318ti.org forum - View Single Post - New Tstat, Leaking Coolant, No Heat, Overheating Problem!! Please HELP!

aziankingz · 12-10-2009, 03:45 PM

Hi All,

I am new to the bmw and 318ti scene and got the car about 3 weeks ago. It is a 97 318ti with the m44 motor in it. Well, when I got the car, it would take about 30 minutes to get to 12 o'clock on the temp gauge, blowing warm air at best - this told me that the thermostat is stuck. So, I ordered a BEHR one from ebay and put it on last night. It was dark, wet and cold (NYC) and was hard to really see anything since I park it on the street. I removed the thermostat and broke one of the lower bolts (do not know how that happened and really didn't worry about it at the time) The new thermostat came with the gasket, so I did not put on any of the RTV stuff. Put the thermostat in, bolted it up minus the one that broke.

Here is where the problem lies, when I went to fill the radiator to initiate my bleeding process, I hear coolant
come from under the car, but it seems to be dripping where the power steering rack is - are there any coolant lines or anything around there or above the rack? It seems like once I fill it above the middle of the expansion tank, it starts to leak. It was too dark and i couldnt locate it. So, now I turn on the car to try and bleed it and it goes to 12 o'clock in about 5 minutes - yay! However, with the heater on full hot and 4, there is only cold air blowing. I let it run for another 10 minutes before turning it off (Still no heat, not even warm air), but I did notice that there was no pressure or very little pressure/coolant on the upper radiator hose, but got hot, and the lower radiator stayed cold. I also noticed steam coming from the bottom of the newly put (missing one bolt) thermostat housing.

So my questions are; can one missing bolt from the thermostat housing cause overheating problems? Why is there coolant leaking around or above the power steering rack - any coolant lines there? Why is my heater blowing cold now? Any input and info will help a lot!! Thanks!

12-10-2009, 03:45 PM	#1
aziankingz Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: NYC Posts: 134 iTrader: (0) Photo Gallery	New Tstat, Leaking Coolant, No Heat, Overheating Problem!! Please HELP! Hi All, I am new to the bmw and 318ti scene and got the car about 3 weeks ago. It is a 97 318ti with the m44 motor in it. Well, when I got the car, it would take about 30 minutes to get to 12 o'clock on the temp gauge, blowing warm air at best - this told me that the thermostat is stuck. So, I ordered a BEHR one from ebay and put it on last night. It was dark, wet and cold (NYC) and was hard to really see anything since I park it on the street. I removed the thermostat and broke one of the lower bolts (do not know how that happened and really didn't worry about it at the time) The new thermostat came with the gasket, so I did not put on any of the RTV stuff. Put the thermostat in, bolted it up minus the one that broke. Here is where the problem lies, when I went to fill the radiator to initiate my bleeding process, I hear coolant come from under the car, but it seems to be dripping where the power steering rack is - are there any coolant lines or anything around there or above the rack? It seems like once I fill it above the middle of the expansion tank, it starts to leak. It was too dark and i couldnt locate it. So, now I turn on the car to try and bleed it and it goes to 12 o'clock in about 5 minutes - yay! However, with the heater on full hot and 4, there is only cold air blowing. I let it run for another 10 minutes before turning it off (Still no heat, not even warm air), but I did notice that there was no pressure or very little pressure/coolant on the upper radiator hose, but got hot, and the lower radiator stayed cold. I also noticed steam coming from the bottom of the newly put (missing one bolt) thermostat housing. So my questions are; can one missing bolt from the thermostat housing cause overheating problems? Why is there coolant leaking around or above the power steering rack - any coolant lines there? Why is my heater blowing cold now? Any input and info will help a lot!! Thanks!