temp gauge ?

[Derouteur]

Hello,

My 318i makes noise on start up for about 10 min like if the belt was loosen a bit. Sometimes It doesn't make noise at all like yesterday and also the temp gauge barely gets out of the blue zone even after a 250 miles trip at 70mph. It should point the 12 o'clock in normal driving I guess, I never go over 3000rpm... Any idea ?

Thanks,
Valery.

 

[selavia]

Check your thermostat; it may be broken and stuck in the open position.

It could also be a faulty gauge. But my bet would be thermostat.

Does your car heat up properly or does it blow warm air, even on the hottest settings?

If the heat warms up nice and toasty, then it probably is not the thermostat, but could be the sensor or gauge.

Also, what year is the car? The thermostats tend to fail on these vehicles; I've replaced mine. A belt may be loose; you want to check whether it's the a/c belt or the alt. belt. And you should adjust the tensioner if it's not taut enough to specification; but if the belt's sides are worn OR the groves are cracked, you should replace.

How many miles on the 318is?

 

[Derouteur]

I just tried the heater, blows hot on 90F. I have 104.500 miles on it from 1996. I drove it today a few, and the temp gauge went to the 12 o'clock for a few seconds and went back down as fast as it happened. The only time I saw the needle up was after idling 20 mins with outside temp of 45F. I'm wondering about the idling pulley (I read some about it) because when in neutral ( Its a manual) the rpm slows to 1000 and it takes at least 5 sec to go 700 as it should be and not smoothly; like 3 sec on 1000, 2 sec on 850 then idle. Its not that big noise, sometimes it stops completely for a couple of minutes when idling and then comes back.. wierd, OH also, the noise disapear abover 1800rpm.

I hope you get everything, thanks for your help.

 

[selavia]

If the gauge simply stays past cold, I think its the gauge of the sender unit or a loose connection in the back of the speedometer.

My temperature gauge does this as well, however, when it is at "cold" when it should be at hot, I use two hands and equal pressure and slightly push the whole cluster up and back (toward the engine) and immediately the temp gauge works perfectly. I had read somewhere (Sorry I don't have the time to find the link) that the cluster on the e36 'sags' and in some instances this makes the gauge faulty. There are some DIY fixes which use common garage items to make sure it doesn't happen, but that requires removing the cluster, which requires removing the steering wheel (there are some that say you can fit the cluster throug the big holw of the steeringwheel, but that is VERY difficult and it really is less work to take off the steering wheel and doing it the correct way), and I have not had time to go through all that effort to fix the minor issue. If your cluster is not sagging and this does not do the trick, it is most likely the temp gauge itself or the sending unit.

I am not sure as the idle pulley. In regard to the 1000, 700 step down, mine does that only after I've been driving it hard. I would have someone check out your idle pulley, and if it is messed up do it yourself. It's really not difficult because there's so much space to work because it's not the L6 motor.

May be post the idle pulley question in the e36 forum; you'll probably get more responses on it there.

Good luck & welcome to the board!

 

[Derouteur]

I'll check all of that.

Thanks for answering that fast, you've been really helpful

Take care !