Overheating 3.0si

E

Eeighty5

New member
Hello all! Very happy to have found the community!

I am experiencing an overheating issue with my recently purchased 06 E85 Z4 (109k miles). Prior to purchase the seller did a complete cooling system overhaul including expansion tank, thermostat, & fluids. However! I am experiencing random over-heating situations.

I have not performed my own bleed yet but wanted to get opinions from everyone in the community (Unsure if the seller bleed prior to selling to me). Radiator is clean, fluids are new, upper RAD hose has pressure/gets very hot.

I overheated driving to my downtown office (3 miles) with several stop & go situations. (Top down - no air blowing)
I have driven 200+ miles at once without over-heating (Top up - air blowing)

I do live in texas where its currently 100+ degrees outside.

What gives?

Thanks all!
 
Welcome to the forum. :thumbsup:

If your car is a facelift model it will have an electric water pump which will die with little, if any, warning at some point.

To be sure you need to get the fault codes read.
 
@Mr. Tidy - Thanks, would this fault code be displayed even if the check engine light is not on? I do own a facelift model.
 
When my first E86 water-pump died the red light on the temperature gauge illuminated, but the EML didn't, even though it went into limp mode before I got home.

I took it to my BMW Indy who read the code from the OBD.
 
Don’t drive the car at all if it’s overheating, bleed the cooling system, there is a set electronic system, if you search this forum you will find it, it takes around 10 mins to do.
These pumps do fail, often around 80k, it’s not a difficult fix if you have wheel ramps to lift the front of the car, change the thermostat at the same time. Fit a Pierburg pump not a cheap lookalike cost maybe $400 including thermostat.
 
Yep a very common problem, that electric water pump! But yes get codes read, Creator's are cheap and reliable code readers you can get next day delivery on Amazon (well here in the UK you can). You can read codes even if the engine light isnt on as it measures all sorts of things. But if you are on the original water pump and at over 100k miles its highly likely to be the prime suspect.
 
Whilst the water pump is the prime suspect, don't discount the fact that the previous owner may just not have done the proper bleed procedure and you have a partial airlock.
 
Yes totally, do check that. But at over 100k I would definitely be thinking of getting the water pump done anyway, rather than hoping you can stop in time and wait for recovery when it invariably goes.
 
coldel said:
Yes totally, do check that. But at over 100k I would definitely be thinking of getting the water pump done anyway, rather than hoping you can stop in time and wait for recovery when it invariably goes.
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Agreed. Change it anyway if you can afford to now.
 
Hi OP, Your thread is a week old, and I've been preoccupied - did you find a fix yet ??

One tip about bleeding: much like the E46 cars, bleed with the front elevated for best results. Facelift cars with the electric water pump have an "auto bleed" capability. BUT when I did a full cooling system refresh this past winter, I found that auto bleeding the car while flat on the ground (3X) did not get rid of trapped air. I put the nose of the car up on ramps and bled it again - and all has been good. May not have been your problem, but thought I'd comment just in case.
 
coldel said:
Yep a very common problem, that electric water pump! But yes get codes read, Creator's are cheap and reliable code readers you can get next day delivery on Amazon (well here in the UK you can). You can read codes even if the engine light isnt on as it measures all sorts of things. But if you are on the original water pump and at over 100k miles its highly likely to be the prime suspect.
Click to expand...
Might you be able to recommend the creator tool you use? Thanks.
 
I got a Creator C410, it was on deal on Amazon at the time. Any of the Creators around that price are pretty good, have free updates on the webpage too.
 
Worth checking whether the radiator fan is spinning. Failure of the wires near the connection into the loom is also quite common.
 
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