Cars House

my car is a 96 328i, with fairly high milage at 180k.

I got my car 5 months ago or so and I noticed only on decently inclined hills a slight slipping of the clutch. which is now starting to progress so I got a quote on getting a clutch kit and installation for 730$ does that sound about right? and is there any thing I need to double check or ask about before taking it in?

also the other night during some slightly aggressive driving following my friend he took me down a darkened street which I got a small amount of air off of an unseen bump in the road, I didn't bottom out and the car took it really well (at approx 55-65mph)........

but I noticed a weird sound the next day when the fan should kick on...I opened up the hood and see that the top portion of the radiator shrouding has some how from the bump the night before...got behind the fan trapping it causing it to not spin at all!!
yikes. what problems can this have caused to the car because I noticed the clutch slipping much more after this. also 2 of the fan blades seem to be warped slightly alltho nothing touching, and the fan still spins...plz help me out with any advice on problems this could have caused...

do I need a new radiator fan? the fan clutch? I didn't overheat(alltho was driven for a time without fan able to spin) but what about my coolant/thermostat?

I'd like to get any possible issues the fan problem could have caused or will cause taken care of when I do the clutch.

please suggestions and advice are welcome...
dunno if anyone ever had that top shroud trap the radiator fan like mine did seems weird.(no more following dumb friends with cheaper automobiles)

I'm going to be moving out to phoenix for school within 5-6 weeks so I need to make sure my car is all straightened out; I plan to get these issues checked out within 1 week.

thanks to anyone who has advice...or if anyone can tell me if that ever happened before....take it easy - md in cali

The fan not spinning is not a big deal, lots of people remove the fan for performance reasons. You might have weaked the belts though, you probably should change them and make sure nothing else got screwed up. Driving hard with a slipping clutch is uh, usually not the smartest thing to do. That's probably why it was slipping more the next day. The price on the clutch install seems right if it includes the flywheel, I think.

if your fan blades got jammed up, this only means the viscous fluid in the fan clutch will be slipping all the time, and should mean your belts and other belt driven component are fine.

i don't know how the jam may have damaged the viscous fluid itself however. at idle, the viscous fluid would wanted to have enouch friction to start turning the fan, but the jam is preventing this so the fluid is going to get really hot, which will break down the silicone in the visous fluid.

as a quick check to see if your fan clutch is operating at all, idle the car and see if the fan blades are turning. rev up the engine to 2000 and see if the fan blades spin faster with the engine. rev up it to 3000 and there should be NO increase in fan speed.