Hey everyone, I'm going to try posting this here since I didn't get any responses in the //M forum
So I was driving to my friends house today in my M3, drove maybe 3 miles and I suddenly glanced down at my temp gauge to see it was almost touching the red. I starting freaking out scared as I have a 323i as well where I've had the expansion tank blow on me. So I quickly pulled into the next parking lot. So here's the wierd part, the gauge moved up quickly to midway through the red, but the overheat light never came on. I ended up turning my car off but put my fan on full blast at high temp. It cooled down my temp gauge in a matter of about 30 seconds to mid way. I tried starting it up and again it was at mid way and starting VERY slowly inching it's way back up. I called up a friend of mine who used to have an e46 as well and has also had his expansion tank blow so that he could follow me home. I then checked in the manual and it says that the needle may reach to the edge of the red in normal operating conditions. So we started back to my house, the temp gauge would start in the middle, stay in the middle for a couple minutes of driving, and then gradually rise again. At certain times under slow driving conditions when the needle is nearing the red, it will randomly start to cool off and inch down, only then to start rising again. It will then reach about 3/4 into the red before I will decide to pull over to let the car cool off. This happened twice where I was forced to pull over for a couple minutes, let the fan blow full heat in the cabin and the engine temp is back down to 1/4 or 1/2. I then managed to get my car home.
So my question is...is this normal?? The engine overheat light never turned on although 3 times it was very far into the red. Is the M3 as prone to expansion tank explosions as the other E46s?
I did spend the day using my other E46 and when I got home not too long ago, I added a bit of coolant to make sure I was ok.
My A/C was not on, as I have read in other threads.
Could it be my radiator? thermostat? water pump? if anyone has any insight, it'd be much appreciated. I'm pretty sure my belts are due for a change, but could that be the reason? I was planning to bring my car to the garage for a couple other things, but I'm scared of driving it there at this point. thanks.
So I was driving to my friends house today in my M3, drove maybe 3 miles and I suddenly glanced down at my temp gauge to see it was almost touching the red. I starting freaking out scared as I have a 323i as well where I've had the expansion tank blow on me. So I quickly pulled into the next parking lot. So here's the wierd part, the gauge moved up quickly to midway through the red, but the overheat light never came on. I ended up turning my car off but put my fan on full blast at high temp. It cooled down my temp gauge in a matter of about 30 seconds to mid way. I tried starting it up and again it was at mid way and starting VERY slowly inching it's way back up. I called up a friend of mine who used to have an e46 as well and has also had his expansion tank blow so that he could follow me home. I then checked in the manual and it says that the needle may reach to the edge of the red in normal operating conditions. So we started back to my house, the temp gauge would start in the middle, stay in the middle for a couple minutes of driving, and then gradually rise again. At certain times under slow driving conditions when the needle is nearing the red, it will randomly start to cool off and inch down, only then to start rising again. It will then reach about 3/4 into the red before I will decide to pull over to let the car cool off. This happened twice where I was forced to pull over for a couple minutes, let the fan blow full heat in the cabin and the engine temp is back down to 1/4 or 1/2. I then managed to get my car home.
So my question is...is this normal?? The engine overheat light never turned on although 3 times it was very far into the red. Is the M3 as prone to expansion tank explosions as the other E46s?
I did spend the day using my other E46 and when I got home not too long ago, I added a bit of coolant to make sure I was ok.
My A/C was not on, as I have read in other threads.
Could it be my radiator? thermostat? water pump? if anyone has any insight, it'd be much appreciated. I'm pretty sure my belts are due for a change, but could that be the reason? I was planning to bring my car to the garage for a couple other things, but I'm scared of driving it there at this point. thanks.
