Engine fan blade disintegrated. Got damn.

[Spartanic]

Recently I purchased my new E36 from this one lady. I did a radiator change and immediatly noticed the arms of the engine fan blades have disintegrated. What the hell could have caused this? It doesn't look like it hitted anything. Maybe the last owner dropped something in between the fan blades. Any idea?

[98BMW323is]

same thing happend to mine. supposidly as they get old they just break apart flying all over the place. I suggest you remove the fan before driving again or manually break each one of the blades off the fan so it is not unbanlenced and other blades fly off.

[jijacob]

It is a pretty easy repair. And not that uncommon on the factory original fan.

[Spartanic]

Wow, kinda sucks that this is a common thing because I just got done replacing my radiator becuase of this. Chunks of the left over fan blades were lodged in it.

[cipher982]

Check the thread at the top of the e36 page about the Fan Delete Mod. It's a huge topic discussed that's been discussed for a while. A lot of people have had lots of damage come from broken fan blades. I plan on taking mine out within the week.

[jijacob]

If you live in the south and drive the car hard I don't know if I would do the FDM. They put the fan in there for a reason.... just buy a new, non-brittle one!

[baghram]

If you live in the south and drive the car hard I don't know if I would do the FDM. They put the fan in there for a reason.... just buy a new, non-brittle one!+ 1 inspect your fan once in a while and you're fine. Fan delete....psjjj :rolleyes That's an american thing I guess :D

[Tefal]

I wouldnt keep driving with a damaged fan because like mentioned earlier they are not balanced and will damage the viscous hub and/or the water pump. Also the risk of blades or pieces hitting your new radiator

[JBURGS47]

hey I just did the FDM and I'll see you my old fan if you want it. It's in perfect shape, not brittle at all.