I was driving around doing errands today and randomly noticed my engine started to run hot. i pulled over, shut my car off and my fan was still running on high for a couple minutes. Then I turned the car back on and the fan stayed off and the temp was back to normal. then the temp gauge would bounce between half and 3/4's on the gauge from when I drove it to the local bmw specialty shop. They took a look at it, they told me my thermostat has a small leak, they ended up putting in about 2 qts they said, and i've lost the low speed on my auxillary fan. They quoted me at just under $1100. Does this seem right?

 

Leaky thermo gasket and low speed fan out both sound right. $1100 to fix it? Uh, no. Parts are about $120. You do have to essentially remove the front end to get to the fan, but it shouldn't be more than 3-4 hours of shop time, and maybe an hour or two for the thermo gasket. If my ballpark estimates are right, that would equate to ~$150/hr shop rate.
Let's see what others have to say.