Yes it should sit just below the halfway mark. I have had some experiance in this field. About a year ago my radiator hose decided that it would breakoff from the radiator, un-know to me this was the beginning of a eventfull 6 months.
So I replaced the radiator, and thermostate but the gauge sat above the halfway mark something was not right. Ended up that I got the 92 degree instead of the 88 degree. So ordered the 88 degree put it in and it still did not sit right. Tryed bleading the system and that but just did not want to go below the halfway mark. I decided that it was fine an just left it.
About a week later waiting in the Maccas drive through I look down at my gauge and the needle is in the RED!!!!!! of coarse I shit my pants and turn the car off. Apon inspection water was leaking from the front of the engine. It was the water pump, orded a new one from ebay australia as I did not want to wait for parts from USA, then got to work smashing the fuck out of the old pump to get it out. (Just a tip if the pump has never been changed be prepared to smash at it for about 1 to 2 hours with a small sledge hammer) Anyways replaced it and the guage still did not sit perfect.
So I ignored that for some time, then the termostate housing stated leaking. Found that I had missed a bit of old gasket stuck on the block which I had not cleaned off. Then the heater plate hoses started to leak so I did the heater plate delete. Then the heater core started to leak replaced that. Then the water pump started to leak again.
This time I orded one from pelican parts. Now this whole time the temp guage never went back below the half way mark. Now with my new pump it is perfect.
If there is anything I have to say about the cooling system on the M42 is if it starts to play up just raplace everything for a few hundred dollars it is worth doing once and once only, because it is a pain in the ass to bleed the system.
As for your problem I would say it is the pump from my experiance my problem the whole time was a bad pump. The three major parts that would affect the cooling system 9 times out of ten are Fan Clutch, Thermostate and Water Pump. If you were to just replace those three items you should be all good.
Hope this helps
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I have an m42 and have done everything for the coolant. First, my needle runs a needle lenght past 1/4 mark. I live in S. FL where it is hot. I have remove my fan clutch and just have an aux fan. If you swapped coolant, changed thermostat. Really did a good job with bleeding, as sometimes it takes twice and can be a pain with the m42, the next would be to test fan clutch.Leave a comment:
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Kind of an update: i changed my thermostat.
No difference :( but the new bmw coolant seems to have made the engine run a bit smoother than it was with the crap coolant it had b4.Leave a comment:
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Mine runs just a hair past middle unless I am sitting around idling. It'll go between 1/2 and 3/4 at that point but never goes past. I noticed if I am going about 60mph and let it coast in neutral it'll creep up to the close to the 3/4 and once I put it back in gear it goes back down to 1/2. Not to thread jack but could I have an issue with the fan clutch? The car never ends up over heating even if I sit idle for 20 minutes.Leave a comment:
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check: fan clutch , water pump , air in the coolant , temp sensor
Cant be anything besides those listed.Leave a comment:
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mine ran really hot before, i changed the sensor on the side of the radiator and fixed my problems now it never goes past the middle, id say start with a termostat which is real easy to replace on the m42 shouldnt take more than half and hourLeave a comment:
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bled coolant system today. not much change if any.
hey Ken, could u give a link to ur rebuild thread, i couldnt find itLeave a comment:
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That doesn't sound right.
My '91 318i is generally between the blue bar an 1/4. Hottest I've seen it get was half way between 1/4 and 1/2, and that was in stop and go traffic on a 35-ish*C day with me driving like a jackass.Leave a comment:
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