Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Pitchfork]

What is the usual failure mode?
Mine failed this morning causing the Aux belt to go slack/ altenator to stop turning, then of course the engine boiled up because the coolant discharged itself all over the road though the front of the pump
I thought that failure was due to vanes coming off!

[kbou55]

mine shed its blades a few months ago but didn't throw its belt and didn't boil over thank god

Maybe the bearing collapsed on yours aswell, hope ur head isn't warped or cracked though

[rad cap]

did you have antifreeze in it

[Pitchfork]

did you have antifreeze in it

Yes
From other comment I think the bearing must have gone. The AA man was able to 'shake-hands' with the pulley & coolant was pouring out
I only drove about a half mile before pulling over somewhere safe by which time the temp guage had gone off the scale
It's running OK now with a replacement pump so hopefully no other damage has ocured

[TheBoy]

Usually sheds the vanes of the plastic impellor, because as I keep rattling on, the engine was 'designed' by a stupid prat from BMW.  I suspect this particular idiot now works in the BMW styling dept.

I'm wondering if plastic vanes going everywhere caused the pump to jam  :-/

These engines, according to BMW, are safe to 110C (which is about 100C on the dash gauge on Omegas), after which they are very, very, very prone to cracking.  Keep an eye on if its pressurising a bit much over next few weeks.  Top rad hose shouldn't go too hard after a good blat.

IIRC, yours was running a bit warm before?  Wonder if you'd shed a couple of vanes a while ago, reducing cooling efficiency?


And a warning to all BMW tractor owners, if you haven't changed your waterpump in last 3yrs, consider doing so as a matter of course.

[Pitchfork]

Just checked with guy who changed it - all vanes intact but bearing collasped
I noticed this morning that motor seems more noisy than before when revved, it sounds like the viscous fan is causing it & wonder whether the shock of the pump failure has caused it either to start working or lock-up
Either way, running temp now a steady 92C with current ambient of 12C here in cloudy Boringstoke
I'll keep an eye on it as suggested although it make take more than a couple of weeks as I am in USA again next week & flying up to Leeds the week after
Perhaps the drive to Heathrow on Monday may give it an opportunity to disclose any damage as a result of the overheating?

[TheBoy]

Just checked with guy who changed it - all vanes intact but bearing collasped
I noticed this morning that motor seems more noisy than before when revved, it sounds like the viscous fan is causing it & wonder whether the shock of the pump failure has caused it either to start working or lock-up
Either way, running temp now a steady 92C with current ambient of 12C here in cloudy Boringstoke
I'll keep an eye on it as suggested although it make take more than a couple of weeks as I am in USA again next week & flying up to Leeds the week after
Perhaps the drive to Heathrow on Monday may give it an opportunity to disclose any damage as a result of the overheating?

Or maybe the viscous locked abruptly, causing pump to fail (viscous is screwed on to pump)?

I personally have removed the viscous.  Not sure what the 'designer' was smoking when he decided it need it.  Running without the viscous does introduce some big advantages of less noise and more perfomance (no power lost driving that fan, plus in traffic, more chance of electric fans (and hence intercooler fan if you have one) coming on)

[Pitchfork]

Really?
I thought that the Viscous was on a separate pully from pump but driven by same belt?
I have 2 rad fans & a new intercooler fan (original was seized solid) & as far as I know they all switch in when required

[TheBoy]

Really?
I thought that the Viscous was on a separate pully from pump but driven by same belt?
I have 2 rad fans & a new intercooler fan (original was seized solid) & as far as I know they all switch in when required

Intercooler fan seizes due to rarely coming on (esp if a bloody viscous whining away all the time), but fortunately can be easily freed up if it happens again

Viscous actually screws on to the waterpump shaft - that pulley the belt goes round is the waterpump.

[Kevin Wood]

I suspect this particular idiot now works in the BMW styling dept.

.. and reads too many Batman comics  

Intercooler fan seizes due to rarely coming on (esp if a bloody viscous whining away all the time)

Could they not think of a more intelligent way of controlling the intercooler fan? Intercooler and rad. have totally different cooling requirements. You're going to need the intercooler most when you're on boost. How often does that happen when you're sitting in a traffic jam?

.. and viscous fans are the work of the devil. You're well shot of that. Water pump should last better without it too.

Kevin

[Pitchfork]

I tried to free-up the old Intercooler fan but it was rusted solid
Thanks for the info on what the viscous was mounted to, you could be correct that the increased noise, if it is as I suspect from the Viscous fan, might well have caused the water pump to self-destruct when it decided to lock-up suddenly, but then I was only rolling down hill with no throttle applied at 50mph when it failed and at 92.5C
I think I'll wait for the summer & see how the cooling system behaves, then try removing the viscous to see what effect it has
With current ambient temps, you cannot reach an accurate conclusion

[TheBoy]

I suspect this particular idiot now works in the BMW styling dept.

.. and reads too many Batman comics  

Intercooler fan seizes due to rarely coming on (esp if a bloody viscous whining away all the time)

Could they not think of a more intelligent way of controlling the intercooler fan? Intercooler and rad. have totally different cooling requirements. You're going to need the intercooler most when you're on boost. How often does that happen when you're sitting in a traffic jam?

.. and viscous fans are the work of the devil. You're well shot of that. Water pump should last better without it too.

Kevin

I think i/c fan should be on at very low speed (ie in traffic).  The fan will never be as efficient as airflow when the car has a few mph on it...

I agree the viscous fan is a bloody silly idea.  As said on many an occasion, design by a pillock.  (and I feel justified in saying this after spending all sprin/summer/autumn working on this engine  )

[TheBoy]

I tried to free-up the old Intercooler fan but it was rusted solid
Thanks for the info on what the viscous was mounted to, you could be correct that the increased noise, if it is as I suspect from the Viscous fan, might well have caused the water pump to self-destruct when it decided to lock-up suddenly, but then I was only rolling down hill with no throttle applied at 50mph when it failed and at 92.5C
I think I'll wait for the summer & see how the cooling system behaves, then try removing the viscous to see what effect it has
With current ambient temps, you cannot reach an accurate conclusion

Remove it now, see how things go in this temp, then see how things run in summer.

Once I'd cured my root overheating issue (due to previous poor oil changes every 10k), I haven't had viscous on mine, and I drove it all through the summer like that (and with a cracked head as well!).

If you're worried, keep it (upright) in the boot along with a 32mm (iirc) spanner to refit if you need to in an emergency

[Omegatoy]

My Intercooler fan is wired to a seperate switch in the cabin, The Boy will vouch what a difference it makes when its switched on as he was reading the intake temperature on the Tech 1 when we did a trial run, definetly worth doing as just by switching it on once a DAY the  motor has never siezed again!!!
Omegatoy

[TheBoy]

My Intercooler fan is wired to a seperate switch in the cabin, The Boy will vouch what a difference it makes when its switched on as he was reading the intake temperature on the Tech 1 when we did a trial run, definetly worth doing as just by switching it on once a DAY the  motor has never siezed again!!!
Omegatoy

Nice to see you've stolen someone's internet connection Omegatoy - how's the weather you lucky sod?

I was going to try and do something clever involving automatically bringin on intercooler below a certain speed when coolant up to temp.  Not sure I can be bothered, and will probably just do similar to yours...