basically it blows warm air, doesn't really get up to temp quickly over the blue band.
when moving it doesn't move over this, in traffic it gets to about half and seems to use less fuel (obviously). i'm thinking thermostat, wherever it is located, but in reading on some forums it could be a wire or something coming off??????
not sure, but if anyone has experienced these lovely machines i'd appreciate some conclusions before i start taking things off in the freezing weather.

thanks
sean

 

I'd certainly suggest the thermostat.

 

thermostat stuck open mate no question.

 

some diesels take a age to warm up regardless, does it have pre heaters?

 

Yep,thermostat,beware they can be a pain to re-bleed after any sort of water issues so try to lose as little coolant as possible.
Take engine cover off and there should be two big pipes going into it at the top of the engine.
Easy job.

 

as above twats to bleed up, i use my snapon vacuum bleeder on them failing that you will need to raise the front end up a foot or so to get the bleed on the expansion tank to work properly

 

Diesel????
no diesel here, just 3 litres of straight six going on
cheers for the tips, heard there a bleeding nightmare (pun intended).
i'll just get a stat and change the thing in the morning, bloody cold out and getting this sorted will help fuel economy improve, down to 17.1mpg now

 

Is it one of those stupid cars with an electric water pump ?

 

easy to change but as said, pain to bleed. pretty sure its the same as all 6 pot bmw. Thermostat is located front of the motor near top, it'll be black with 2 plastic clips on hoses

certainly sounds like thermostat but could try bleeding it again, The stats aint cheap. If not buying from main agent get a Behr stat, they are OE suppliers, think around Ł45 from GSF

 

Soz dude, didn't read it properly, just remember you saying about a diesel bmw when you started breaking the xr2, is the bmw the silver cabriolet?

 

heres the stat

 

Very close to the older 320/23/25/28 version (m50/52 engine range) rather than the s50 range the e46 has.
Should be pips to change.
I put gasket sealer round the housing as well just incase it leaked.
Worked well.

 

yep, i bought deans cabby, lovely to drive, just very thirsty.
just a niggle that it doesn't seem to get particularly hot, other than that, it's perfect.

 

What's rubbish about the heater though? You've said it blows warm air, is it just weak?

 

well warm is maybe an over exaggeration, it blows warmed air most of the time, sort of like an asthmatic mouse could produce.
it never gets hot, not like it does if stuck in traffic, on the move it's crap it never makes it feel warm inside.

 

has it got digital climate control or 3 manual knobs for heat, speed and air direction?

you need to plug it in and read the live readings for heat sensors if its digital climate.

but it does sound like shagged electronic thermosflask if heaters are HOT when standstill, and lukewarm when on the move

 

This may be a stupid question, but it has to be asked, on the centre 2 heater vents, do you have the wee centre slider thing set to hot? I never realised for ages why my footwells and windscreen bit got hot but not my vents, and I never noticed that you can separately change the heat on them via that wee turner

This one I mean:

 

it is the digital climate control.
the centre vent thing i noticed quickly, was already on hot, then i spun the dial and realised its purpose.
on the go it really doesn't blow hot, infact stuck in traffic isn't amazing either, but much better.

 

The heaters should be awesome as well,their the best of any car I've ever owned albeit the e36 model!!!

 

Mines in having the stat changed. (E46)
Temp gauge at best would only go just past 1/4 with it only reaching the 12 o'clock position when sat on idle. Heating was poor.

Got an original BM'er stat for Ł43 from the guy who does our cars. I wouldn't use anything other than OEM. Will be changing the coolant, belts, water pump and making sure the rad isn't bowed out at the bottom, otherwise that'll be changed as well.

These sites pretty handy for bits:-

http://c3bmw.co.uk/default.asp

http://bmwpartsonline.co.uk/-Categor...MW-E46-Parts-/-

 

Stupid question but you have checked it has water in it ?

Low water lever also causes crap heaters and won't over heat at this time of year if just low

 

After that then the stat to change which is also very comon on these too

 

water level is spot on, i was thinking stat, so will get one and then start investigating.

 

Got mine back and it's now fine. We have some heat

 

I've changed stats on both the e46's I've owned as they've failed! Funnily enough I delivered one to a dealer as a favour the other day and the stat was dead on that too.

Very common fault on these.

 

ours is only doing 18.4 at the moment, average speed is a massive 12 mph :-( we had new thermostat a year ago, gauge goes to half fine but takes maybe a bit longer than it should for decent hot air to come out the vents

 

got the stat, will fit tomorrow morning, so hopefully will aid the cold mornings.
cheers for the tips, lets see how i get on.

 

An easy job for a man of your abilities.
Be aware if the housings plastic as on the e36 it can break if you go a bit harsh on it,I did once.
I found a good technique for coolant refill was to put a bucket under the car where your gonna drain it,make a note of how much comes out(approximate),subtract it from the correct amount for the car (11.5litres on the e36) and put just under that amount back in as they can be a pig to bleed.
I usually loosen the bleed screw just enough to keep a seal but so you can get it off quickly.
DONT FORGET TO SET THE HEATERS TO FULL HOT BEFORE YOU START,OPENS THE HEATER VALVE UP TO FILL THE HEATER MATRIX.
Start the beast up and let it get up to halfway or so,check the stats opened by making sure your warm/hot water both sides .You'll most likely need to hold the revs at about 2/3000 to get the heaters pumping good,you'll know when it's bled through ok cos the heaters will be baking on idle as well,I usually go to demost setting as you can really feel it then.
At my guess by now it's gonna be like a boiling kettle if there's a lot of air in it,CAREFULLY remove the bleedscrew right off and you'll most likely get a woosh of hot water up in the sky,it'll most likely do that for 30 seconds or more then settle down a bit ,leave it a fair bit til the bubbles start receding a bit then give it a rev to make sure theres only coolant pumping out of the bleedscrew,let it settle again and knock the motor off.
Leave it 1/2 hr and go and have a cuppa,don't put the bleedscrew back yet.
Undo the expansion cap,check your levels,top it up if necessary but don't overfill it.
Put your bleedscrew back in and it should be good to go.
I've before now left the bleedscrew off overnight after any coolant work just to let the bubbles escape ,then you get a true reading of the coolant level first thing in the morning.
Seems a pain I know but it's worth doing as they have a tendency to appear ok for a bit then start overheating etc and 9/10 its just due to bleeding.

 

good tip;

another good tip is to refill the system through the hoses that attach to the stat rather than through the rad; it helps with bleeding i've found

 

Yeah,pretty much anything to take the pain of bleeding them helps!!!

 

indeed, they aint the easiest to beeld!

 

done, dead easy, all the things in the way come out of the way in minutes.
bit of a pain to bleed, lots of air gets in, but the bleed screw is in a very good place once i looked for it that is.
working a treat now, even seems the mpg has improved, so win win, Ł50 for a bmw part for the fix.
thanks for the tips gents

 

Well done mate. Can't say I had too much grief bleeding the ones I did.

 

Great news xr2wishy,their actually really easy cars to work on.