E39 viscous fan

[chasdad]

Hi, I've just bought an e39 528i sport.It seemed to have a noisy viscous fan so I took it to my local indie and they agreed.
First one they fitted seemed no better so took it back and fitted another.This one seemed a bit better but I think it was me hoping because it isn't .Took the car back today and they reckon it must be something else making the fan need to work. Any ideas maybe a temperature sensor? Help please it's driving me mad.

[sparks_E39]

Replacing the entire cooling system if it hasn't been done before is pretty much a requirement when buying an old E39. You ARE in for a world of pain and empty wallets if you don't. Could be a belt or the water pump maybe?

[Gad-Westy]

chasdad said:

Hi, I've just bought an e39 528i sport.It seemed to have a noisy viscous fan so I took it to my local indie and they agreed.
First one they fitted seemed no better so took it back and fitted another.This one seemed a bit better but I think it was me hoping because it isn't .Took the car back today and they reckon it must be something else making the fan need to work. Any ideas maybe a temperature sensor? Help please it's driving me mad.

Long shot but is the water pump ok? Since the viscous fan attaches to it, if the bearings were shot in the water pump, I'd speculate that could make the fan sound a little dodgy.

[chasdad]

Being as it's the wife's car I dont drive it much so Ive just gave it a run.it seems the fans loud when first started and it seems to go when the cars kept above 20 ish mph. Soon as I stop it gets louder. Is that normal for a new viscous do they have to bed in. It's not the water pump ,fans not wobbling orni bearing noises.

[c123]

That sounds like the problem I had, which turned out to be the water pump. It was starting to seize so at tick over and low speeds the engine wasn’t providing enough power to turn it smoothly. As the belts were old I assumed it was the tensioner pulley (making the noise) but once everything was off it was apparent the pump was goosed by trying to turn it.

[Fox-]

is it a pattern part? They can be notoriously crap and do annoying things like sound like a small jet fighter when you start the engine.

[Sump]

chasdad said:

Hi, I've just bought an e39 528i sport.It seemed to have a noisy viscous fan so I took it to my local indie and they agreed.
First one they fitted seemed no better so took it back and fitted another.This one seemed a bit better but I think it was me hoping because it isn't .Took the car back today and they reckon it must be something else making the fan need to work. Any ideas maybe a temperature sensor? Help please it's driving me mad.

You need a ZF or Behr. Nothing else.

[chasdad]

It's the 2nd one the indie fitted both were noisy and different makes. Think they were pattern parts because they were too cheap to be original. If it turns out this is how they sound when ok ill have to bite the bullet and get a BMW one . Can't live with that sound

[Sump]

Some Behrs can be dodgy.

If you've had the Behr one then ZF it is.

Buy the part yourself, make sure it's ZF, then ask them to fit it.

[iSore]

I've been using Borg Warner couplings and they've been fine. About 35 quid from a local factors. The cheap no name no blame ones are awful. Most of them seem to work constantly and don't 'release' when the engine is cool.

[SuperHangOn]

Digging up an old thread but I'mhaving a similar problem with my new fan, it's incredibly noisy and is virtually always on now - it's a meyle part. I' be found a Sachs fan for a rather steep £170 delivered but reluctant to splash out in case it's not the cause.

[dirty_dog]

Could it be the viscous coupling?

[SuperHangOn]

Well I found a Behr/Hella fan on ebay so that's ordered. The car sounds like a 747 on take off, can't be right.

[steve_bmw]

New couplings are always noisy, like a loud wooshing roar when your setting off from a standstill you hear it most.
This is normal it's probably that you are not used to hearing the woosh because your old one was worn out.

[Patrick Bateman]

I'm not sure. I have heard about the cheaper couplings sounding noisy before, I got mine from bmminiparts to avoid that and it's never been noisy since fitting.

The electric fan on mine is the one that sounds like a jet engine.

[SuperHangOn]

Well the behr fan arrived today so I quickly bolted it on and went for a crawl through London traffic for an hour and a half - I couldn't actually get enough heat from the rad to get it running! (Either that or it runs very quietly). Temp gauge nailed to the middle, a lot more power and no 747 noises, result.

I know it works as it ran from the cold start.

The behr part looked a fair bit better quality side by side with the meyle.