Overheating

ANHANAMOUS

MEMBER
2005 BMW 525I
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
70,000 MILES

I was just wondering why my screen keeps saying overheating. It says drive slow until it cools down so I do! And than it says engine overheated. So I pull over and wait for 5 min and than start the engine and it doesn't say overheating or anything. Very weird but can you please help me? O yeah! This happens like 1 or 2 times a week when I drive for about 2 min down the road.

Sunday, March 29th, 2009 AT 11:10 PM

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

It doesn't sound like the engine is actually overheating. Since that is the case we most likely have an issue with the temp sensor or the ECM.

The way to test this is when the issue is acting up we need to monitor the temp that the sensor is telling the ECM with a scan tool.

Here is a scan tool that can do this. Basically any scan tool that can monitor live data will be able to do this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb7whGkD8vw

Please see the wiring diagram below for more info but I suspect if the temp sensor is reading correctly then the ECM is giving the incorrect data to the cluster.

Please let us know what you find and we can go from there. Thanks

Images (Click to make bigger)