E30 problems

[BladeRunner]

Yesterday I was driving to school and deciding I would park at public transit and ride the metro the rest of the way to save some gas. I take a right onto a street going up hill hit the gas a little and I hear crusshhhhhhhhhh. I immediatly said what the hell, luckly I was near the station. I got out popped the hood looking for leaking fluids or anything. Saw nothing. Leaving the station I go about 10 feet at 10mph I hear the noise again. Well today I hear that same noise and a rurrrrrrrrrrrrr. I figure the later noise was my clutch because it's made that noise before and so did my moms before it bought the farm. I get home pop the hood to see whats up and my fan is not spinning. I'm thinking ok what the hell, this is not good. Revv the engine three times thinking that would get it to spin, no luck.

Fear of my car overheating or shutting down i think I will park her for a while.

So what does it mean when your fan doesn't spin and your car makes rurrrrr noises on take off and gear changes?

[snd84318i]

sounds like the fan clutch .

[Eurostyle]

Originally posted by snd84318i
sounds like the fan clutch .

NO, even if its gone the fan would still spin, maybe not enaugh to cool the engine on a hot day in traffic, but it will spin.

My first guess is that the water pump is siezed thats whey the fan clutch and fan blades are not spinning, the noize will be comming from the belt slipping on the water pump pully.

[jimmyd1]

Goin thru the same problems now, myself. See if your flex fan is contacting the radiator. If you didn't have this problem before, chances are it might be the mounts on your radiator. Plastic support bracket and the rubber bushings on the feet and on the support bracket may have failed causing the fan to contact your radiator. Give it a look see and get back to me. If it was the fan clutch, you would have noticed gradual overheating over a period of time. A quick check would be to pull on your radiator. If it has a signifcant amount of play then you have found your problem. HTH

[crazyvadim]

Is your car running hot??
if not i would guess the fan is hitting something

[LukeE30IX]

i would have to agree with Eurostyle, your fan should be spinning.
Does your engine smell any differant since you have noticed the fan not spinning? And do you know when the last time your water pump was changed.
And if i remember correctly, isnt the waterpump on along with the timing belt... not sure.

[BladeRunner]

I don't think i drove long enough for it to run hot. I did notice a drastic change in heater temp. It usually just blows warm or warm-cold but on the way back home it became HOT. So hot that my hand, on the steering whell near the vent, felt like it was burning I truned the heater off.

I did notice my temp. gauge was in the middle. Now I don't care how hot your vehicle may get, in 30-40F degree weather your temp gague is not going to be at a 90 degree angle, unless somethings wrong. And my temp gauge was at a 90 degree angle. So my car may have been on the way to running hot.

I don't think my fan hit the radiator because the raditor would have had a dent in or one of the fins on the fan would have been bent, cracked, broken, or missin and neither was either.

Damn why did my macahnic have to loose his shop. Damn you Bush to busy helping other countrys and making "WARS AGAINST TERROR", and not trying to help "WARS IN AMERICA". Anyway, looks like I'll be calling around to Indepents to see if I can get something fixed, my car was due in for a checkup any way - inspection lights been on.

I hope I didn't offend anyone about the Bush thing...

[BladeRunner]

Thank you all for you replies so far.

I think I figured it out the fins ar rubbing some shield that surrouds the fan. As the fan spins it rubbs the bottom of that shield, resulting in that high pitched rurrrrrrrrr noise. I don't know how this shield, which is attached to the radiator has moved, but it looks like the radiator hasn't. The fan hit is so hard that sheild poped out of one of its placements.

I believe it is one of the following reasons:
1. My motor is running free - missin, loose or broken motor mount. Can this happen?

2. My radiator has some how inched it way up.

3. When my radiator was installed it was done incorrectly.

4. My car went air born one day in downtown Decatur going through an intersection. I went over a BIG bump like this _/\_ <-my car, which I didn't see and forgot was there because it was raining. There really should be more restriction on how these streets and intersections are made.

If I only had a digital camera I could take some pics. I'll see if I can find some ebay pictures to explain it better.



This still doesn't over throw the pulley, water pump...

[Albertae30]

i am with the people on the fan clutch or water pump due to the fact that if it hit that shroud shit your blades would be gone that plastic aint that strong. also i had the same problem my fan clutch toasted and my car sounded like a bus. most likely the rurr your talking about. i would check your water pump first then the fan clutch i highly doubt it is the shroud.

[BladeRunner]

I'm sure this can't be answers over the Internet but what about my fan fins rubbing the fan shielding? What would be the cause of the shift in distance between the shield and the fan fins?

[ZiMMie]

u prolly need new engine mounts.. my engine moved when i was doin donught last summer.

[Albertae30]

yes but what i am saying is that those fins on the blade are not that strong if that was just the problem then you would have no fins left. due to the fact that those fins are made out of cheap plastic as well as the fan shroud so i would look deeper. i still think that your prob is maybe motor mounts but i am going closer to the fan clutch or water pump

[jimmyd1]

At this point, I think it would be safe to cover all your bases. Motor mounts, radaitor support bracket and rubber bushing, lower radiator mounts, and check to see if your fan clutch spins. Do a comprehensive check of all, and I'm sure you'll find the problem. Unless you noticed your car becoming increasingly hotter, over an extended period of time, I probably would not consider the waterpump. They say to change them every second timing belt change. I ran one waterpump for three belt changes, w/out incident. It also happened to be the stock water pump that came w/ the car. Best of luck.

[crazyvadim]

Originally posted by BladeRunner
Thank you all for you replies so far.

I think I figured it out the fins ar rubbing some shield that surrouds the fan. As the fan spins it rubbs the bottom of that shield, resulting in that high pitched rurrrrrrrrr noise. I don't know how this shield, which is attached to the radiator has moved, but it looks like the radiator hasn't. The fan hit is so hard that sheild poped out of one of its placements.

I believe it is one of the following reasons:
1. My motor is running free - missin, loose or broken motor mount. Can this happen?

2. My radiator has some how inched it way up.

3. When my radiator was installed it was done incorrectly.

4. My car went air born one day in downtown Decatur going through an intersection. I went over a BIG bump like this _/\_ <-my car, which I didn't see and forgot was there because it was raining. There really should be more restriction on how these streets and intersections are made.

If I only had a digital camera I could take some pics. I'll see if I can find some ebay pictures to explain it better.



This still doesn't over throw the pulley, water pump...

I would guess number 3,happend to me before.Everytime the car would get in motion or move the fan would hit the shroud,the thing on top of the fan to protect you from touching it.

[NickP]

A fan rubbing the bottom of the fan shroud is the traditional sign of failing engine mounts.