The one thing that is odd - you say that you can spin the fan easily when off the engine? thats impossible to do unless the clutch was dead - the fan clutch bearing has a lot of drag on it when the clutch is not spinning as the outer race of the bearing is sitting against the clutch case and in stopped condition silicone oil is sitting at the bottom which causes the clutch to be engaged. (thats why the fan works for a few seconds after startup)

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)