spoon feed you car diagnosis.
I could have just said yeah, order $500 worth of parts for your car and install them, and then laughed at you when parts shotgunning didn't fix your problem.

[Pinscher]

Originally Posted by atmosphericM

Considering the water pump is electric, I'd imagine there is a way to "run it" without the car's engine running. That would help you diagnose, surely.

Supposedly they thought of that. the procedure is to put the key inplace, and press the gas for 10 seconds.

the pump will turn over.

[Pinscher]

Originally Posted by nsjames

it would be great if you used the google.

https://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tec...ing_System.htm

literally the first result in google.

don't get snarky, or you won't get any help. This isn't kindergarten, I'm not here to spoon feed you car diagnosis.
I could have just said yeah, order $500 worth of parts for your car and install them, and then laughed at you when parts shotgunning didn't fix your problem.

I suppose you're providing the coolant system draining instructions foretelling the replacement of my water pump. Thank you for that, I'll take a look if the gas pedal test thing highlights the pump as the problem. I'll also take that as if you're agreeing that it's the water pump.

[Pinscher]

UPDATE: I did the bleeding test, which is really just turning your coolant system on to bleeding mode, and I don't hear anything awful coming from the car, only slight gurgles from water flow.

I'm thinking the bleed mode doesn't have the pump on to a high enough setting to get the sound going or it's not the water pump.



One thing to note that this only happens when the car is quite hot, and once I turn the car off you can hear the sound as whatever makes the sound is slowing down. If I turn the car on and off again, the sound is gone.

[nsjames]

then it's probably not the water pump.
They usually work or they don't. That video you posted with a sound that sounds like yours is from a car with an M54, which has a belt driven pump.

I would look hard at your cooling fan, and possibly the engine driven accessories. Is your belt tracking straight? Any of the idler/tensioner pulleys wobbly? Alternator freewheel clutch maybe?

You really need to get a mechanics stethoscope, or use a long screwdriver put to your ear, to pinpoint where the sound comes from.

[Pinscher]

Development: I took out my solenoids to clean, as they needed it supposedly, and also tried to pull out my radiator fan.

When moving the fan blades by hand I was able to feel it was grinding. When I unhooked the one side of the fan, the noise when away. I tried to lift out the fan and something below it was pinning it in place, I couldn't get it out without a substantial lifting action. I decided not to do it as I didn't want to bend the metal piping.

Turns out, it's a transmission oil cooler, well as far as I can tell...

So my question is, Isn't this supposed to be bolted to some place or another and not simply hanging around in my engine bay?

[Pinscher]

Originally Posted by nsjames

I would look hard at your cooling fan, and possibly the engine driven accessories. Is your belt tracking straight? Any of the idler/tensioner pulleys wobbly? Alternator freewheel clutch maybe?

I'll have to give the car a go with the spaces in place for the fan to see if the sounds dissipated.

The pulleys do look wobbly, indeed they do, but when I put my hands on them, they all feel solid with no play. I think the wobble is a visual illusion caused by dirty parts.

I ordered a stethoscope today. it will arrive in two days so it'll be able to like get that stuck in the moving fan belts in no time.

The belts don't appear to be cracking, though I've not done a thorough inspection.

I'll report back after the car is driven.

[IllSic_Design]

It is bolted to the bottom of your fan and is why you couldn't pull it out.

[Pinscher]

Originally Posted by IllSic_Design

It is bolted to the bottom of your fan and is why you couldn't pull it out.

Thank you, so likely it's supposed to be there, lol.

[Pinscher]

Update, I stopped the grinding sound, it was the fan rubbing something, not sure why, but I spaced out the bolt that fixes the fan in place and the sound went away.

One thing though, when I park the fan is on MAX, so loud, and then when I stop the car and start it again, the fan returns to normal.

I feel that the thermostat sensor is on it's way out, but also like I'm chasing a rabbit.

[nsjames]

it's possible that the bearing in the fan is failing, and letting it wobble and rub on things it shouldn't be hitting.

max fan speed is either because it's hot and you have the AC on while not moving, or because the water pump is failing.

You really need to get yourself setup with some sort of diagnostic software. Even Carly will do. Otherwise you are just chasing your tail. You need to be able to see inputs and outputs so you know why the DME is doing DME things.

[Pinscher]

Yes i have Carly and no faults are showing up....and the display for parameters is abysmal.

Well I had a Vanos code, but clearing intake and exhaust solinoids fixed that.

My bimmer geeks DCAN cable is on the way so maybe I can do better with that.



So is there any reason why my fan would be cranked And then once the car is restart that the fan is no longer maxed?


I figured if the thermostat was failing that my fan would be cranked all the time, nut just after some driving.

[nsjames]

well you need to watch the temperatures from the water outlet to figure that out.