I recently purchased a 1997 BMW & have been stranded on roadside EVERYDAY due to it Overheating... Mechanic has done a lot of work but it STILL OVERHEATS ... No matter what!!! Has ANYONE EXPERIENCED THIS PROBLEM ? And if so .... Do you have ANY SIGGESTIONS??! I LOVE THIS CAR AND DON'T WANNA "Throw the towel" in yet.... But being Stranded with a 6 yr old in this Blazing Heat is getting OLD!!! Please help!!!! Thank You!!

Tom is pointing you in the right direction there. You obviously having issues with the cooling system not just the drive belts. On e36 cooling system problems were quite common and as tom said you need to do the whole cooling system not just pick at it. The common issues are the water pump impellars are made of plastic and will break off causing no coolant flow and the vehicle will overheat. Other are the thermostat being stuck closed (replace plastic thermostat housing with metal one to prevent future break downs when doing thermostat), radiator blocked, fan clutch leaked out all its fluid, electric front fan seized and worst of all head gasket. Of course if the coolant system is leaking then you will need to repair the leak, all I have mentioned above would not leak coolant. Also if you have had cooling system work done make sure the mechanic bleed the system right, air bubbles can cause the vehicle to overheat as well. Hope this helps and dont lose hope it can be fixed.

My '97 528i had 153000 miles when I replaced thermostat and flushed system. That did take care of the overheating but the beginning of a head gasket became apparent. If more developed that could cause overheating! I got rid of my car. Dean

How long can you drive before it overheats? My 92 325i was overheating a year a go and it was caused by the impeller shattering in the water pump. It would overheat within 2km of driving.

Desmond is on it, they cheaped out and had plastic impellers on many of these e36 engine models. I was shocked to find out the M44 blow out and that's that. I replaced it with a metal one. It's also one of the first things i always check. M20's don't have this problem.

their is no magic under the hood of any car .You need a pump, a heat transfer unit, a fan,and a medium to carry such heat.As you all call yourselves automotive enthusiasts you should know this! WOULD YOU PLEASE !?*

I've got the same car, you need a new water pump, they have a plastic impeller that will grenade after some time. swap that for an aluminum one and that will solve your problem. If it doesn't replace thermostat, make sure you don't have a coolant leak. Coolant systems aren't rocket science.