heating issues, overheating not yet!

[willybustaE30]

he is the scenario. about a month ago i smashed me oil pan. i limped it to my folks & let the rest of the oil drain into a pan instead of the street.
this happened from road maintanance & im gonna try and get the city to pay for it (thats another story) well, i cleaned the cracked pan with carb cleaner & propane torch to burn off any residual oil then repeated the process .i then applied JBweld to the crack & it sealed up quite nicely i may say! (temp fix) oh, when i hit the manhole cover @ 25mph, it slowed me down to bout 15mph on impact. DAMN!!!
here's my issue, my e30 325e heats up more than normal. it used tobe under the half mark. id say between 1/4 & 1/2 no matter what the outside temp was. now it rides @ 1/2 & a lil more. this all of a sudden changed after I hit the pan. the water pump and timing belt were changed bout 3 years ago @ 30,000 miles.the radiator looks to be in ok condition . ive just replaced the thermostat, all hoses, & fan clutch. it still rides @ the half mark. i have no leaks.
i am stumped. what happened?
jumped timing? cracked radiator? bad water pump? jacked gauge from impact?
this is my daily driver & want my water temps back to normal.

thanks

[SEdgell]

Maybe the impact jarred the gauge, there is a nut on the backside that makes a ground for the gauge...may want to check it....good luck

[willybustaE30]

any other suggestions? switch maybe? any others expierenced like symptoms?

[willybustaE30]

here is more info on my scenario, i called the parts house on what thermostat I bought. it was 185f thermostat. the one i pulled out says 80o on it, so I suppose its in celcius. 80o celcius converted to farenheit is 176. thats a 9 degree difference. (185f = 85c) do you think thats worth an 1/8th mark on the gauge? should i put back the same thermo i had before. what u think?


update,
new radiator, water wetter, 176 degree thermostat.
it runs a lil cooler, just under the 1/2 line.
so far everything except the water pump has been changed.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

yet another update,
running down the freeway for 1hr or so, it did get to the 1/2 mark & a lil above.
checked for leaks & have none. i turned on the heater and I smell a lil bit of coolant but
i have no leaks in the cabin. (?) pulled the kick panel down & no leaks @ the core or switch.
but i did notice when cold that the water pump is making noise. (sounds like bearing failure)
when it heats up most of the sound goes away. i checked the pump for play & you can feel a lil click when moving it side to side. when i ran it cold, i got a long screwdriver & did the stethascope technique. (i hear bad bearings) can a bad bearing on a water pump cause a cooling issue? can a 30,000 miles be bad on a well taken care of cooling system?