We suddenly got a loud noise and upon inspection it seems that the fan blade is all over the place ( lots of play ), would this be a fan clutch or the water pump, is this a known common problem? I tried to remove the shroud but had a hard time, any steps on doing so is greatly appreciated.

water pump, get it fixed before your belt slides off the pulley and leaves you stranded. should cost you like $80 if you DIY

Thanks for that quick reply, is this a bad bearing, I dont think im leaking any fluid yet. If anyone has helpful links please direct me, I removed the two clips that hold the shroud along with the tanks bleeder screw and still couldnt pull the shroud up.

Also would you guys recommend a plastic or metal impellar?

The wobble could be from either the clutch or the pump bearings. You may not be able to tell which is bad (or if both are) until you have the fan off and the shroud out. To get the shroud out you must first unscrew the fan (32mm nut that is a left hand thread) and then remove the shroud and fan together.

Thanks for the tip with the opposite threads, so to losen this I need to go righty? Just confirming before I mess something up.

Found this link pretty good step by step write up, thanks for all the help.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-47093.html

We suddenly got a loud noise and upon inspection it seems that the fan blade is all over the place ( lots of play ), would this be a fan clutch or the water pump, is this a known common problem? I tried to remove the shroud but had a hard time, any steps on doing so is greatly appreciated.
I think i have a similar problem discovered this morning too. Is there a sound coming from the engine compartment sound like an intermittent miserable groan? I noticed the belt was running a bit un-true. But the sound was pretty distinct.

might be something helpful here:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=682975

This really must be a common problem, because it just happen to me today.

Yup its that loud groan, realy sucks, because we bought this car thinking its a quality machine and I had a hyndai that was higher quality then this pos. The only thing this car has is a great suspension and a nice interior. cant believe the things that are breaking down, man this company isnt what It used to be. My next car will be a jap car and I recommend everyone to stay away from these crooks, theyre using cheap plastics and metals thru out their cars. Off topic but we just replaced the ignition switch, I never owned a car that needed an ignition switch replaced, why should this happen to a 2000 bmw, same thing with the expansion tank, looks like something you get out of Toys R us. Im so dissapointed with this supposedly a high quality make, Garbage.

lol at your little rant buddy- what did you expect out of a nearly 8 year old car? Every one of us here either have big bucks in our cars or have scraped knuckles from fixing them ourselves. Have fun in your fucking hyundai.

I'll really take that recommendation to heart let me tell you..

maybe your "bass" is too much for the BMW?

Yup its that loud groan, realy sucks, because we bought this car thinking its a quality machine and I had a hyndai that was higher quality then this pos. The only thing this car has is a great suspension and a nice interior. cant believe the things that are breaking down, man this company isnt what It used to be. My next car will be a jap car and I recommend everyone to stay away from these crooks, theyre using cheap plastics and metals thru out their cars. Off topic but we just replaced the ignition switch, I never owned a car that needed an ignition switch replaced, why should this happen to a 2000 bmw, same thing with the expansion tank, looks like something you get out of Toys R us. Im so dissapointed with this supposedly a high quality make, Garbage.

:rofl

Are you serious? :lol

Have fun in your Hyundai.

Do you really think these are normal break downs for a 7 not 8 year old German car? How many igntion switches were replaced on this board and thru out other forums? You think thats expected? Ignition switches dont break down on 30 year old cars. Not here to pick a fight with anyone, the quality of these german cars are not the same. A 55 bucks igntion switch isnt gonna break me, its being stranded. The expansion tank was also 62.50, not gonna break my pockets, but again its being stranded. Water pumps leak, not wobble and lose control to the point where the fan is about to go airborn, again its poor design and material. You think this is expected, then you never owned an older quality German car. Find one honda that had its ignition switches replaced as much as they did on this board, I doubt you can find one.


"Have fun in your fucking hyundai."

Man what happened , you seemed allright helping me out before,you guys are taking this personnal.

Its a known fact Benz and Bmw are not what they used to be.

Don't sweat it man. Yeah, the cars have issues. Anybody who trys to sell you that they are built for reliability is selling a load of crap. They drive very well, which is why we put up with the BS, but there is more BS than one should expect from 7 year old $60K car from germany. Especially when cars twice as old with twice the mileage from Japan or the US don't have as many issues. Basically, you have to decide if the ultimate driving machine is worth putting up with the gotchas that lesser driving machines don't seem to be plagued with.

i had a similar problem and it went away after a while.. then one day when i was taking the bottom plastic off to change my oil i found my idler pulley laying there. I then looked at my drive belt and they were all worn out and i guess it has to to with a fault bearing ... i replaced the idler pulley and all my belts and the problem went away... idler pulley was aroudn 30 buck on pelcianpart.com and its an easy diy... goodluck