Coast to coast road trip with a 5x8 enclosed trailer, follow along for laughs

[edjack]

Bear in mind that, in CA, speed limit whilst towing is 55.

[Mike WW]

^ +1. You'll be fine. Highway cruising, even with a trailer, is much lighter on a car than my canyon driving

Yes, but... Mountain passes and wind resistance change that equation. A boxy trailer and even a sleek roof carrier are a lot of air to push. I agree, I think he'll be ok, but he is giving it a workout.

[geargrinder]

Yes, but... Mountain passes and wind resistance change that equation. A boxy trailer and even a sleek roof carrier are a lot of air to push. I agree, I think he'll be ok, but he is giving it a workout.

True but don’t forget the car and trailer are basically empty. So yes he’s pulling the air drag but otherwise its barely any extra load. Good measure of that is what good mileage he’s getting. That’s basically a perfect measure for how light he’s loading the car.

[joekitch]

Normal updates are on my Instagram. However, in the dead of night, in the middle of Arizona, I hit a rabbit and severely damaged my aux cooling fan, spent about 45 minutes trying to find and remove fuse 75 to get back on the road again. I'm now heading to Winslow with half a cooling system. Are there any BMW people in or around Winslow Arizona who have a spare functional cooling aux fan and would like to help install it really quick tomorrow? If not, that's fine, I can bring it to a shop in town. And they could probably swap it out rather quickly as well..... But without using OEM parts I imagine, I forget how much BMW charges for that aux fan

Also, this is on top of having to fight over temperature when going from Roswell to Socorro, so I know for a fact my cooling system cannot quite handle the heat even with both fans, and I have to use the heater occasionally

[computiNATEor]

Normal updates are on my Instagram. However, in the dead of night, in the middle of Arizona, I hit a rabbit and severely damaged my aux cooling fan, spent about 45 minutes trying to find and remove fuse 75 to get back on the road again. I'm now heading to Winslow with half a cooling system. Are there any BMW people in or around Winslow Arizona who have a spare functional cooling aux fan and would like to help install it really quick tomorrow? If not, that's fine, I can bring it to a shop in town. And they could probably swap it out rather quickly as well..... But without using OEM parts I imagine, I forget how much BMW charges for that aux fan

Also, this is on top of having to fight over temperature when going from Roswell to Socorro, so I know for a fact my cooling system cannot quite handle the heat even with both fans, and I have to use the heater occasionally

Dang. And it was going so well. One of my friends busted their radiator on a cat recently. You can unplug the aux fan fairly easily from under the hood; that's probably the easiest way to do it. (NVM, I see you got it).

Flagstaff is probably better for parts if you can get there. Winslow is mostly a train station and not much else, if I'm remembering correctly from my multiple LA -> Chicago train trips. Flagstaff is home to "Ken's Import Service," which seems well reviewed online.

I see that you're running with a flat aluminum shroud. You really want the big factory fan shroud, especially with the mechanical fan. I bet that's your overheating problem. The BMW system, for all its faults, is pretty good when it is in good shape. If anything, take the flat shroud off. It's just blocking airflow.

Now's also a good time to remove the lower splash shield. Duct tape and zip tie as much as you can back together.

[computiNATEor]

I would go to Flagstaff, trouble is I booked my hotel room literally an hour before I hit the rabbit, and I really want some place to sleep tonight, so I'm headed there now.

The aluminum fan shroud also has a welded aluminum coolant expansion tank, in fact most of the reason I got that was for that expansion tank. However that fan shroud of supposed to be combined with an electric multi-stage cooling fan which sits where the hole is.

In fact I've been thinking, the solution to my problem might be to ditch the mechanical fan and leave the aux fan unplugged, and go ahead and get a proper electric fan installed where that should be in the aluminum fan shroud. If need be, I can do late night/early morning drive stuff to get where I need to go. If I can get down to Mesa, where I have some family members, I can call upon the many BMW folks within Phoenix for Aid

Gotcha. Sleep on it, and come back to it tomorrow.

You definitely need that electric fan. Otherwise, the shroud is pointless, and just blocks the mechanical fan from doing its job. I'm amazed the overheating hasn't been worse, honestly. And it's going to be, without a working auxiliary fan.

Long term, you have to decide if you want to have a mechanical cooling fan or not. If you don't, then you should install a replacement electric cooling fan in the shroud you have now, or run exclusively on the auxiliary fan. Several forum members report good luck running the aux fan solo.

[joekitch]

i'd love to go single large electric fan actually, the aluminum shroud is designed to play nice with a 16" Spal fan
https://www.zionsvilleautosport.com/...xpansion-tank/
For a time i considered picking this up but figured stock aux + mechanical would be fine, that's no longer the case.

So now i'm not entirely stuck in winslow, i just won't be able to move the car around much unless it's night time.

if i can find a shop in winslow that'll install and wire up a 16" spal fan i'll be good as gravy, but if not i can get the car down to the mesa/phoenix area tomorrow night and get a much wider range of possible help.

what really sucks is this completely erases the meteor crater trip from my plans, no way i can get there during the heat of the day when they're open and this situation will cost me a day on the trip anyway

if someone knows of a shop in mesa or phoenix that has a 16" spal fan they know how to install and wire, preferably with a two state wiring kit, and can do it within a day, i am all ears and i'd happily give them some business on tuesday, since i wont be able to move tomorrow

heck i even made a post on /r/cars just now, trying to find something.

[JimLev]

From what I remember there is a Flying J on the east end of Winslow and a Shell station at the west end.
Think I remember seeing another station in the center.
Can you do the following?
1) Drive with the AC off and put the heat on if necessary? Not an optimal choice but should get you to Flagstaff.
2) Remove the t-stat and run with more water than coolant? Water will do a better job removing engine heat than 50/50.

I see you made to the VLA.

[joekitch]

I mean I'm fine going to Flagstaff but only if I know for a fact there's a shop/person there to work on the car waiting for it.
Remove the thermostat as in let it flow fully 100%? That'll be pretty tricky in a parking lot, also I have that low temp thermostat so I don't think having a fully open one will make much of a difference.

[JimLev]

Remove the thermostat as in let it flow fully 100%? That'll be pretty tricky in a parking lot, also I have that low temp thermostat so I don't think having a fully open one will make much of a difference.

Yes, full flow with no t-stat will make a big difference.
Or power the heater in the t-stat with 12 volts. I was able to get my temp down into the low 80's with 12 v going to it.

[joekitch]

The low temp tstat has no heater, is the thing, and I believe it's in full flow mode by 100c, here's a thread discussing the particular piece in full
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...at-Best-Option
I I have the tools necessary but I dunno about enough coolant to do that?

[dannyzabolotny]

I’m in Phoenix and have a good condition working aux fan that I took off my 540i/6 that I’m parting out... that’ll probably be the cheapest option for getting a replacement aux fan, given that the OE ones are ludicrously expensive and the OEM ones are never available on short notice.

[JimLev]

Forgot about it not having a heater. It has a removable t-stat not attached to the housing, right?
Removing it will give you a lot more flow.
Leave the hose connected to the top of the t-stat housing, remove the 10mm bolts while holding the housing down. Then quickly pull it up to remove the t-stat, then push the housing back down.
Replace what spills with just water.

Your stuck between a rock and a hard place, you don't have a lot of options at the point.

[joekitch]

I’m in Phoenix and have a good condition working aux fan that I took off my 540i/6 that I’m parting out... that’ll probably be the cheapest option for getting a replacement aux fan, given that the OE ones are ludicrously expensive and the OEM ones are never available on short notice.

i'll keep that in mind as a backup plan, but at the moment i'm going to be calling around shops in flagstaff and phoenix asking if they can do the wiring necessary on one of these spal fans, and i'll also try to find a place selling said spal fan with maybe a temperature controller. i imagine various custom car shops might have it

Forgot about it not having a heater. It has a removable t-stat not attached to the housing, right?
Removing it will give you a lot more flow.
Leave the hose connected to the top of the t-stat housing, remove the 10mm bolts while holding the housing down. Then quickly pull it up to remove the t-stat, then push the housing back down.
Replace what spills with just water.

Your stuck between a rock and a hard place, you don't have a lot of options at the point.

i mean my main option is just night driving, since i know it can do that at this point, springerville to winslow was pretty damn hilly but the car didnt even crack 101 on the steepest at speed.
but that's a good point about replacing any lost coolant with just water, get my fluid back and make the mix more watery, nice.

[joekitch]

VERY Good news from the zionsville cooling kit guys, a few things
1) They use a 16" spal fan but use a couple different flavors, they prefer the high performance curved blade 2070CFM model but any spal 16 will work fine, i already have the mounting feet on my fan shrowd so it'll drop right in
2) It's fine to just hook the thing up to the 12v source on the valve cover directly and leave it at full speed all the time, putting in a proper temp sensor will involve installing a manifold and temp sensor into the upper rad hose...BUT it isn't strictly needed, it's just to keep the fan from being unecessarily loud all the time. the engine manages temps using the thermostat so more fan does not mean it'll make the engine too cold all the time, it'll just recover from heat much faster which is great.

so if i can find a place local that'll sell a spal 16" i can install it in the parking lot easily.

[philly98540]

^yes. do that. Leave it on all the time for now. Turn off when parked.

[joekitch]

also i thought flagstaff was a lower elevation but nope, it's all uphill, 2000 feet, although its an extremely gentle slope so at speed it should be fine

[joekitch]

Also does anyone know the combined CFM of both the aux and mech fan? is like more than 1400?
several places have spal 16" but they're all like 1100 or 1400 CFM which is decent but i dont know if it'll replace my existing fans
another option is next day shipping using summit racing, sending it to mesa where i can do the fan swap in the garage of my family members

edit: oh nice, next day air shipping from summit racing to Mesa is only $30, that's really not bad at all

double edit: for those following along who know wiring, could it be easy to use this harness kit without the temp sensor and just have it draw full all the time?

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/spu-ix-195fh

i would add the temp sensor in later on

[computiNATEor]

The aux fan is big; 18 inches or something, IIRC, and the mechanical fan is also big. I bet they move more than 1400 CFM.

[JimLev]

double edit: for those following along who know wiring, could it be easy to use this harness kit without the temp sensor and just have it draw full all the time?

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/spu-ix-195fh

i would add the temp sensor in later on

Sure, just short out the temp sensor which will keep the relay energized all the time to keep the fan going.
I'd put an on/off switch in place of the temp sensor for now so you could turn the fan off when the car is parked.

Your going to need something like this for the temp sensor to fit into.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/atm-2283/overview/

[joekitch]

yeah, a manifold, and i'll need to cut the upper rad hose for that, not worth it for now.
honestly i might not even bother with an on/off switch while parked for now.

when summit says "overnight shipping" do they mean it? like will it arrive in mesa mid-day tomorrow so i can go ahead and install it?
edit: nevermind they have a little blurb saying as long as the order is placed by 7pm EST, it's guaranteed next day, so essentially 4 hours until that deadline, i'll at least try to find a place around phoenix with the fan

[JimLev]

I have been buying a lot of things from Summit and Jegs lately.
Generally they arrive when they say, however I wouldn't drag my feet until the last minute to order unless your OK with waiting another day if FedEx botches it. It's happened to me before.

[joekitch]

parts ordered. Fan and fan harness and crimper (with a full set of crimps) and stripper. Needed to add those tools to my toolbox eventually anyway, no time like the present.
$316 total. Oof.
Install should be laughably easy and fast though, and with 2024 CFM flow on a fan shroud designed for it, it should eat the desert heat alive no sweat.

my bumper is badly cracked in the lower middle though which sucks. i was planning to get it resprayed eventually since it had sun damage but i guess now it's a matter of getting a replacement entirely

[TexFinn]

i guess now it's a matter of getting a replacement entirely

You meant to type "upgrade", right? LOL!

[joekitch]

I mean yeah, but there's a little something special about an OEM msport touring bumper. I'm absolutely going to find something aftermarket that's an Mtech, not m5, with the center T bar. I rather like the look more than the m5 mouth. But that's for after I get to SF. For now, gorilla tape it is