Heater matrix advice......

[M155-E30]

hi guys, my other half thinks my matrix might of snuffed it, he wants to know how easy these are to change and d'ya have any tips?...

he's a mechanic so knows he's way about but mainly on pugs & citreons....

or is there any other common probs that could be causing my motor to have more 'colders' than 'heaters'....
cheers

[Dan318-is]

Run away!

[M155-E30]

i can't tell him that!! he won't do it!! gotta go back to him with nice & easy peasy darling, here's how you do it...

he's just starting to get fed up with my BM now, after a year of sodding about putting life back into her, its this matrix, annoying idling prob and a really really annoying interior light that has a mind of its own to sort!!

he thinks im really clued up with e30's, all i do is search and read from you lot then act like i know it all in the garage!! thanks everyone!!

[Jamesb318is]

Have you got any coolant leaks inside the car? if not, its unlikely to be a heater matrix problem unless its blocked.
thermostat problem maybe?, remove thermostat, and put in boiling water and check it opens fully.

[Dan318-is]

Have you got any coolant leaks inside the car? if not, its unlikely to be a heater matrix problem unless its blocked.
thermostat problem maybe?, remove thermostat, and put in boiling water and check it opens fully.

No no no

you need to find out at what temperature BMW thermostats are suppose to open. for instance, if they open at 95 degrees, an u pour boiling water on it an it opens u assume it is ok but it may be opening to late, do you understand me?

that is a good basic test but not the way to do it, you need to monitor the water temperature

[M155-E30]

ahh, think i read about this test somewhere, i'll give it a go....cheers

[Brianmoooore]

There's a gauge on the instrument panel that will tell you if your thermostat is faulty without dismantling your car!
There is an electric valve on the left hand side of the heater assembly that may have stuck closed. Are the pipes to the heater getting hot?
This electric valve is closed with the heat control fully anticlockwise, and is supposed to open when the control is just off its stop. It will fail closed if someone has connected the two heater hoses on the bukhead the wrong way around.
The poor heating could also be a problem with the cable/flap that blends hot and cold air. This goes up somewhere to the left of the steering column.

[Jamesb318is]

Yeah, but it would still open if not knackered, proving the stat not at fault, for this particular problem - ie not much heat any time. I see what you mean though, that would help you out if your car wasnt getting hot properly etc.
I guess the thing to check is like brian says, that the temp gauge is showing its getting hot, meaning the problem probably lies with the parts he mentioned

[M155-E30]

bit delayed response but still having probs, changed thermostat, getting a little more heat, nothing excitin though. temp reading in dash don't seem right, never gets hotter than the first marker, is this norm as used 2 my others cars sitting about half on the reader??

pipes are heating ok but will tell him to check as per brian & james comments..

[tryumffy]

Hi , just thought i might share this little gem with you, I had a small leak on the passenger side on my rubber mat so on further investigation found out it was electronic heater valve which is riveted together and is non servicable, got in contact with a friend who had one on a scrapper so drove over to see him and with all the glove box etc removed was about a mile away from him when the valve expanded with the heat and "exploded" in the cab, it was raining and cold outside and within 10 seconds i was all steamed up and had to open all the windows pronto just to see where i was going and with steam hissing all over the passenger side and half an inch of water sloshing around the footwell on my beige carpet was not best pleased, anyway these are awkward little sods to replace as you really have to take the brake linkage that goes to the servo off to access one screw that secures it in place, anyway alls well that end well and all works fine now but my indicators have packed in I only presume it may have gotten water in it, as for the broken valve and your heating problem, inside the valve is a diaphragm and on the broken one when I opend it up to have a look it was absolutley perished away so could not have been working anyway, so maybey thats where the fault is, and possibly a cheap fix to your problem. hope this has helped some.

reg

tryumffy
PS the matrix should come out but the brake linkage, and the bracket that holds it will have to be removed as well for it to be slipped out anyway its still less of a job than stripping the dash etc down.