Auxillary Fan Operation

[shane@mbtech]

Just engine driven?

Not electric?

Yes shim, just engine driven on m3.

Have a little read http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_clutch. It gives you the basics.

My viscous fan was new on my Csl as it started overheating one day whilst queuing in a petrol station.

[Mike RT4]

Yes shim, just engine driven on m3.

Have a little read http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_clutch. It gives you the basics.

My viscous fan was new on my Csl as it started overheating one day whilst queuing in a petrol station.

Is the CSL viscous fan ECU controlled or bi-metallic metal strip?

[CraigMillwardCroft]

Now I am getting confused mine has two fans, one viscous back of rad on engine and one in front of the rad electric which is standard, came on today while car was standing with engine running for long time.

[Mike RT4]

Now I am getting confused mine has two fans, one viscous back of rad on engine and one in front of the rad electric which is standard, came on today while car was standing with engine running for long time.

I suspect that the electric fan is to provide the low speed / traffic cooling that the viscous one cannot meet the demands for, so perhaps there is a cross-over point where the two are not operating as efficiently as the cooling demands?

[shimmy]

Now I am getting confused mine has two fans, one viscous back of rad on engine and one in front of the rad electric which is standard, came on today while car was standing with engine running for long time.

I presume you have a/c.

[CraigMillwardCroft]

I presume you have a/c.

Yes is that why the front kenlowe type fan then.

[alexk]

Is the CSL viscous fan ECU controlled or bi-metallic metal strip?

Bi metallic with quicksilver inside.

[shimmy]

Interestingly just read a thread on m3fourm.net where they point out that the front fan is higher on M3/CSL due to the bigger OeM oil cooler below meaning the fan works higher than the rad, also meaning the shroud cover more of the rad from front air flow at speed.

I think my plan before summer is to try:

Coolant flush and fill with better BMW coolant, antifreeze, wetter mixture (suggestions pls on %)

New AC condenser

Number plate base removing (for hot conditions.)

[Neil M]

Shimmy one of your problems might just be, that your in a hard water area in the South East. High levels of lime in the domestic water supply.
Essex experiences big problems as does parts of the Midlands with their domestic appliances furring up; boilers, washing machines, kettles, irons and the like. :whistle:

The same could be said for car radiators. You might need to add some sort of inhibitor, (like that used in your central heating system) I don't know if anti-freeze would do this job on its own. You might need to purge the system, or at least the radiator with a 'Calgon' type of treatment to clean it out and then use a distilled water/antifreeze mix in the car.

It's not something we suffer from North of Stoke, as 'lawsy' has previously commented.:thumbs:

[shimmy]

I'm not sure Simpsons put water in the radiator (I never touch the dam thing), surely hey use rad coolant

[shimmy]

Regarding fan position, look at post #17

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=459432&page=2

[alexk]

shimmy and all, do we have a photo of a non-AC CSL to see how the radiator looks like ?

What is interesting is that the heat-generating monster M5 F10 has no front radiator fan for the AC and only a rear electric radiator.
http://mfans2.com/parts/catalog/F10/...rts/#2283923_1

Here another information of the upgraded fan of the Z4 35is and 1M.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=797466

I think I will remove completely the fan clutch and the AC fan from my car.
I start to think that the AC fan and case is reducing the air flow.
Otherwise I cannot explain why BMW ditched it from the M5 F10 which is the most challenging car they ever built in terms of heat management.

[shimmy]

lots of US cars run without clutch fan and no issues, all very interesting

[alexk]

lots of US cars run without clutch fan and no issues, all very interesting

I will bin both of them :-D
Following the BMW way !

Alternatively, we could retrofit the 2 M5 water radiators (for the engine cooling).
It has another 2 for the charge-coolers and ECUs cooling, 1 engine oil radiator, 1 steering fluid radiator, 1 gearbox fluid radiator and 1 AC radiator.
8 radiators :beer:

[digi]

I'm not sure if you guys are talking about this, but when I had an E36 M3 I did do an AUX fan delete. Brought the kit from the US with something IIRC called water wetter. Its hot here and I had no issues with temp on the E36 M3.