1998 323Ci Hot Engine Temp But No Hot Air

[Snypa-D]

Hi as the title says...................i got medium/hot engine temp as standard but no hot air comming into car !! Is this a thermstat replacement ?? Im thinking it is but wanted confirmation,thanks

Also when it does get hot it keeps getting hot an im pretty sure the fan isnt cutting in to cool it down,is this a viscous fan/viscous fan coupling fault ??

[Guest DazH]

By hot air coming INTO the car do you mean through the blowers? IF so, There is a valve (That I broke recently) that controls hot water from the engine going into the heater matrix. IF that valve is stuck on 'shut' it wont let the hot water go into the matrix therefore if the blower fans are spinning or not, it doesnt matter....

The Viscous fan will always spin and doesn't 'cut in'. IF it is faulty, you can easily stop it with a newpaper when it is spinning. When the engine is cold it should be easy to stop but when the engine is hot, it should be quite difficult to stop. How I knew mine was gone was the car used to overheat in traffic but as soon as I got moving again, it was fine.

Test your thermostat. Two ways of doing so. there should be a pipe leading from the thermostat housing to the rad. When the engine is running for the first 10 mins or so, this pipe should remain quite cold to the touch but after this period it should start getting hot as the thermostat will start letting water down this pipe. Second way to be sure it is working, yank the thermostat out of the car and put it into some boiling water from the kettle/hob. If the thermostat appears to open, its fine. If it remains closed, its knackered.

HTH

Daz

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

As above dude... Do you have a Secondary Heater Valve on the bulkhead (NS)?

Has the coolant been changed recently? If it has, did you purge any air-locks by raising the front?

[Snypa-D]

Cheers guys :) Yes it was serviced a few months ago by my regular mechanic so I very much doubt theyd be an air lock !!

I went to see him today and he reckons it could just be fluid levels,so I'll be checking that 1st,if that doesnt work then I'll be replacing the thermostat,failing that...............its off the the mechanics for a proper looky !!

[Guest DazH]

Cheers guys :) Yes it was serviced a few months ago by my regular mechanic so I very much doubt theyd be an air lock !!

I went to see him today and he reckons it could just be fluid levels,so I'll be checking that 1st,if that doesnt work then I'll be replacing the thermostat,failing that...............its off the the mechanics for a proper looky !!

Keep us posted! :D

[Snypa-D]

Catastrophe averted..............it was just the fluid level in the rad after all :) so all is warm and toasty again :) Dont know why I didnt just check that in the 1st place instead of posting it all over the BMW forums,lol

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

FFS Dave :rolleyes: :P

[Guest DazH]

Dave you willy! :P LOL Im glad its not anything serious

[Snypa-D]

No gladder than me dude !! And yes I do feel a bit of a !Removed!,but cos id had it serviced etc i assumed there was going to be enough fluid in there,as youd expect,then I remembered id changed the radiator after that and didnt check the fluid after giving filling it back up and giving it a run,as far as I was concerned full up is full up,lol,OOPS !!