'93 BMW 325i, Heater is not working and Car is over heating at the same time

[waqar]

Hello,
Just telling you guys the whole story, it might help to troubleshoot this problem......
Last year (2004), somehow radiator bottle started to leak, (i guess only bottle is leaking) it doesnt decrease the level of water in radiator because when i put the water it doesnt even take half a gallon and water starts to getting out of bottle, so i wait to see if it would decrease down, but it doesnt, unless i drive the car and it gets hot, then water evaporates, so i am assuming its only bottle, but this is not a problem. Problem is...... heater is not working this winter, it was working last year with leaked radiator bottle though.
I havent had chance to use heater all summer until today (21st October, 05), I turned on the heater and dont know what happened, didn't hear any noice or smell anything but now heater is not working, fan is blowing out cold air. and on the top of everything my car is started to over-heating since than (knob goes all the way up to Hot Red). and I am sure that car wasnt over-heating yesterday, please help !!!!
Matter of fact, sometimes temperature knob comes back to normal and than all of sudden goes up to red again, its keep on doing all day long, BTW Radiator fan is also working. I've also checked fuses 23 and 6, and all other related to heat.
so there are 2 problems
1- Heater is not working
2- Car is over heating

Please help !!!!!!!!!!

Thank you
Waqar

 

[E38]

overheating

Your coolant resevoir is part of a pressurised system.If it is leaking, the system cannot hold pressure,and ,therefore will boil the coolant at a lower temperature. I have been an automotive mechanic for more than 30 years,and from your description,I would advise you to seek expert assistance,as it seems you may have a failed head gasket,or at best,a faulty thermostat.

 

[andreyiv]

Another possible reason for this happening is a lot of air in the system. The e36 is pretty hard to bleed and from my experience, sometimes requires almost half a gallon just to bleed the system, meaning, you'll end up with half a gallon of coolant below the car, not in the cooling system. I'm guessing that you might have had an air bubble in the heating element that was isolated from the rest of the system until you turned the heater on and everything started to go haywire on you.

 

[waqar]

May I ask how can i put half a gallon below the car ?
Are those 2 problems related to each other ? if I fix the over heating problem would it fix the heater problem also ?

 

[andreyiv]

What I meant was that the coolant would spill out and you'd still have to put more in (its a little complicated).

If your only problem is air in the system, then it should fix it, if not, well, who knows what else has gone bad. Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[waqar]

wowwwwwwwwwww great !!!!!
I found the bleed screw and loosen it, Started the car and filled up the water and everything is all set now !!!!!
Thanks alot guys

 

[andreyiv]

No problem man. I hope by water you mean "correct coolant/distilled water mixture" because if you are filling it with just water from your hose, you might have a cracked everything when the weather gets cold enough.

 

[epj3]

e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30 e30

 

[andreyiv]

You post whore.

 

[tris]

No Heat&overheating

Where Can I Fined This Bleedsrew

 

[tris]

I Have A1994 325i I Don't Know What In The World Happen It Had Heat Then One Day I Try To Use It And It Didn't Work Ok, A Few Days Later Maybe 2day Pass Then It Started Overheating This Started Sept 22, And Still Like That I Change First The Water Pump Then The Themastat Then The Fan Cluch I Try Everthing I Know That I Think Would Cause This Is My Heads Damaged? It Seems Like Water Not Flowing Throuh The Engine SOMEBODY HELP ME PLEASE

 

[Doughnut]

You Have An Air Pocket In Your Cooling System, The Bleed Screw Is On Top Of The Thermostat Housing.

Run The Engine And Crack The 8mm Bleed Screw Untill Air Bubbles Are Out Of the Cooling System.

 

[tris]

not yet

i checked for that 8mm bleed screw on the themostathousing i didn't see a screw on it I HAVE A 1994 325i bmw

 

[Doughnut]

I'm sorry, didn't notice your car was a e36.

Scroll down to "Changing the Coolant in Your BMW" in this link:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/techarticles/E36-Coolant_Flush/E36-Coolant-Flush.htm

Also check to make sure you don't have a blocked radiator (and have the heater on full heat while bleeding the coolant.)

You do not need to type using capitals, larger font, different colour font etc...It's considered to be bad, and you would get shouted down on any other forum. Just to let you know btw.

 

[tris]

sorry about the fonts.the radiator is the only thing i didn't change because i beleived that if i take it and lay it in my tub and run water in it see if water was going in and out it was good. now i notice that the radiator only gets hot on one side and it's the right side the hose on the top side so maybe that it? but whatabout not having heat? and what dose e36 mean?

 

[Doughnut]

sorry about the fonts.the radiator is the only thing i didn't change because i beleived that if i take it and lay it in my tub and run water in it see if water was going in and out it was good. now i notice that the radiator only gets hot on one side and it's the right side the hose on the top side so maybe that it? but whatabout not having heat? and what dose e36 mean?

"e36" is your BMW's model code, like a 1980 323i is a e21, my 1984 323i is a early e30 etc...

Did any dirty stuff come out of your radiator when you washed it out? did you use high pressure from the tap to get all the crap out??

Ok, your heater not working could be blocked core, heater tap not working I really don't know where to start over the internet because I don't know enough of your circumstances.

 

[tris]

Thanks!! You Been Great

 

[tris]

Yes I Did See See Some Rust Particals, No Ididn't Use High Pressure I Just Lay It Down In The Tub And Let Full Up To See If It Would Hold Water