2000 BMW 540IA Engine cooling Problems

“While driving in massachusetts on 495n at about 5:30pm I smelled something burning. Checked my gauges and all seemed well, thought it may be a wood burning stove in the area I just kept driving. I turned off rt495 and onto rt 119. About a mile down rt119 I noticed a lot of smoke building up inside the car, I then realized my car was on fire and before I can pull off the road the inside of the car filled with smoke and burned my eyes and I was choking a lot. I slammed it into park, shut the key and jumped out the car. …”

“At 71888 miles the radiator of my Bmw 540i broke because of a crack in the plastic housing around the outlet.I had read about this problem on the roadfly message board. I read that the raditors broke around the hose and they only lasted about 50,000 miles. When I read it, I wondered if I was due, about a month later, I was setting at a stop light and when the light turned green, I accelerated away from the light and as I did I saw steam coming out of the fender wells. It first I thought it was another car, but soon realized it was mine. …”

“Failure: engine cooling fan clutch seized and the fan turned at water pump RPM. The fan flew apart, flinging all blades off the fan hub. This occurred while my wife was driving the car home on a 25 MPH street in the evening with our two small children in the back seat. Consequences of failure: exploding fan chopped through the radiator, coolant tank, both radiator hoses, automatic transmission hoses, power steering hoses, punched holes through hood and out through bottom engine compartment cover, broke both air ducts for front brake cooling and destroyed the main fan shroud. …”