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      10-13-2018, 12:58 PM   #1
jlc45
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Cooling fan runs excessively?

Hi -
My car is a 2012 135i coupe with about 60,000 km on it. (about 37,000 mi.)
The electric cooling fan is running much too often; I would say almost all the time but it's intermittent. Sometimes it starts up when the car has just been started and I haven't even gone anywhere, so nothing is hot. This is the fan near the front of the car which cools the rad and the AC condenser. It's quite loud. It doesn't seem to matter as to whether the AC is on or not. The dash display does not have a coolant temperature indicator, just one for oil temperature which seems to be normal.
I mostly do short trips. Outside air temp is not a factor, the problem occurs in hot and cold weather.

Does anyone have experience with this?
Do you think it's probably just a sensor issue or something more serious?
Could this mean the electric water pump is failing?
Any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.
Jim
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      10-13-2018, 03:49 PM   #2
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you need a new water pump
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      10-13-2018, 09:17 PM   #3
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Yes, replace the water pump and thermostat. Mine did the same thing.
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      10-14-2018, 02:24 PM   #4
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pretty annoyed with German technology

Well, thanks for the info but if you guys are correct I'm not happy.
I have avoided German cars my whole life and always told my friends to buy "Japanese" but for some crazy reason I bought this car two years ago with only about 50,000 km on it. I realize all cars have their pros and cons but this is ridiculous. If it really is a pump failure I am through with BMW.

I'll update this thread when I have more info.

Jim
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      10-14-2018, 02:55 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jlc45 View Post
Well, thanks for the info but if you guys are correct I'm not happy.
I have avoided German cars my whole life and always told my friends to buy "Japanese" but for some crazy reason I bought this car two years ago with only about 50,000 km on it. I realize all cars have their pros and cons but this is ridiculous. If it really is a pump failure I am through with BMW.

I'll update this thread when I have more info.

Jim
Really? A water pump has you riled up enough to jump ship? I'm no German car apologist, but you're out of your mind. Kia/Hyundai have issues with catching fire, overstated mpg and grenading motors. Honda has a fuel dilution issue currently that they can't/don't know how to resolve, as well as a few other issues. Toyota has recall after recall.... Yeah, this isn't 1994 anymore, when Japanese cars were bulletproof. But anyway, if you want to get rid of the German POS you have for cheap, PM me, I'm hoarding unreliable cars.
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      10-14-2018, 02:57 PM   #6
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It's a BMW thing. My '02 E39 540/6 went through two of them in short order and my 135i pump needed replacing at around 35k. Just something you have to know going in.
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      10-15-2018, 10:42 AM   #7
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jlc45 Waterpump and T stat are super common on these cars mine went at 65k miles and was not fun.

If you want a reliable slow car buy a toyota. Reliable unrefined fast car buy a mustang. Moderately reliable fast refined unique car keep the 1er lol
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      10-19-2018, 12:06 PM   #8
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Thanks for the comments.
I know I'm not totally rational, and all cars have problems.
It's the cost of the thing that's annoying, for something that shouldn't happen.
62,000 km = 38,500 mi.
Cheapest parts I can find will be about $750 (Cdn), labour etc. etc. another $600.
Ridiculous.
Jim
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      10-19-2018, 01:09 PM   #9
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62K kms in "short trips" is hard on any car. Joining the Trillium BMW Club may help with many people who know these cars well (E90's mostly the same) but also the best indy garages who know these cars well. The water pumps can go out very early in life as your has or last a very long time. I'm at 95.6K kms and 10½ years in a 128 (knock on wood)
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      10-19-2018, 02:04 PM   #10
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FCPEuro has stock replacement parts (thermostat, pump, bolts, fluid, etc) for $406. There's also a video on here from BAVAuto that shows you how to replace it yourself.

I'm not sure what the difficulty level is listed at. I might need this soon myself. The fan does kick on occasionally at startup, not always. I'm at 46k miles. 2013 BMW 135is.

-Sam
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      10-20-2018, 05:07 AM   #11
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This ^. FCP Euro is where I got mine. Their lifetime parts warranty makes it a no brainer vs what BMW charges for the same parts.
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      10-20-2018, 10:30 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jlc45 View Post
Thanks for the comments.
I know I'm not totally rational, and all cars have problems.
It's the cost of the thing that's annoying, for something that shouldn't happen.
62,000 km = 38,500 mi.
Cheapest parts I can find will be about $750 (Cdn), labour etc. etc. another $600.
Ridiculous.
Jim
Fair enough, but I'm sure when you were buying the car it must have crossed your mind that you are buying a BMW, which should have alerted you that maintenance might be a bit more expensive than say, a Toyota. It's par for the course. On the flip side, since it hasn't completely failed yet, you can go trade it into your nearest Toyota dealer and not have to repair it.
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      10-20-2018, 01:40 PM   #13
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UPDATE
I'm not here to argue but I don't mind a discussion.
I take the comments as intended in good faith.
Of course the BMW is a different vehicle than a Toyota or a Honda; I have my eyes wide open as I did when I bought the car. Supposedly a "CPO"....whatever. To me there's a distinction between maintenance and repairs. This is a repair of an obvious design quirk as can be seen from the poll results. Anther reason I'm not happy is that I paid $1300 for an extra 2 years warranty, but as soon as the 2 years was up, the water pump fails. Murphy's Law. So I got nothing for my $1300.

Yesterday the pump died and I had to limp it home in short bursts of optimism.

I've ordered the parts and will have my indy shop install them.

I couldn't even get an app't to have my selling dealer look at it for 10 days, which is another demerit point in my mind. Several of my neighbours who have bimmers go to the dealer in St.Catharines which is over an hour away rather than the nearest dealer which is 10 minutes away because they are so user unfriendly.

I have a technical background and understand cars better than most people. I worked professionally building automatic transmissions and repairing cars for 6+ years. I've built hundreds of transmissions and done dozens of brake jobs. My cars are always in excellent shape. I've seen the excellent video on youtube on this topic of re and re the pump and thermostat. If I had a hoist available I would do this myself, but at 73 yo I'm not gonna crawl around on a cold garage floor in the frozen north (anymore) LOL.

Best Regards, Jim
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      10-20-2018, 01:47 PM   #14
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One Canadian loonie = 77 cents U.S. Add 13% HST to everything.
I'm not complaining, just explaining.

An expense in the States, say $1000 U.S. + 7% tax = $1070 U.S. dollars

The same expense in Canadian dollars is $1469.
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      10-27-2018, 02:29 PM   #15
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Repair complete

Final chapter:
Had my car repaired at the local independent shop here in town.
I bought the parts on Amazon and the shop installed water pump and thermostat. Total cost to me was $1340 incl. shipping and tax.
Amazon parts looked very good, supposedly O.E. quality which mechanic agreed with. Amazon deliver in one day. So I had the parts and the job completed before I could arrange an app't with the BMW dealer.
Car no longer sounds like a 747 ready for takeoff.
After a bit of back and forth I was very pleased with the shop.
The silver lining is that I met two mechanics at this indy shop who are very into BMWs. They gave me some interesting feedback on things to watch for with this engine. It was nice being able to actually discuss with the guys actually working on my car and they were very generous with their time.
If you are in this area of Ontario, I highly recommend Glendale.
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      10-27-2018, 02:54 PM   #16
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Glad everything worked out! Enjoy the car.
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      10-28-2018, 12:57 AM   #17
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Second, the glad everything worked out.

But you're lucky a shop was willing to install customer provided parts. Many shops won't because they don't want to deal with the potential headaches over if the parts go bad.
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      10-28-2018, 05:30 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zx10guy View Post
Second, the glad everything worked out.

But you're lucky a shop was willing to install customer provided parts. Many shops won't because they don't want to deal with the potential headaches over if the parts go bad.
My indy shop will not install customer provided parts. Funny, because my BMW service dept. will, depending on the parts.
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      10-28-2018, 04:30 PM   #19
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Quote:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zx10guy View Post
Second, the glad everything worked out.

But you're lucky a shop was willing to install customer provided parts. Many shops won't because they don't want to deal with the potential headaches over if the parts go bad.
My indy shop will not install customer provided parts. Funny, because my BMW service dept. will, depending on the parts.
That is indeed funny...
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      10-28-2018, 04:45 PM   #20
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So very glad you found a good indy; they're worth their weight in gold. Next time you're in, bring in a box of Timbits.
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      10-31-2018, 09:43 PM   #21
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Every car has known weak points and faults.
The N55's known achilles heel is the water pump that usually fails around 70k miles, give or take (and the charge pipe that will eventually blow especially if you increase boost).

These are knowns and are expected. Otherwise, this car and engine are pretty reliable.
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      10-31-2018, 10:04 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cavpilot2k View Post
Every car has known weak points and faults.
The N55's known achilles heel is the water pump that usually fails around 70k miles, give or take (and the charge pipe that will eventually blow especially if you increase boost).

These are knowns and are expected. Otherwise, this car and engine are pretty reliable.
And BMW knows the plastic electric pump is prone to fail, that's why the new B engines (on 130 and M140i) use a steel pump as normal cars.

The shame is that it costs so much money... otherwise it wouldn't be so bad, as it's easy to replace and all.
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