Engine Fan FAILURE -- BMW NA SHOULD ADDRESS

[Steve Smith]

Hi everyone,
I'm just one more victim of the fan blade shattering
under the hood.... about 10 minutes ago... on-ramp to
the highway... hood, radiator, hose, ?? other damage.

The thing that makes my problem special is this: I
replaced the water pump about 2,000 miles ago and
rigorously inspected the fan blade BECAUSE I knew
about this particular problem!

Why hasn't BMW re-engineered this part (not to mention
the radiator)!!!!

This is so frustrating.

What I'd like to hear from people on the forum:

- Has anyone rebuilt the radiator end caps?
In my case the fan blade absolutely destroyed
both caps on the radiator. The metal area was
left undamaged.

- To anyone else whose had this happen -- have you A.)
been able to get BMW NA to step up to the plate
and accept responsibility for their poor design
decision resulting in catastrophic failure of
many other components. and B.) can you offer any
tips on recovering from this problem.

Cheaper the better. Unfortunately the car has been
for sale the last two weeks and hasn't sold. Just my
luck to have this happen.

If my name looks familiar that's because it is. In
the last year, I've had the following fail:

- transmission (complete failure) -- ~$3300
- oil pump shaft failure (not oil pump bolts backing out) -- $150

== $3450

That's almost a failure every other month. I paid $10,100
and in one year I've paid almost 35% of the purchase price
on problems that STRANDED me. I've also paid about $1000
in preventative maintenance due to things I've read on
this forum. That's nearly 45% of the total cost of the CAR!
In one year. Yikes....

On the converse side, my '88 635csi is going on 200k and
I've never had a major repair (of which there are 3 or 4
listed above) to do, or a failure that stranded me.

What is going on? Once I get this car back on it's
"feet", this thing's getting sold ASAP.

-Steve

[rhunt17]

year is your car, how many miles are on it, and how much "due diligence" did you do, pre-purchase?

Since you bought it for just over $10K, it is most likely either a 1995 and/or has very high miles. Given that, I hope you put a lot of effort into discovering the history of the car before you bought it.

Not trying to be difficult - I had an E28 535i for 11 years and it was pretty close to bullet proof. Did have to replace that radiator once, too, though...-Reed

[Steve Smith]

Yes I definitely put some due diligence in it.
I confirmed the engine had been replaced and had
quite a bit of documentation from the previous
owner. I'm a big Internet-driven DIY weekend
warrior mechanic so I definitely checked out all
the information on this particular forum and
asked all the questions I could.

Either way put another mark up for an E24/E28
that is a lot more bulletproof than a mid-90's
BMW.

I'm REAL upset.

[rhunt17]

-Reed

[Drago]

I think there is some kind of car karma or luck. I had an e12 and put, literally 400K on it [bought it with 160]. replaced a couple thermo's and radiator, the exaust, and...thats about it except for the normal brake pads, etc. Then I got a 93 740iL w/new engine and replaced the drive shaft, the rest was also bomber [including it saving my family when we got sandwiched between two trucks], then a 97iL with 70K when I bought it, which is even more amazing. Had to replace the alternator , but big deal....I have several friends who can't seem to keep BMW's and have them run without huge problems [brakes, tranny's,fan blades, etc].
One thing I do--if the tranny does strange things when I do something with the go pedal, I don't do that something anymore....

[Steve Smith]

seems to be the culprit. I just pulled it off the car.
It really looks to me like fan clutch froze and the fan
blade exploded by overspinning

I just priced parts out at Crevier:

11-53-1-741-408 WATER HOSE 1 17.40 16.31
11-53-1-741-409 WATER HOSE 1 24.20 22.69
11-52-7-502-804 FAN CLUTCH 1 108.00 108.00
17-10-1-440-252 FAN SHROUD 1 60.60 56.81
13-71-1-432-409 RUBBER BOOT 1 41.40 38.81
17-11-1-702-969 RADIATOR 1 155.20 155.20
11-52-1-712-110 FAN / 11 BLADE 1 52.60 49.31

total is $447.13 + shipping

This doesn't include the body work/hood replacement painting
which is likely to be about $500 when it's all said and done.

Unfortunately (for BMW NA), this design fault is also widely
documented! Given this latest information, I'd really
appreciate similar experiences and how they've gotten BMW NA
to step up to the plate.

VERY VERY FRUSTRATED........

-Steve Smith

[callawaygolf911]

the radiator, waterpump, thermostat/gaskets, and transmission($3800) all had to be replaced. Had to tow it twice!

[Steve Smith]

Wow -- that's incredible. I tell ya, I can't wait to sell
this thing.

-Steve Smith

[Jeffrey]

70k car. Really, $3500 isn't that bad for for a 9 year old car with 132k miles on it. Many cars, even a relatively inexpensive one could cost you that much in repairs with that many miles and age. Also, time is just as hard on a car as miles. The plastics and rubbers begin to dry out and become brittle over time. I'm not saying that BMW could not do a better job on making sure that the parts last for a reasonable amount of time on a 70k car. But at 132k, some things are going to reach the end of there useful life and begin failing.

[Steve Smith]

Sorry Jeffrey,
I DON'T agree. If you read my post you'd know that I have
an '88 e24 that has not required ANY major maintenance in
the 7 years that I've owned it. In fact I've probably
spent $200 on belts, oil filters, and various fluids, but
probably not including oil.

But nevertheless, this is NOT the known danger of buying
a used car with (ooo gasp!) 70k miles (which isn't even
true, my car had 107k when I bought it). My e24 was bought
at about 115k and is now knocking on the door of 200k miles.

I think these mid-90's and 2000-vintage BMW's are NOT the
BMW's we all knew and loved back in the day. And if you
want me to go on a Bangle-bashing rampage, I'll tell you
what I think about the look of our once-beloved marque not
to mention reliability of those cars!!!

Jeffrey, used cars aren't a bad investment. Spending money
on used cars isn't unexpected, but paying nearly 50% of the
cars purchase price a YEAR later in repairing major system
failurs IS a big deal and not by any means NORMAL.

-Steve Smith

[Steve Smith]

sorry!

[740is]

Get your insurance company to pay for it if you have comprehensive coverage with a low deductible. This happened to me on my old 93 325i, and I argued that it was a sudden catastrophic occurence that caused damage to other parts. They covered my $3200 in damages less my $250 deductible and my premium was not affected.

[telenetusainc]

I'm in for over $5,000-in repairs & maintenance over the past 2-years/15,000-miles of ownership. All repairs were engine related sans a new $1,000-Drive-Shaft. These BMW V8s leak (Oil, Coolant, P/S Fluid & W/W Fluid) like a sive and are no where near as reliable as there bullit-proof straight 6 cousins. I can't imagine the problems that owners of pre-owned E65s and now E60s will have once those cars are out-of-warranty, add i-drive and active (electro-mechanical) steering failures to the list of problems and very, very few people would be able to afford to keep these V8 cars on the road. Before I purchased my pre-owned out-of-warranty 7, friends and mechanics warned me the it will cost $2K>$3K a year just to keep running and "boy" after 2-years they were unfortunately right on the money. THIS IS THE LAST CAR THAT I WILL EVER OWN OUT-OF-WARRANTY. I spent over $5K in school and have learned my lesson. Now selling it won't be easy since the word is well out that E38s are a money pit.

[Terry]

the area. About $1000.00 in damages, and luckly I wasn't looking under the hood when it came apart. Could have been decapitated! Serious safety issue.

Terry

[Steve Smith]

I'll try and get ahold of them tomorrow and let you
all know how I make out. The more I think about it
the more frustrated I am (at BMW NA). Lucky I wasn't
looking in and around the engine compartment like I
have been recently (A LOT), coulda been seriously
injured.

I'm very fortunate my work pays for a bus pass for
its employees. I'm a newlywed guy paying off all
kinds of student debt, and will be riding the bus
for the forseeable future.

For the curious, my e24 is in my brothers hands, and
the plan was I would sell my e38 and get him a car,
then the e24 would be mine once more. so much for
that.

Grrrrr............

-Steve Smith

[decepticons7]

Did you ever hear back from BMWNA?

[decepticons7]

Did you hear back from BMWNA?

[THD]

I think you are expecting a lot from your 15 year old car. Stuff wears out. Some cars have more problems than others. I'm glad you had good luck with your 6 series, but all of the 80's vintage BMW's are not cheap to own. I have an e28 M5 that came with a thick folder of repair receipts totaling $32,000.00.

[claudio512]

Indeed, the fan failure issue has taken to BMW NA before. However, not more than a denial. There has been a failure among BMW enthusiasts by not taken the fan issue to the proper authorities as individuals and as group, too. However, BMW NA has responded well on pixel issue vs the fan failure, radiator, ZF transmission, water pump and many other issue, which could have been resolved as recall items. Please let us know your talks with BMW NA.

Here is suggestion to review BMW recalls for Series 7

Possilbe 7 Series recalls



"Keep Right, Pass Left. It's the Law."

[P.Patrick 88M6/'00740iA]

I drive the hell out of my car. Not reckless, but the way it was meant to be driven. This would be the last thing I need...

TIA