Heater Probs...New owner....

[wirelessalpha]

wait - and I promise I don't mean to sound like a dick:

Are you sure you tried pulling it back all the way? The lever....

See, I thought the same thing too - then I gave the lever a bit more oomph, and realized that it could go back a bit farther. It seems like it naturally notches somewhere near when its pulled all the way up/left....then just give it some more push and it goes farther.

See - thats also if that yellow clip thing is hanging loose and not in the slot its supposed to be in (which was my original problem). If the yellow clip is in the slot, then....it should move back freely...without the notch feeling.

[bucksworld]

I am going to take on this job today. i have ordered the bypass valve. But for now I want to open the clove box and check out this cable.

[1996 328ti]

Originally Posted by bucksworld

I am going to take on this job today. i have ordered the bypass valve. But for now I want to open the clove box and check out this cable.

It may not be the valve. With the heat on both hoses should be warm.
If only one hose is warm, then there is a good chance it's the valve.

[bucksworld]

Originally Posted by 1996 328ti

It may not be the valve. With the heat on both hoses should be warm.
If only one hose is warm, then there is a good chance it's the valve.

Yea.....My friend came over and went ahead puting the new heater bypass valve on. This seems to be are problem. We got plenty of sut in the radiator water now and have to continue bleeding it or burping it. I don't know when the last time this heater core had any water in it(5 years my guess). My friend says not to flush the core. Is he right? This may bring on a leake in the core by flushing it. I am just happy to have heat. I still have the glove box out. I don't think this is are problem? any more idea's?
Thanks

[magman]

Hi, I just read your problem and my 97 318ti has the same issue. id you get yours fixed? can you explain what you did? I need some serious heat in mine. Thank you

[magman]

Hi, I just read your text and I have the same problem did you get yours fixed?

[magman]

Do you have the part number on this bypass valve?

[rhombus]

Originally Posted by wirelessalpha

Hey guys,

Just wanted to say that the info I found on this thread was priceless. I had the same common problem (cable +yellow lever). With all the info I found on this thread, I printed everything out and systematically tried everything first until it came time to take the glove box off.

Again - kudos to you guys.

Do you think you can list the steps you went through, from easiest to hardest in order to fix the problem?

[wirelessalpha]

Hey Rhombus - I got your PM as well. Here is what I did:

1. For me, my first test was to just turn my heat knob and realized that there wasn't any feeling of "tension" or a click. This is a dead giveaway that something was loose, or no longer attached.

2. I proceeded to remove my glovebox. First open the door and do your best to bend the plastic "hinges" out of its slot, so that the glovebox door opens wider.

3. Some of the screws are obvious, some are below the glove box, and 1 is to the side (open passenger door).

4. slowly remove the box - and slowly detach the wire that is clipped onto the lens for glovebox light.

5. Now, do you see that odd looking, oval bar? Get yourself a ratchet, look underneath the bar and start to remove it.

6. See the black, plastic tube structure that is to the left (look down, then left). Remove that too (note: This was a bitch..and I promise you that it won't go back to the shape it was perfectly when you are done "popping" this out).

7. Now look in same area - vola. See that yellow, plastic lever? In my case, it was out of its slot. There is a tab attached...and you can pop it back in th slot. For safety measure...after I was done...I screwed in a screw so that it can't ever leave that slot again.

(note: The next steps you only need to do if the cable is not attached to the knob anymore.)

8. Removed my head unit - inside the box area, upper left and upper right...and screws. Remove those.

9. Slowly bend that sucker back - make sure you dont break off the bottom clips near the bottom dip on the center console. (that little wedge area).

10. Popped out the clock, popped out the buttons.

11. Took some long nose tweezers...found the other end of that cable from the previous description...and using the already formed loop (there is a metal loop at the end of the cable...the red cable), I put it back on the back end of the temp control knob.

12. Got some jb weld and plastered as much as I could so that the loop won't ever come off again. Waited about 15 minutes before I put everything back together.

HEAT.

[rhombus]

Wow, thanks for that detailed writeup, wirelessalpha. About how long did it take you to do the whole job?

[German Luger]

I had no heat a few days ago also. I had air in the system and now it works fine

[rhombus]

Uh oh. I just tried burping my system and now I need help!

http://318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14960

The heat does seem to work a bit better though.

[hridge06]

I'm a new member and would like to thank everone for the heater repair. I puchased a '95ti last week and my yellow clip was disconnected. Fixed it with no problem. Thanks for the advice.

[rhombus]

So has anyone here actually replaced the whole bowden cable? I think I need to replace mine, but I'm not sure how I can actually do that. I've removed the glove box, lower dash on the driver sside, have the radio out and also the center console around the shift knob, and I don't think I can I can access the area where the cable attaches to the knob.

[Severian]

For my money I dread the day when I might have to do this myself...sorry I can't offer any help with it.