A couple of E30 questions

Looks like the ix is making sure that I stay mad at it by developing a ton of faults left, right and center.

Anyway, the latest two foibles are that the headlights are playing up (guess what, the electrics have been messed with by the PO) and the engine is running too cold as per the temp gauge.

• Does anybody know if the fan clutch on these is thermostatic or only kicks in based on revs? I've replaced the thermostat with an 80C (OEM temp) thermostat a few weeks ago, but it still runs cold in the wintery temperatures we have by now. Next guess - if it's not a problem with the sensors, which I should know in a few days as I ordered replacement sensors - is that the fan clutch is engaging too early.
• Are the low beams supposed to stay on when switching to the high beams? In Europe they don't, but I'm not sure if the headlight wiring is different over here. With the "owner upgraded" headlights on mine, the low beams stay on when you switch to high beams with the result that the relay overheats after a while and sticks with the high beams on.

low beams (dipped) stay on with the highs (main) in the US. So it sounds like a bad relay or you are pushing too much juice through it.. so you may need to upgrade the relay (or downgrade the lights)

As for the cooling... remove the fan and see how it works for a few minutes?

The fan clutch is supposed to kick in based on temperature. E30s in stock form use separate relays for high beam and low beam so the previous owner upgrades may have changed that.

If the fan clutch has failed (which they usually do by sticking on rather than off), be careful not to rev the engine too high until you fix it. I've seen fans explode at high revs due to stuck clutches, especially old fans that might have a few chips in the blades. Thankfully the clutch is easy to change; if the fan does have any damage, change it at the same time.

Fan clutch is thermostatic and the lows do not stay on with the highs. All 4 lights are lit when highs are on, but in the outer bulbs only the high filaments are lit.

my bad.. I didn't realise the E30 had high and low in the outer lamps.. I thought it was like the E36 where it was simply a low beam and the inners were only a high.

If both filaments are lit.. you do have problems

Well, the low beams in the IX only have a single filament if one at all - the PO fitted some "Euro headlights" that are from a BMW, but nobody really knows which one. Given that they seem to have a vacuum levelling mechanism (that isn't hooked up, and I don't know if it is working) my suspicion is that they are some kind of early Euro HIDs. Of course with the vacuum leveling disconnected and presumably a few parts missing, the headlights are also pointing all over the place...

I have a set of later E30 ix projector headlights which appear to be single filament in both headlights, too, but I have to fix up the wiring first before I can fit those...

If the fan clutch is thermostatic - which is what I expected - then so far everything appears to be pointing at a fan clutch that engages a little early.

elipsoidals should be single filament lamps..

They look like they are...

OK, more fiddling with the car (to be detailed in the build thread) - the fan clutch appears to be OK as it passes the newspaper test. I noticed that it takes a long time for the engine to come up to temperature, though - I had to let it idle for a good ten minutes until the temperature gauge made it to a little below the 50% mark, then at least another five minutes until the thermostat opened. That's with an outside temperature around 60F outside. A short while after that, the fan clutch kicked in, but at no time did the temp gauge even make it to the middle mark...

I've got a couple of sensor on the way to check if those make a difference to the temperature reading but so far I'm getting the impression that the engine does seem to run a little cold.

it still sounds like a bad thermostat.. no? As you just replaced your's.. I do not know what else to offer at this point

That's the weird thing, it does but everything I've checked so far would suggest it's not a bad thermostat. It was very obvious when the thermostat open as the bottom radiator hose suddenly warmed up, but that was about 15 minutes in. If the thermostat was bad I would expect that the hose from the bottom of the radiator to the thermostat would heat up much sooner, or am I missing something here?

It does beg the question though, if it is not the thermostat and not the temp sensor (which I won't know until next weekend or so), what else could prevent the engine from warming up properly?

well.. what is this newspaper test? I am wondering now if the clutch on the fan is not engaging too soon. (not stuck on, but engaging before the car is warmed up)

Newspaper test is when you try to stop the fan with a rolled-up newspaper. The newspaper is soft enough so it won't stop or damage the fan if the clutch is engaged.

The fan clutch doesn't engage until shortly after the thermostat opened. If haven't got an infrared thermometer so I can't tell if it is engaging too early or not but it does seem to warm up slowly even before the fan clutch engages.

It's not uncommon for t'stat's to fail in a way that they won't close completely. This let's coolant circulate unimpeded and results in the car never getting up to temp. Many years ago had that problem in our E30 and later in a Toyota Corolla. New t'stat and all was well.

If the t'stat is working properly, the fan clutch being broken won't cause the car to overcool. The t'stat controls temps - and with more airflow, it would just let less coolant by. Doesn't mean that the clutch is ok - just means that if it's bad it won't cause overcooling. They usually make a helluva racket (whirring) when they go bad by locking up.

Not sure what all the stuff about sticking a newspaper into the fan is all about. In the morning when the car is cold before you start it - pop the hood. You should be easily able to spin the fan with your hand. Crank it up and drive it until everything is fully up to temp. Then stop and turn the engine off. The clutch should be hot/locked up under these conditions. So if you try to spin the fan by hand when it's hot - it shouldn't turn. If you pass those two tests, the clutch is fine. If you can't turn it cold, or you can turn it when it's hot - it's broke.