Problem Reports

Amber temp light illuminated. Then went off. It came on again 10 minutes later and quickly changed to red. After cooling, took it to closest mechanic (2 mi) for a quick look. Had towed to BMW mechanic. Determined to be electric water pump and/or thermostat. Told have to remove water pump to get to thermostat so might as well replace both.

Failure of thermostat. 1st diagnosis due to illogical temp readings on cool/cold mornings. Second diagnosis by Tech at BMW dealer. Simple replacement was quite expensive.

My thermostat needle was moving from even to hot (H) up and down as i drove. it stayed on hot for a few mins or until i stopped the car and turned off ignition and when i turned it back on it was fine. thought it was the thermostat sticking. It was fine for about a month and a half. Then started getting hot one day out of the blue. Once again the needle was not still for too long. This time went from H to C and back to H. Then finally overheated and turned off about 10 mins right when i got to a place i could pull over. We let it cool down and saw that it was out of water. We put water in it. It started and was fine for about 10 miles then overheated again. Pulled over again and filled up the radiator this time to the top. But car would not start back up. At the shop now.

I did not have a problem, but just after purchase, my mechanic said this item was a BMW recall, so he fixed it before it became a problem.