Heater blowing cold air

[Little Red]

I've read a lot of the threads about the heater not putting out much heat but my heater is blowing cold air, no heat at all! It's not overheating, the temp gauge is center, what else should I be looking at? She's a 1995, 95K miles

Any help is much appreciated!

[zoner]

Check the Heater Control fuse.

If that's OK, does it feel like there's any tension on the hot/cold knob when you turn it back and forth slowly? If not, this may be your problem.

[Little Red]

Thanks. I'm going to check the fuses tonight. Can I find fuses if needed at Auto Zone?

[Biolite]

Also, the thermostat being stuck open could cause this issue.

[Little Red]

In the service manual I have it tells you how to check the thermostat. From a cold engine start the car and when it reaches operating temperature shut it off and see if the top radiator hose is hot. I did this and the top radiator hose was hot but the hose was cold where it meets the radiator. Please forgive my ignorance but is that normal?

[slade13]

did you check to see if the heater bowden cable is attatched?

[dbrown504]

I have a 97 ti 175,000 miles, the temp guage goes straight up when idle, but once you start driving goes back to cold. No heat, gets luke warm when the temp goes straight up and back to freezing cold when the temp goes back down. Burped the system, bought a new t-stat, but not sure it that is it or not. The weather has been really cold here the past couple of days, might be too cold to keep the radiator hott.... lol Any suggestions........

[1996 328ti]

Be sure the t-stat is in correctly. Arrow points up.

[dbrown504]

Finally able to install my T-stat, the temp gauge is staying in the middle. Have some .... some heat now.. Upper hose gets really hot, lower not so much. Burped the system after install. Any ideas?

[JFMBMW318i]

Originally Posted by dbrown504

Finally able to install my T-stat, the temp gauge is staying in the middle. Have some .... some heat now.. Upper hose gets really hot, lower not so much. Burped the system after install. Any ideas?

My guess would be since you have some heat, you still have air trapped in the system. These cars are a pain to bleed properly. It's best to have the car on ramps, front end jacked up or on a hill, anything that gets the front end higher
will help with the bleeding. Take the bleeder screw out, fill the expansion tank all the way until you see coolant coming out of the bleeder screw. Squeeze on
Both the lower and upper radiator hoses until you see coolant squirting out that
tiny hole in the expansion tank. The car should be running while you do this and start when the car is cold. Do this for about 20 mins, then take the car for a test
drive. You might have to do this a few times to get it right.

Little red, yes the top hose should be hot or warm and the lower hose cold. The
top hose is the coolant coming from the hot engine and the lower hose is the cooler coolant coming from the radiator. If both are hot, you have problems.

[dbrown504]

Okay so after putting the car on jack stands or on a incline. with the car running full blast, should I have it to were the heat is circulating inside or coming from the vent? What if I open the bleeder valve and fluid automatically starts coming out of the bleeder?

[JFMBMW318i]

Start when the car is cold and yes have the heat in the car on full blast.
Once the coolant starts coming out the bleeder screw, put it back in but keep
on squeezing those hoses. There are several clips on Utube on how to bleed
an E36. This is where I got the idea from. Good luck, since you have some
heat you are getting close!

[dbrown504]

Issue was the bowden cable, quick fix was to make it so the flap stayed shut, until it starts warming up for the A/C. Thanks for all the help...