overheating while idling

[Nickbmwcoupe]

while driving my tempurature needle stays bang in the middle if i leave the car running whilst stopped for longer then 5 mins it will start to move over to the red but not actually touch it and if i give some revs it will move back to normal??!?!

it did start when my fuses went could it be linked to this???

[Dave^]

Water pump not moving the water round (quick enough)?

[essayer]

Is the cooling fan working? Manual or auto?

[Nickbmwcoupe]

its an e36 manual. ive looked under the bonnet i see the fan working.

[Ean218]

It might be the auxiliary electric fan isn't coming on.
http://www.dvatp.com/bmw/diy/aux_fan/

Or the viscous coupling on the mechanical fan is shagged.

[Nickbmwcoupe]

hmmm its strange when i look at the fan its spinning im sooooo confused lol

[E30M3SE]

Nickbmwcoupe said:

hmmm its strange when i look at the fan its spinning im sooooo confused lol

The fan will always spin, but the question is does it spin faster when needed, is the VC engaging as the engine temoperature rises?
Easy way of checking is get the car hot, over half way on temp gauge, roll up a newspaper and try to stop the fan with the paper. If it is easy to stop then you have a fubar'ed VC, if you cannot stop the fan then it is working correctly. Whatever you do not try to stop the fan with you hand.

[kayeabl]

I seconds that

had it on my old 7 series, replace the VC and problem solved.

Not sure about the E36 but i used to remove the thermostat in the summer and it always ran cooler after that as well.

[Nickbmwcoupe]

cheers guys ill give it a guy hopefully its will be ok after

[Dave^]

Pah! My theory sucked...

[Alistair H.]

All good advice... I had exactly the same fault...and it was the water pump.