I've been struggling for 3 days now since I didnt have a pully holde, but only an adjustable wrench, now with method number three, I am completely releaved This vid alone deserves a like
4 years later and I want to thank you for making this vid. I swapped in an electric fan and your trick of removing the blades and shroud from the clutch gave me decent access to the nut. Your other trick of using a prybar gave me the technique to use a crescent and a tire iron to loosen the nut. No special tools required. Unless you consider a length of steel pipe to extend the leverage of the crescent, as a special tool. Many thanks again!!
Hey man, I'm a former BMW technician and I didn't know about that 3rd method. Thank God you did because you just saved my ass. Keep up the great content.
Best videos come from you. Giving those options to take the fan out is valuable, since we all don't have the time to wait for a special tool. Thank you
I wish I saw this video earlier, I'm going to have to resort to the third method. I smacked my fan clutch nut for over two hours and nothing. I use your videos for reference all the time, they're just so perfect. Thanks a lot, man!
I'm curious, mine seems to be rusted and it's impossible to take it out even with special tools I got off from Ebay. Sigh. Third method. Did you use WD-40?
50sKid Thank you so. Frikin. Much. I could not for the life of me get that damn clutch off. I cracked the water pump trying to do the 32mm wrench and hammer way. All I needed out of the way was the plastic part covering the fan. Now I FINALLY have access to everything and can inspect my belts. You. Are. A. E46. Saver.
was looking at my cars fan and saw it spins freely with almost no resistance gonna take off the fan clutch what else should i replace while iam in there 110 k miles and should i buy a new cheap one on ebay 30 ish bucks
I spent most of day triying to get that clutch nut loose...tuned in to your genius .and did the clutch removal..three bolts...you saved me ...thanks a million.
I think it's important to note for those who are skimming through this video that the fan clutch is reverse threaded. I watched the video far enough to buy the tool an attempt to remove the fan from the water pump and failed to get it to work I ended up ordering a new pulley and fan clutch to mate to my new water pump. All of this was preventive maintenance for me on a car that's driven very rarely so this wasn't a major inconvenience. No amount of torque was going to remove mine because I was trying to thread it off normally. Great videos!
Big thanks to you!!! You saved my day! I did get that water pump pulley holder tool from Ebay. However, I spent about 2 hours still couldn't fit on two bolts at the same time. I didn't know the tool was not made properly at the moment... After watching your tutorial video I realized I just need to grab on one bold and can rest on the fan nut... It only took me 3 mins to break the nut loose using your method!!! Keep up the good work! Respect!!
Replacing my alternator and found out my water pump pulley is broken. That’s a good way to blow a head gasket. Ugh. At least I found it. One problem leads to another. Your videos are extremely helpful and for that I am very thankful.
thanks for going into detail on method #2. It worked for me on my S54. Other videos go over this a little bit but your video makes it clear to see what to do. I was going to try method #3 if it didn't work but it did. Broke the fan clutch nut free in 2-3 minutes after trying for an hour the previous night without wedging anything to hold the water pump in place. Other videos break it free without doing so. I used a long flat head and a 10" husky adjustable wrench with a 4lb sledge.
Thanks bud. I’ve done this a million times and some how I for got how to do the second method. Been a while cents I removed my fan. Thank you. Really appreciate it
thank you so much, just started #3 method, I have the shroud and fan off. The 32mm nut is well and truly seized, tried air hammer, all tools mentioned (which broke under the force) and now have a broken adjustable wrench to replace so this video has been my life saver to keep the car running , will down PS pump as well while its all off 🙂
Holy shit I just went through the exact same thing, I used the air hammer with a bolt breaker and still nothing!! Not even the fan clutch tool I wasted a lot of money. I guess I’ll have to try method number 3
You are a steely eyed missile man, Kidd! Used my big giant Channel Locks to hold the 4 bolts at once and hit the 32MM with a hammer. RUclips gave me the confidence. As soon as my knee heals I am going to Pick a Part and getting an electric fan out of an M/T car.
I just used method 3 to remove the fan clutch and water pump on a E53. I got the special tool but it would not break the nut loose and just bent the tool and spun on the nut. So method 1 failed. Tried method 2 and the nut would still not break loose. Thank you for making this and all of your BMW repair videos.
Thanks Kid!!! Your trick number 2 worked for me in 5 mins!! Crowbar and large wrench, two whacks with fist was all it took to get fan nut off! You're my hero! ;D
Thank you so much you are the best! Rebuild my engine from using your video! Now i got a 2001 BMW 330CI i got for 1100 cad that have the fan clutch bolt stuck and you helped me again! Thank you!
Thanks, needed to know if the fan nut was left or right, you cleared that up. Dealing with all the cheap PLASTIC on BMW's has certainly made me question ever purchasing another BMw.
Thanks for all you do. I have the same fan-removal tool set you showed (holder+wrench), and I've used it successfully to get the fan off my E36. But I could not get the fan off my E46 to save my life. Your third method at least allowed me to get the fan blades/shroud out of the way to get more room (though it was more difficult than you demonstrated because I had a hard time getting my hand in there). With the fan/shroud out of the way, I STILL couldn't get the fan clutch off. That holder tool is a B#$%H to get situated tightly on the pulley bolts. What I finally ended up doing was locating the holder tool on the underside of the WP pulley, resting the handle on top of the main pulley, to the right. It was in there tight and the main pulley provided the backstop needed to hold the WP pulley still. One crack with the wrench and it was free. THANKS!
50s kid I used 3rd method an had to bend my 10min open end wrench a little to get passengers side nuts off but it works!!! Ty when you going to post more
Hey man, been working on this for like 30 min trying the hammer method. No luck. Tried your method #2 using a screwdriver and it worked straight away. Had to come back to the computer to give you a like. Thanks!
I have the ebay tools and tried and failed today. I am now however deeply looking forward to attempting removing the fan clutch tomorrow after watching this excellent tutorial, many thanks!
hey kid.,,, I used your tip of removing the fan Via the hex bolt. I had to use your tip because the 3 bolts holding the pulley were missing & the 1 had broken off after I got the car back from a mechanic ( I know , it doesn't make any sense.) but I was able to remove the fan to try to fix the my problem... again thxs a million!!
Method 4, don't buy a BMW in the first place. I agreed to Help my neighbor out by working on a highly neglected 2003 530i that sat unused for 5 or six years, he paid 400 which caused a rift in his family because afterwards she wanted the car back, she has some crazy notion that the car is worth something like 7 grand, she is 85 now she won't speak to her nephew, ive never seen a stupid car cause a family feud like this one did. I'm currently attempting to replace the oil pan gasket, as we all know BMWs are leakers, I wanted to remove the fan so when I jack up the engine it won't hit the shroud but that proved to be an impossible task, after using my 12 inch croissant wrench and a hammer to try and shock it loose it wouldn't budge, I could see that the nut was kind of chowdered up so it's not this girls first rodeo,
Duuuuuuuuuude!!! OmfreakinA! Man you are THE bimmer god hands down! I just started a project, 2002 325xi and needs basically everything replaced but was going to do the oil filter gasket first and my fan clutch is just seized! Wish I saw this first but I already took the expansion tank hoping to just get more room to pry around and cost me the trans thermostat :( which isn’t too bad but I’m trying to do things slowly and don’t have parts readily available if they break........ but thanks for this, gonna have to resort to level 3 technique! xD
I just stacked on two bolt-head problem on "Garage.com" tools, so this movie is cleared all, I take out my fan clutch. Appreciate your movie, I just repair WP and thermostat now. Very thanks for making video, I don't have to buy one more $50 SST.
Worked great on my 2003 e39 - 20 seconds and the nut was broke loose on the first attempt. I also used the long Harbor Freight Pittsburgh pry bar which is a very useful tool around the garage.
Dziękuję za film. Dzięki niemu dowiedziałem się że wystarczy złapać kluczem za jedną śrubę od pompy. Próbowałem za dwie i rozstaw otworów w kluczu był za mały. 👍
Chiseled the pulley off and removed the fan clutch while still attached to the pump. my water pump was 230,000km and the propeller inside still hadn't broken, amazing. I also went with a electric fan because I want to never deal with this again
I know not everyone can afford this but if you can, just upgrade the crappy clutch fan to an electric fan. Trust me, it'll make your life a whole lot easier! You can use the electric fan from a manual E46 btw, in case you're wondering.
Been taking off fan clutch nuts for years on multiple e46s but today I have been defeated on my new wagon. Bolt is seized. Fan clutch tools won't make it budge. Striking the 32mm tool or adjustable wrench won't make it budge. So I tried following method 3 to find out the hex head bolts are rusted and stripped. Back at square one.
Thank you sir! I have also seen video of someone using the belt itself rather than the crappy special tool to hold the pulley. That means 4 methods! :-) Or there's always the great big FH appraoch. >:->
Hey Jason, quick question: I have to replace the deflection pulley, mechanical tensioner and belt. Can I use method 3 to just remove the fan blades? Or will the fan clutch be in the way? Thanks
Thanks. I love the third method. LOL. You never know when you are going to get a stubborn one. Can you post a hand sketch of the special tool showing the specs? Like hole diameter and their separation? I have a lot of metal bars here and I will like to make my own.
For methods one and two, which I use, I have a tip for getting the fan easily rethreaded. When you are unthreading the fan to take it off, just as the fan nut comes free, mark one of the fan blades with a plece of tape and note the position. This way when you are ready to screw the fan back on, hold the fan around the same position to easily re-engage the threads. Note: when the fan is loose, tape the nut and fan body together so that the relative fan to nut position does not change.
If the first two methods don’t work, try sticking the top of the spanner with a hammer to shock the bolt whilst applying downwards and clockwise pressure.
the fan blades on my e39 got shorn off and the remainder of the fan is left on the fan clutch. couldn't remove it the nut this time (even though i've done it a few times before successfully) with methods 1 or 2 for the life of me. didn't even think of using half of method 3, just removing the fan from the fan clutch and replacing it with a new fan right in the engine bay! thanks for this
I've been struggling for 3 days now since I didnt have a pully holde, but only an adjustable wrench, now with method number three, I am completely releaved
This vid alone deserves a like
4 years later and I want to thank you for making this vid. I swapped in an electric fan and your trick of removing the blades and shroud from the clutch gave me decent access to the nut. Your other trick of using a prybar gave me the technique to use a crescent and a tire iron to loosen the nut. No special tools required. Unless you consider a length of steel pipe to extend the leverage of the crescent, as a special tool. Many thanks again!!
Hey man, I'm a former BMW technician and I didn't know about that 3rd method. Thank God you did because you just saved my ass. Keep up the great content.
Best videos come from you. Giving those options to take the fan out is valuable, since we all don't have the time to wait for a special tool. Thank you
tim pham exactly
Before you resort to option #3, try liberal amounts of Liquid Wrench and let it soak overnight. It worked for me!
tim pham agreed the tools are not always available in my garage.
I wish I saw this video earlier, I'm going to have to resort to the third method. I smacked my fan clutch nut for over two hours and nothing. I use your videos for reference all the time, they're just so perfect. Thanks a lot, man!
@@walterhunter740 You mean your now-ex? Lmao
I'm curious, mine seems to be rusted and it's impossible to take it out even with special tools I got off from Ebay. Sigh. Third method. Did you use WD-40?
@@jonathanbock8435 Hey! Sorry, I sold my e46 a few years ago. I think I just had a mechanic do it for me :P
What a brilliant idea to remove those 3 small bolts on the fan, made this job doable for me. Thank you so much
50sKid Thank you so. Frikin. Much. I could not for the life of me get that damn clutch off. I cracked the water pump trying to do the 32mm wrench and hammer way. All I needed out of the way was the plastic part covering the fan. Now I FINALLY have access to everything and can inspect my belts. You. Are. A. E46. Saver.
was looking at my cars fan and saw it spins freely with almost no resistance gonna take off the fan clutch what else should i replace while iam in there 110 k miles and should i buy a new cheap one on ebay 30 ish bucks
I spent most of day triying to get that clutch nut loose...tuned in to your genius .and did the clutch removal..three bolts...you saved me ...thanks a million.
I think it's important to note for those who are skimming through this video that the fan clutch is reverse threaded. I watched the video far enough to buy the tool an attempt to remove the fan from the water pump and failed to get it to work I ended up ordering a new pulley and fan clutch to mate to my new water pump. All of this was preventive maintenance for me on a car that's driven very rarely so this wasn't a major inconvenience. No amount of torque was going to remove mine because I was trying to thread it off normally. Great videos!
M
Mine just blew this morning getting the parts now and watching this wish me luck
Best video out there! Doing my 1991 BMW 325i tomorrow
Big thanks to you!!! You saved my day! I did get that water pump pulley holder tool from Ebay. However, I spent about 2 hours still couldn't fit on two bolts at the same time. I didn't know the tool was not made properly at the moment... After watching your tutorial video I realized I just need to grab on one bold and can rest on the fan nut... It only took me 3 mins to break the nut loose using your method!!! Keep up the good work! Respect!!
Excellent video
I love that you show how to remove the fan with a pry and adjustable wrench.
Thanks much
The small prybar trick worked for me !!! Thanks a Million !!
This dude makes it look easy and anyone who’s tried it knows that it is not 😅😂
I freaking love you bro you don’t know how much money and frustration you saved me I almost gave up
Replacing my alternator and found out my water pump pulley is broken. That’s a good way to blow a head gasket. Ugh. At least I found it. One problem leads to another. Your videos are extremely helpful and for that I am very thankful.
thanks for going into detail on method #2. It worked for me on my S54. Other videos go over this a little bit but your video makes it clear to see what to do. I was going to try method #3 if it didn't work but it did. Broke the fan clutch nut free in 2-3 minutes after trying for an hour the previous night without wedging anything to hold the water pump in place. Other videos break it free without doing so. I used a long flat head and a 10" husky adjustable wrench with a 4lb sledge.
you can’t do method 2 with s54 dude
LIFE SAVER!!!!! im actually doing this now due to a possible bad power steering pump, but didn't have the special tool .... Thanks bro
+Jarrinson Gonzalez Nice
Thanks bud. I’ve done this a million times and some how I for got how to do the second method. Been a while cents I removed my fan. Thank you. Really appreciate it
thank you so much, just started #3 method, I have the shroud and fan off. The 32mm nut is well and truly seized, tried air hammer, all tools mentioned (which broke under the force) and now have a broken adjustable wrench to replace so this video has been my life saver to keep the car running , will down PS pump as well while its all off 🙂
Holy shit I just went through the exact same thing, I used the air hammer with a bolt breaker and still nothing!! Not even the fan clutch tool I wasted a lot of money. I guess I’ll have to try method number 3
You are a steely eyed missile man, Kidd! Used my big giant Channel Locks to hold the 4 bolts at once and hit the 32MM with a hammer. RUclips gave me the confidence. As soon as my knee heals I am going to Pick a Part and getting an electric fan out of an M/T car.
I just used method 3 to remove the fan clutch and water pump on a E53. I got the special tool but it would not break the nut loose and just bent the tool and spun on the nut. So method 1 failed. Tried method 2 and the nut would still not break loose. Thank you for making this and all of your BMW repair videos.
Thanks Kid!!! Your trick number 2 worked for me in 5 mins!! Crowbar and large wrench, two whacks with fist was all it took to get fan nut off! You're my hero! ;D
Thank you so much you are the best! Rebuild my engine from using your video! Now i got a 2001 BMW 330CI i got for 1100 cad that have the fan clutch bolt stuck and you helped me again! Thank you!
Simple & straight forward ....and link for the tools! Thank u!
Bro you saved my sanity on the third method… thank you sir!!!
Thanks, needed to know if the fan nut was left or right, you cleared that up. Dealing with all the cheap PLASTIC on BMW's has certainly made me question ever purchasing another BMw.
oh!! Thank you so much. I knew how the rent worked. But I didn't know what to do with the other tool. I knew it went on something.
Great now I know which way to spin the nut thanks
Man you are literally the best.
Very Nice I have to do my thermostat this will help my engine running 🥶
Thanks for all you do. I have the same fan-removal tool set you showed (holder+wrench), and I've used it successfully to get the fan off my E36. But I could not get the fan off my E46 to save my life. Your third method at least allowed me to get the fan blades/shroud out of the way to get more room (though it was more difficult than you demonstrated because I had a hard time getting my hand in there).
With the fan/shroud out of the way, I STILL couldn't get the fan clutch off. That holder tool is a B#$%H to get situated tightly on the pulley bolts. What I finally ended up doing was locating the holder tool on the underside of the WP pulley, resting the handle on top of the main pulley, to the right. It was in there tight and the main pulley provided the backstop needed to hold the WP pulley still. One crack with the wrench and it was free. THANKS!
50s kid I used 3rd method an had to bend my 10min open end wrench a little to get passengers side nuts off but it works!!! Ty when you going to post more
He injured his back and his garage flooded no more space
Got your pinky knuckle on that last one! Between you and Nathan you’ve saved me thousands. Thank you sit!
You are str8 up the best RUclips mechanic and u work on my exact car dude str8 up the best
Hey man, been working on this for like 30 min trying the hammer method. No luck. Tried your method #2 using a screwdriver and it worked straight away. Had to come back to the computer to give you a like. Thanks!
+markabby15 Nice, glad it helped ya!
First method worked like a charm for me, thanks for the awesome tutorial.
Awesome method 2 worked like a champ. Thanks for posting this.
2023 and thank you for this help!!!!!
I have the ebay tools and tried and failed today. I am now however deeply looking forward to attempting removing the fan clutch tomorrow after watching this excellent tutorial, many thanks!
It worked! I was trying to align both holes in the tool instead of just the one and pressing down. Works like a charm!
Hi !! Thank you so much for all you help, I just replace the fan cluch 325xi, am just little nervous because not sure is I tie up enough... 😢 haha
Dude, you're awesome!!! Pro tip: it also works on M62 V8s and M73 V12s in E38s
hey kid.,,, I used your tip of removing the fan Via the hex bolt. I had to use your tip because the 3 bolts holding the pulley were missing & the 1 had broken off after I got the car back from a mechanic ( I know , it doesn't make any sense.) but I was able to remove the fan to try to fix the my problem... again thxs a million!!
Awesome dude, glad that helped you out!
Thanks for that. Method 3 here! (and a lot of skinned knuckles).
Method 4, don't buy a BMW in the first place. I agreed to Help my neighbor out by working on a highly neglected 2003 530i that sat unused for 5 or six years, he paid 400 which caused a rift in his family because afterwards she wanted the car back, she has some crazy notion that the car is worth something like 7 grand, she is 85 now she won't speak to her nephew, ive never seen a stupid car cause a family feud like this one did. I'm currently attempting to replace the oil pan gasket, as we all know BMWs are leakers, I wanted to remove the fan so when I jack up the engine it won't hit the shroud but that proved to be an impossible task, after using my 12 inch croissant wrench and a hammer to try and shock it loose it wouldn't budge, I could see that the nut was kind of chowdered up so it's not this girls first rodeo,
Duuuuuuuuuude!!! OmfreakinA! Man you are THE bimmer god hands down!
I just started a project, 2002 325xi and needs basically everything replaced but was going to do the oil filter gasket first and my fan clutch is just seized! Wish I saw this first but I already took the expansion tank hoping to just get more room to pry around and cost me the trans thermostat :( which isn’t too bad but I’m trying to do things slowly and don’t have parts readily available if they break........ but thanks for this, gonna have to resort to level 3 technique! xD
Thanks so much 50 hope u r well
U just saved me so much time now very much appreciate it
Did method #3 and it def worked. I need the fan clutch off though and kind of stuck on how to do that....
Method #3! You’re a life saver
Thank you for this video! That pry bar trick works brilliantly!
+Stephen Cooper Glad you found it useful!
Thx so much Bro..Almost losing my mind on it but got it loose now. Very helpful
I just stacked on two bolt-head problem on "Garage.com" tools, so this movie is cleared all, I take out my fan clutch. Appreciate your movie, I just repair WP and thermostat now.
Very thanks for making video, I don't have to buy one more $50 SST.
Worked great on my 2003 e39 - 20 seconds and the nut was broke loose on the first attempt. I also used the long Harbor Freight Pittsburgh pry bar which is a very useful tool around the garage.
this video saved me today. thanks dude.
You are the E46 authority!1
Dziękuję za film. Dzięki niemu dowiedziałem się że wystarczy złapać kluczem za jedną śrubę od pompy. Próbowałem za dwie i rozstaw otworów w kluczu był za mały. 👍
great videos about e46, very useful and helpful. Thanks for that and keep going with it :D
Thank you for this video! I saw this method on a forum but they said you have to break your fan and all this stuff.
Chiseled the pulley off and removed the fan clutch while still attached to the pump. my water pump was 230,000km and the propeller inside still hadn't broken, amazing. I also went with a electric fan because I want to never deal with this again
You are an amazing help to me today!!!!!!
Thank you!
Thanks bro you make it look so easy🤗
Thanks for this excellent video. Nice to see you're local as well, might just swing by and have you help me with repairs! :D
You are AWESOME! Thank you for posting such a great, instructional video!
I know not everyone can afford this but if you can, just upgrade the crappy clutch fan to an electric fan. Trust me, it'll make your life a whole lot easier! You can use the electric fan from a manual E46 btw, in case you're wondering.
Personally I don't think it's worth the money. I only keep my fan clutch on lightly tight so that I can remove by just giving the wrench a tap.
very helpful, about to do my oilfilter housing gasket. pissing oil
Been taking off fan clutch nuts for years on multiple e46s but today I have been defeated on my new wagon. Bolt is seized. Fan clutch tools won't make it budge. Striking the 32mm tool or adjustable wrench won't make it budge. So I tried following method 3 to find out the hex head bolts are rusted and stripped. Back at square one.
You are a legend thank you
Worked like a charm! Thank you
Well, I'll try to do the second and third versions while waiting for the proper wrench to arrive.
Thank you, option #3 worked.
Genius! Just what I was looking for! Keep em coming brother!
Thanks man, saved me a bunch of time!
you're welcome, glad it helped you
Gracias por fin alguien lo explico bien,, muchas gracias
Thank you sir! I have also seen video of someone using the belt itself rather than the crappy special tool to hold the pulley. That means 4 methods! :-) Or there's always the great big FH appraoch. >:->
Hey Jason, quick question: I have to replace the deflection pulley, mechanical tensioner and belt. Can I use method 3 to just remove the fan blades? Or will the fan clutch be in the way? Thanks
Thanks. I love the third method. LOL. You never know when you are going to get a stubborn one. Can you post a hand sketch of the special tool showing the specs? Like hole diameter and their separation? I have a lot of metal bars here and I will like to make my own.
For methods one and two, which I use, I have a tip for getting the fan easily rethreaded. When you are unthreading the fan to take it off, just as the fan nut comes free, mark one of the fan blades with a plece of tape and note the position. This way when you are ready to screw the fan back on, hold the fan around the same position to easily re-engage the threads. Note: when the fan is loose, tape the nut and fan body together so that the relative fan to nut position does not change.
best demonstrations.
I also have a set of 'Ebay special' tools and had to enlarge the holes for proper fitment.
If the first two methods don’t work, try sticking the top of the spanner with a hammer to shock the bolt whilst applying downwards and clockwise pressure.
Thanks for sharing!
Awesome video
ur a life saver
the fan blades on my e39 got shorn off and the remainder of the fan is left on the fan clutch. couldn't remove it the nut this time (even though i've done it a few times before successfully) with methods 1 or 2 for the life of me. didn't even think of using half of method 3, just removing the fan from the fan clutch and replacing it with a new fan right in the engine bay! thanks for this
That fan but is a bastard. Wish I had watched this again & used method 2. I gave up & will try again, when my motivation returns!
Option number 3 sucks to do. I had to do it that way when I changed out my power steering pump and needed access to get the belt back on the pulleys.
Method 3 is probs best for me as am already stripping the car down taking everything out. And I don’t need to buy more tools 😂.
Thank you so much
Thanks man! Nice job.
this video helped me out thanx
Perfect!
Thank you! Big help
thank you
2:23 - This is the way.
THANK YOU!!!
Great vid...
you are a freaking savior! been fighting my stuck fan bolt for hours now! btw anyone know if its ok or will help to spray pb blaster on that nut?
My 2000 E46 323CI sounds like a Jet just cruising around town. I'm pretty sure it's the fan clutch. What do you think?
Great video.