E30 Zone

can any one tell me if there is some sort of valve that allows hot water to circulate to the heater matrix?
all the other coolant pipes seam to be "as norm" but ive no warm/hot water circulating through the both pipes (in & out) of the matrix.

or is the thermostat the fault? (which i only fitted 4 or 5 wks ago)

heater was working fine until this morning, also the temp gauge comes up and sit's as it normaly does (just before half as i fitted a slightly sooner opening thermostat)

also the outside weather was -10 outside last night and going to be colder tonight.

many thank's
Ian

Heater solenoid valve, passenger footwell, beside heater matrix

bdx wrote:Heater solenoid valve, passenger footwell, beside heater matrix

thanks for the reply, would the solenoid also stop hot water/coolant from travelling through the inward coolant pipe?

is this the solenoid?

That is the valve next to the heater matrix mate, took my E30 to Jhonno to replace my heater matrix last week as it had beed bypassed we thought the old one must of been leaking, turned out the valve was leaking. £10 from the breakers and now its all toastie!

thanks Kemix, lookin like a trip to a breakers for me to then, do all E30's have the same valve or has it got to be from an iS?

also sorry for these next questions but it would help for me to do the job in as quick a time as i can
is it easy to swap over?
do i need to drain the coolant?
&
what interior part's do i need to remove to swap over the part?

also am i ok to still use my car just now? (with some winter wollies on .. lol)

cheers

i think there is a how to with an emergency mod on the wiki depending on when you can get to the breakers.
you drill a hole in the valve to allow warm water through..but it will blow warm all the time unless you push a slide across

The valves and matrix are the same in all e30's matey. You will still have to bleed the cooling system which isn't hard, use a 50p peice in the bleed screw its a perfect fit. The valve only cost me a tenner from the breakers. I know the valve is alot easier to replace than the matrix, remove the gloveblox and the cable tray and u will see!

thank's eltel, that's a massive help i'm also wondering if i have a radiator fault, as when the car is up to temp, the heater feeding hose on the bottom of the radiator does not heat up, i'm wondering if there is a blockage?
think i'll pull that hose off first and see if there is a flow of coolant.

You may have an air lock Ian, if thats the case then all you have to do is bleed the system and bobs your mother brothers lovers dog

ive bled the system so many time's ive lost count lol .. just tonight i ran a litre of coolant out the system (via the drain on the bottom of the rad) so i could add more anti freeze then bled the system through twice.
once i get to work in the morning i might pull the bottom hose off and see if i get a stream of water from it, but the more i think about it i have noticed my heater had slowly been taking longer to warm up the inside of my car.

The heater valve on E30s often leaks, but doesn't often fail shut. It will shut off the flow however, if the hoses that connect on the bulkhead are connected the wrong way around.
Hose from the back of the head goes to the lower stub.

Brianmoooore wrote:The heater valve on E30s often leaks, but doesn't often fail shut. It will shut off the flow however, if the hoses that connect on the bulkhead are connected the wrong way around.
Hose from the back of the head goes to the lower stub.

Brian, if the hose's were the wrong way, roughly.. how long would the heater work before no hot coolant/air was in the matrix? as my heater had been working fine, i noticed it was taking a little longer than normal to heat up just a few weeks ago now all i'm getting is cold air blowing out the matrix.

Don't think you can quantify the time it will last connected the wrong way around as such. It's more to do with the flow rate through the valve, and at this time of year, with the engine thermostat remaining closed and partly closed for longer, the flow through the heater will be increased.
If connected the wrong way around, once the flow closes the valve, it is very likely to hold it shut until the engine is stopped.
The alternative cause of your problem is an airlock in the heater circuit, and this is best cleared by filling the coolant bottle to the top, loosening the clip on the top heater hose, pulling it off, allowing coolant to flow from both the stub and the pipe, then pushing it back on and refitting the clip.
The next question will be "what caused the airlock?"

Brian.."The next question will be "what caused the airlock?"

320iAN wrote:ive bled the system so many time's ive lost count lol .. just tonight i ran a litre of coolant out the system (via the drain on the bottom of the rad) so i could add more anti freeze then bled the system through twice.

at a good guess!!

well..... i never used my E30 for work today, i just walked in. when i got home tonight i checked that all the coolant hoses for any frozen pipes (just in case?) then started it up, after a while & once the temp gauge was up at running temp i noticed that this time the top hose was warm/hot as normal and that the bottom (running out wards of the engine back it to the rad) was freezing! not a bit of warmness to the hose, switched it off & i'm going to order in another thermostat tomorrow. and i'll ffit it on friday.... there was still no hot coolant running through the heater/matrix or the very bottom hose that run's out/in to the bottom corner of the rad.

Sorry i cant be any more help mate i am sure someone on here will know. Ive seen people with the same symptons though!

320iAN wrote: or the very bottom hose that run's out/in to the bottom corner of the rad.

If this hose is connected to the bottom neater stub, the pipes are the wrong way around!
If the temperature gauge does what it should, there's nothing wrong with the thermostat.

I have just had the same problem with the touring... A few days in a row, no heat at all coming in... Stonecold, yet the temp stayed normal...


Yesterday, I heard a dodgy noise and then the temp hit the roof and steam followed from the engine... Pulled into the garage and the water was boiling over... After a phone call to my dad and some advise I drove it down to him without the cap on the water...

Turned out the problem was lack of antifreeze! The mrs's car, exactly the same problem, sorted now... Spoke to a friend at work... Same thing, Anti freeze sorted it... Have you tried something that simple? I felt a bit stupid after. The temp drop recently around here was very low and I live out in the open country so its that little bit colder too.

thanks for all your input guy's

my check/to-do list
check pipes are running in there proper route
drain the system
remove thermostat & refit the housing
fill & flush the system (bleed if needed)
fit new thermostat
refill system & add anti freeze
bleed it

then if still no heat, then i'll be changing the heater valve, all the fore mentioned "to do's" can be done before the weekend, i'll only have time to sourse a valve then so i might as well go through my list tomorrow & friday

add another "bleed it" to the end for good measure... this last engine re-build on mine took 4 or 5 bleeds bleeding it at the heater stubs, parking on a hill, blowing into the expansion tank and leaving over night!!

got there in the end

guess what

Jim320i wrote:

Turned out the problem was lack of antifreeze!.

yip, my car had fully thawed out today, due to the heat wave we had today .. i started it and "hey-presto" within 8-10 mins my car was lovely and warm inside .. also the fork lift tecnichian in work today asked me "i bet you used ready mixed anti freeze"

to which i replied yes

he say's "load of crap that stuff, we've had load's of frozen fork lift engines this past week due to the stuff!"

so .. that'll be the last time i ever use ready mixed anti freeze

eltel wrote:add another "bleed it" to the end for good measure... this last engine re-build on mine took 4 or 5 bleeds bleeding it at the heater stubs, parking on a hill, blowing into the expansion tank and leaving over night!!

got there in the end

ive never had a problem bleeding the coolant in my iS .. well not since i drilled a 1.5mm hole in to the top of the thermostat

Have you managed to sort your heater yet?

I seem to be suffering the very same problem, I also have an 318IS and my heater is producing no hot air. I have checked the hoses connecting the engine to the bulkhead and they appear to be the wrong way round (i.e. cylinderhead to upper stub), however they look original and untouched and replicate the diagram on Real OEM? I presume the car had a working heater once in it's life time.

Should I swap the two hoses around, or just try bleeding the heater matrix?

mine fixed itself.. see 2 & 3 posts above

MUWAHAHAHA! I was right for once! I knew it would be that soon as I read your thread. I bet garages are making a killing on people with this problem at the minute... Make sure you get loads of anti freeze in there, I think we ended up putting 4/5 pints into mine so now running nice... and warm inside.

The hose from the back of the head must go to the lower heater stub pipe, and the pipe from the 'tee' hose must go to the top heater stub. If they are the wrong way around, it's because some muppet has connected them the wrong way around at some time.
The reason the uninitiated get them wrong, is because the most elegant way the pipes lie is when they are wrong.

Thanks Brian, I'll swap them back tomorrow and see if that solves it.