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What the heck happened to my fan???

5K views 37 replies 16 participants last post by  bluebee 
#1 ·
Alright so I am currently waiting for my phone to charge so that I can take a picture. I was pulling into the parking lot after work today when my coolant light came on. Last time this happened the little screw on the hose was loose so I didn't think much of it. Regardless I quickly pulled into the nearest spot to check it out. I opened the hood and the entire left front part of my engine bay was covered in coolant. All I had for light was the glovebox flashlight so I couldn't really tell all that much about where the source of the leak was. When I followed the coolant system I saw my fan which has absolutely no blades on it. They appear to all have been sheered off somehow. Does anyone know how this could have possibly happened?? What do you think is the most likely culprit?? I'm supposed to be driving from Providence, RI to Columbia, SC tomorrow but I really dont see that happening depending on how difficult of a fix this is. PLEASE HELP!!
 
#4 ·
I think I've found it. Fan blades were chipping off and eating away at the radiator and one finally got all the way through. I'm thinking thats what happened. I still dont know what was causing the fan to break apart. I did find one single plastic screw, a lot like the screw that goes on the hose from the coolant tank. I didnt see any pulleys or anything loose that would have knocked into anything. I literally just had my water pump, cooling system, fan, and radiator replaced less than 5 months ago from a really reliable indy shop. Is there some sort of installation error that could have prompted this???? Thank in advance for the help.
 

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#5 · (Edited)
From the looks of it, it appears that the coolant leak is from the radiator. SO unfortunately, this is going to suck for you because you're going to need a new fan, new radiator, drive belt and who knows what else.

Regarding an installation error, personally I see it but five months is too much time. If they messed up it seems like something would have happened sooner. How many miles have you put on the car since then? And is there anything else that might missing? For example, do you still have a power steering cap that could have otherwise done this damage?
 
#6 ·
I'll go tomorrow and double check everything again to make sure nothing popped off and hit anything. I've put at least 8k miles on it since the radiator was replaced. Any ideas about price to fix this mess?? From what I'm looking at its gonna be at least $400 just in parts (Fan, Shroud, radiator, and God knows what else).
 
#8 · (Edited)
I only see about $200 in parts. If you go to bavauto.com you can find the radiator for $120. If you're lucky you should only have to replace the fan blade and not the entire unit. If so, you can get just the fan blade for $25. Throw in a new drive belt for $16 and with shipping and maybe some more odds and ends you should be right around $200. (They have free shipping for orders over $150.00)

GO back to the same place you went before, plead your case and maybe they'll give you a break. Won't hurt to try.
 
#9 ·
GO back to the same place you went before, plead your case and maybe they'll give you a break. Won't hurt to try.
Impossible. I live in South Carolina where I got the work done, but I go to school in Providence, Rhode Island. What is really bothering me is that I had the oil changed less than a week ago and they supposedly did an inspection, but didn't find any damage on the fan.
 
#7 ·
I remember reading something here that you have to be very careful with the fans, watch for nicks, scratches as they can cause a failure. I found this info when I was replacing my fan clutch and it was mentioned. Sorry to hear about your troubles, I'll be overhauling my cooling system pretty soon.
 
#10 ·
I am SURE that I need a new fan shroud seeing as there is nothing resembling on at the moment. Hopefully I can make this happen seeing as money just got tight with me transitioning between jobs.
 
#19 ·
Alright. Thanks so much for the help guys. I'll be sure to let you all know what the culprit is when (and if) it is discovered. Hopefully I can still be on schedule with my road trip and leave tomorrow!! Doubt it though hahaha
 
#22 ·
All pulleys appear to be fine. They are all on track with hold tension. I can't really see too well due to the darkness. I'll be able to look much more in depth tomorrow morning, and I'll be sure to get them to check on them just in case. I've been putting more thought into this. Do you think that this entire deterioration of the fan happened quickly? Like over a matter of miles?? Or do you think that the fan was gradually chipping away until there was nothing left? If it is the later I dont see an excuse for the shop that inspected it to have missed it. If it happened quickly I might be able to understand, however, there has been very little mileage put on the car since the inspection. It all seems fishy to me.
 
#23 ·
The exploding fan is at least a somewhat known issue. It has happened to quite a few people. It's been a while since I've seen a thread about it, but there was a time when it was not an uncommon occurrence.
 
#25 ·
Just got home from dropping off the car at Elite Auto Repair. Their looking at everything for me now. I'm praying that the fan, shroud, and radiator are the only problems. I'm also praying that its all covered under parts warranty seeing as this stuff was JUST replaced.



I was told this at the shop. Its due to the cheap/thin plastics that are used to make things like the fan. I'm really hoping that the fan had a chip or a flaw in it that caused this and not something else like the water pump. (Which I also JUST had replaced 5 months ago). I'll keep everyone up to date on the happenings. Thanks all for the speedy responses!! :thumbup:
 
#27 · (Edited)
I completely agree with you. Its a long shot but if I can cut back on the cost, why not? In all reality its not very hard to recognize that the fan is what caused all of the damage to the car. Literally just got a call while typing this. Turns out that that the fan took out the expansion tank as well (Which I've already replaced this year). Looking at about $850 for this one. I've contacted my original repair shop and they are in contact with the manufacturer and are actually being pretty helpful about the whole thing. Just for fun I attached some pictures from this morning. WARNING: Pictures are of explicit nature.
 

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#31 ·
Alright so heres a quick update. Total repair cost came out to $844.25. Thats parts, labor, and a free car wash (Hooray??). Silver lining time. The shop that I use at home wants to see the damaged parts and pursue what they can in the way of warranties. Hopefully this will yield some positive results. There have been about 10 different mechanics that have looked at the car and simply cannot figure out what cause the "sudden self destruction" of my fan. The only negative was that I was told I'd have the car by 5:30 today and its now approaching 7 and I haven't even had a call to tell me that it isn't ready yet. Despite being set back a day in my trip home, I would much rather have the car in the best working order.
 
#32 ·
(sigh) This is Classic Fan Clutch Failure. It's not the fault of a shop that did some work, your fan clutch failed. The fan clutch's job is to disengage at speed so the fan does not turn at the same rate and speed at the engine. The clutch did not disengage and the plastic fan was turning too quickly, and the fan blades came off and the damage you now see is the result. That being said, the only way to test a fan clutch is to take a cold engine, start it up, and see if you can stop the fan blades with the tip of a rolled up news paper. If it stops, the fan clutch is good, if the fan chews up the newspaper, it's bad. It's one of those parts you change out over time as preventative maintenance.

Guys - this is a repair easily done in the driveway with basic hand tools.

I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but some basic attention to BMW preventive maintenance and a little willingness to get your hands dirty will save you THOUSANDS of dollars.
 
#33 ·
I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but some basic attention to BMW preventive maintenance and a little willingness to get your hands dirty will save you THOUSANDS of dollars.
I'm from South Carolina, but live in the dorms of college in Rhode Island. I literally have no access to any tools or any equipment whatsoever. Nor do I have the time to purchase parts and wait for them to arrive as I work two jobs and need to travel for Thanksgiving. I dont really want to hear anything about preventative maintenance, because (if you read) all the damaged parts have already been replaced within the last 5 months. I appreciate your suggestion about checking the fan clutch, however, before insinuating that I'm lazy I'd appreciate it more if you understood my circumstances.
 
#34 ·
There is a CHEAP $15 (made by MTC) replacement fan for the auto transmission model E46, it is sold as an aftermarket replacement, but it is slightly different in size. It will start tapping its edges on the uppermost part of metal nearest the fan. This will cause your new (CHEAP) fan to break apart soon after install. I bought and installed one and after reading about its problems, I carefully looked at mine for clearance issues. It looks perfect, but after a few miles you will start to see where it is actually hitting as it turns. Just look at the blade edges for proof. Maybe your repair shop used this cheap fan for your replacement as well. As for your radiator, I also had the same thing happen, But was upset because I just replaced the radiator too. So I took mine to a local auto repair shop and had them weld the wholes from the broken fan blade. The cost was $50.
 
#37 ·
Apparently I forgot to give everyone the final results. The cause WAS a faulty fan clutch. The distributor for the shop that I used said the fan clutch was up to spec when it wasn't. The clutch allowed for the fan to wobble and the engine compartment is tight enough to where the fan blades would knock and break off after hitting other parts of the engine, and then causing the damage. Total cost for the repair was just over $1,000.

On the positive side, the shop that I use in Columbia is extremely customer friendly. They COMPLETELY reimbursed me for the cost of the repair. All in all it was an unnecessarily painful process that I was lucky enough to have covered by a loyal shop. Thanks for the input and help guys!
 
#38 ·
The cause WAS a faulty fan clutch!
Thanks for that update.

I'll cross reference it to this set of references:
- What could cause a BMW fan blade to explode or disintegrate (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

And, the pictures are nice for this pictorial thread:
- Pictorial look at typical cooling system failure modes (1)
 
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