# Climate control problem...Passenger zone always cold, well most of the time.



## hagenmi1 (Dec 14, 2003)

I have had an on going problem with my climate control. Since winter hit I'm getting intermitting heating on the passenger side. No matter what I set the passenger temp to it always feels like the lowest temperature setting. Every now and again on a long drive, about 30 minutes into the drive it will kick out normal warm air matched to the temp it's set to and fall back to cold again. So I took my car to BMW dealership and they checked it out. They called back and said they could not duplicate the problem?!?!. I told them to wait until morning and I would come and make it happen. When I arrived at the dealership I let the car warm up and it did it's thing, blowing only cold air from the passenger zone. So they ran some tests and told me there wasn't any codes in the computer ruling out the electronic system. I guess BMW uses a servo drive system and if any servos were sticking it would register a code in the computer. So they deduced that the WATER VALVE?!?! in the fire wall was sticking. Water valve I repeated to myself, sounds strange. So they quoted me their average price to fix anything on my car of $500+ to replace the water valve. Ever notice nothing costs under $500 for repair.

So my point to all this is the water valve. Is it real and can I change it. They made it sound like it was deep in the bad side of town in my dash and only the fool hearty would venture there to fix it. They estimated 5 hours of labor to remove and replace it.

Anyone here have any experience with this? I would like to fix this, my girl friend is getting cold not to mention this is a bit embarrassing when ever I have new passenger.


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## Ågent99 (Jan 7, 2002)

This is a new one on me! Sorry we couldn't be of much help to you.

Good Luck!


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## hagenmi1 (Dec 14, 2003)

Ågent99 said:


> This is a new one on me! Sorry we couldn't be of much help to you.
> 
> Good Luck!


I know, it really sucks. All well spring is around the corner.


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## buddy (Dec 17, 2003)

*buddy*

What model and year car is it, the water valve on the e34 is on the driverside fire wall on the servo module and it is very easy to change as is the servo controler, however the hard part to all of this is the bleeding procedure after you break the seal and air gets in not hard just time consuming, but first lets get the model and year


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## buddy (Dec 17, 2003)

buddy said:


> What model and year car is it, the water valve on the e34 is on the driverside fire wall on the servo module and it is very easy to change as is the servo controler, however the hard part to all of this is the bleeding procedure after you break the seal and air gets in not hard just time consuming, but first lets get the model and year


oopps had a brain freeze i see you have a 1998 model will check and see if it has one and is in the same place


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## hagenmi1 (Dec 14, 2003)

Thanks buddy,
I popped the hood and put the ignition on position 2 and set the climate control on the high setting (90 degrees) and set the fan to low. Under the hood I found two solenoids on a pack together by the master brake cylinder. One was buzzing or pumping. Is this what I'm looking for or am I looking for a solenoid on the fire wall itself?

Now the service manager said this was in the dash with 5 hours of labor to change. I'm feeling a little miffed.

Maybe I have air in the system?


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## buddy (Dec 17, 2003)

*buddy*



hagenmi1 said:


> Thanks buddy,
> I popped the hood and put the ignition on position 2 and set the climate control on the high setting (90 degrees) and set the fan to low. Under the hood I found two solenoids on a pack together by the master brake cylinder. One was buzzing or pumping. Is this what I'm looking for or am I looking for a solenoid on the fire wall itself?
> 
> Now the service manager said this was in the dash with 5 hours of labor to change. I'm feeling a little miffed.
> ...


That is where it is on a e34 i have not had time to check my friends car will try and do it tomorrow or thursday but i think you are in the right area look around for a little short black hose possibly comming from the back of the engine cylinder head to the water motor. I would think that it would be very silly for them to place this part in the dash seeing that they will leak at some time posibly shorting out vital componets. But i would not put anything pass BMW engineers. What you can also do is go to your local dealership go to the parts and ask for the part to look at it and get them to print you out the schematic of that area the parts department here has no problem doing this task for me and i will try and check my friends car soon i know on my e34 the water motor looks like a old style coil kinda bottle shaped


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## buddy (Dec 17, 2003)

*buddy*

Also have you noticed that you have had to top off the fluid level in the radiator, If so then it is possible that you have air in the system. So i would try to bleed the system and see how long before it needs to be topped off again. Then we can go from there


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## hagenmi1 (Dec 14, 2003)

buddy said:


> Also have you noticed that you have had to top off the fluid level in the radiator, If so then it is possible that you have air in the system. So i would try to bleed the system and see how long before it needs to be topped off again. Then we can go from there


I'm crossing my fingers here. It seemed that my coolant was really low with lots of air in the system (no low coolant light). Three times now in the morning I have walked out to my car cold and had to completely fill the reservoir. When the car is fully heated I bled the air out of the radiator each time. Success, now heat is consistently coming out of the heater. Next question is, "were did the old coolant go"? I might have a small lead around the water pump. I'll keep my eye on it over the next couple of days and report back.

Now comes my B*tch... it really pisses me off that I paid the BMW dealership to check this problem out and all they came up with is an expensive fix that wasn't the problem. Come on, they couldn't diagnose low coolant level!?!? They also told me that my auxiliary fan motor was dead. On their word I ordered a new one on line. Guess what, after quick testing from bmw tips I found out my old fan motor was fine. The low speed resistor was bad. $270 out the window. You know I'm half temped to send my car in for the new auxiliary fan and see if they change it and charge me $550. Testing the fan is really easy something they said they did...they did not!!!


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## VANF (Oct 2, 2003)

If it is not losing fluid externally, one not so good reason may be a head gasget. Fixable, but a littler more costly than other solutions.


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## hagenmi1 (Dec 14, 2003)

I checked the coolant today before leaving for work and it was right on the money when cold. Both heaters are working great now.

The head gasket thing has me worried. However the car runs great so I'll keep my fingers crossed. I defiantly have a very minor leak around the water pump.


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## VANF (Oct 2, 2003)

Yes, it is hard to have confidence in the dealers, when you get better diagnostic information on a board like this then when you pay the dealer. Just keep looking for an external source for the water loss, if it continues. Possibly it was a loss over a long time since you checked it and it is not a problem.

At least if it is a head gasket, you can now research a good BMW independent mechanic that will charge reasonalble rates and fix what is broke, rather than guess like the dealer did. The natural assumption is that the dealer with the available training and resources they would be more effective at finding the problem and earn their higher rate. Expectations and reality don't always meet. Good luck. Keep us posted!


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## buddy (Dec 17, 2003)

*buddy*

i am glad that the tips worked for you, the bmw techs at the dearler always seem to not know the cars i had to replace the engine in my e34 because of them saying off the wall stuff. I know i had the perverbiale head gasket leak cause it was mixing and i told them this they said nope its a hose clamp, when that did not work they said the radiator 500 later still mixing again i said the head gasket and they concured but said the block was pitted and warped. How can this be fixed engine rebuild so they say well come to find out after i contracted a builder in CAli to build me one Haneraus the installer sent the cylinder head out and all it needed was a resurface i now have that engine crated and ready to drop in in case of a problem. Moto look a bmw dealership service tech in the eye and say do you really expect me to believe that.


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