do I have what appears to be an electric cooling fan???

[RickW]

Sorting out some electrical on my 02 and finally got around to inspecting the fan mounting in front of the radiator. I had always assumed it was a fan for a long gone AC system, but now I see that it appears to be an auxiliary cooling fan. I was getting in there to remove it, since it seems like it would block air flow to the radiator, but now I'm not so sure. The brackets look factory, and the fan is german. It's wired to a relay, which is wired to a temp sensor switch in the bottom left hand side of the radiator. The fan works if I jump power to it, and it is pulling air into the radiator. The relay clicks, but doesn't send power to the fan. Should I sort this out and get it up and running? At worst it seems all I'll need is a new relay and a temp sensor switch, though I'm not even sure if the sensor is broken or not. I'm still running the red fan behind the radiator. Can somebody tell me what temp sensor I should get? I'm not sure when it should come on.

[Chamonix72]

Not positive, but I suspect someone stuck a 320i radiator and electric fan in your car. If there is no red plastic fan attached to your water pump pulley, then you should make sure this electric fan works. Unless you want to overheat.

[RickW]

that's the thing, I've got the engine powered stock red fan in there and working as normal. I thought people did the electric fan thing to get rid of the engine powered fan, but it looks like I've got both. Does anyone run both? My car does run a bit warm I think, but never overheats. I'm just starting to sleuth this out, and I will be calling the previous owner who may be able to shed some light on this. I think my radiator is stock. It just fits too nicely. Any other tips on figuring out what I have and how to get it up and running?

[Chamonix72]

Did your car ever have air conditioning? We have now exceeded my knowledge on the subject. You're right; usually one or the other. But the temp sender in the bottom of the radiator is not stock 2002 (I think). That's a 320 thing.

[mthaynestii]

My 72 with Behr a/c has a small fan in front on the radiator. It comes on when the air is on, AND it will come on when the temp needle gets close to the red, just like a modern car. BMW was pretty smart back then. Now we get electric water pumps that short out after 50K miles. Go figure.

[mthaynestii]

My 72 with Behr a/c has a small fan in front on the radiator. It comes on when the air is on, AND it will come on when the temp needle gets close to the red, just like a modern car. BMW was pretty smart back then. Now we get electric water pumps that short out after 50K miles. Go figure.

[TobyB]

Yup, the a/c cars got a Behr booster fan.

You could hot- wire it to work... but I dunno if it'd be

big enough to cool the car on a hot day in traffic.

I have a Mazda 626 fan on the race car, and it can barely keep

up- but then, I seldom need it, either.

t

[RickW]

hmmm. Maybe I should back-track. What other clues might be found that would indicate that my 74 tii had AC? This fan seems to be completely isolated from any other system. Single wire for power off the fuse box, going to the relay, sensor and fan. No apparent connections to anything else. My center console is pretty clean, but I do see some holes that may have been used to mount an AC unit. Now, beyond that I'm wondering if it could provide any additional cooling at all. I like simple, and removing it to give the radiator more breathing room and allow the red stock fan to do it's job sounds good in theory, but if I can get some more cooling I may hook it up. If it is a behr fan does that indicate it was AC?

[eurotrash]

If the car was ever fitted with AC there would be holes in the firewall and the radiator support.

[TobyB]

How big is it?

The a/c fan was maybe 10", whereas the 320 fan would be more like 14"

Very similar looking, otherwise... big motor can, etc.

Possible someone added the a/c fan to your non- a/c car, I suppose

t

[02Les]

Here’s pics of two that I have. If it looks like these, then it is probably the original A/C fan.

Sorting out some electrical on my 02 and finally got around to inspecting the fan mounting in front of the radiator. I had always assumed it was a fan for a long gone AC system, but now I see that it appears to be an auxiliary cooling fan. I was getting in there to remove it, since it seems like it would block air flow to the radiator, but now I'm not so sure. The brackets look factory, and the fan is german. It's wired to a relay, which is wired to a temp sensor switch in the bottom left hand side of the radiator. The fan works if I jump power to it, and it is pulling air into the radiator. The relay clicks, but doesn't send power to the fan. Should I sort this out and get it up and running? At worst it seems all I'll need is a new relay and a temp sensor switch, though I'm not even sure if the sensor is broken or not. I'm still running the red fan behind the radiator. Can somebody tell me what temp sensor I should get? I'm not sure when it should come on.

[02for2]

Looks like a 320 fan to me. My car had the Clardy AC system which I removed. I haven't gotten to the condenser or fan yet and my fan is much smaller, prob. 10".

Cheers!