I had a chunk of plastic missing from my fan and ordered a replacement. When I tried to remove the assembly, it was stuck fast. The five lb sledge on the 32mm wrench would not move it.

I got a piece of steel bar from Home Depot and built the tool Shogun described in his post on the subject. I got a good grip and promptly bent it in half. I will attribute that to the lack of cutout for the nut since I don't have a grinder here.

Bowing to the inevitable with only two days left of vacation, I took it to my independent tech downtown. He drove us to lunch so my car would cool off by the time his guys got back and they had me ready to go when we returned. I had errands all over town, and drove 40 or 50 miles by sundown; everything was fine.

Today I start the car dead cold and am greeted by a particularly disturbing noise. I popped the hood and lifted it in time to witness the fan spin to a halt. With a few stops to make, I notice every time I start the car there is a subdued version of the original noise. On pulling in the garage, I pop the hood and note the fan stopped. While switching off the ignition, I notice the temperature gauge climbing past its normal position.

Pretty clearly, the fan clutch was on its last legs (a month of periodically smacking it with a hammer probably did not help). The only E34 at the wrecker open on weekends is a 92, and only 525's and 535's were made that year. It appears the 540 has a unique part number and a donor from a 92 won't work.

The unknowns (to me) are how critical is a replacement? Is this something I should have overnighted in on Monday or will I be OK for 3 day UPS? I don't have to sit in rush hour traffic to get to or from work normally, so I should not need to rent a car or do I? Would a fan assembly from a 92 get me by for 3 days to avoid overnight shipping?

Secondly, AutohausAZ seems to have the best deal on a Fichtel-Sachs clutch. Is the same Sachs referred to in this service bulletin?