Coldo

Putting this on here as im sure some of you can help.

The symptoms;
Needle pushing into the red after 2miles of easy town driving
Heaters always cold - even when needle in the red area
NO water and oil mixing, which i guess is good if it rules out the HG?


I was told it was the waterpump at fault, went out, got one and took the front end to bits this morning ready to fit it. When i got the old pump out it was in one piece, and was a brass finned one, which suggests it has been replaced beforehand. Its in good condition and turns freely so i imagine this isnt the problem?

Decided to remove the thermostat thinking it could be jammed shut, not allowing water to circulate. This is what i found;


It looks as if the rest of the thermostat has been ripped off. No sign of the rest of it, the spring etc... is nowhere to be seen. Does this mean it could be in the head and blocking a waterway?


Looking in the housing the rest of it is nowhere to be seen, nor is it in the rad hoses etc.

What do we rekon is my next step?
Could it be that someone before ive owned the car has took the rest of the stat out when its broken and never replaced it?
The car runs fine otherwise, full power, idles fine, revs fine, no other problems although it did run fairly cool before, with the needle not much above the blue on the gauge.

Im getting desparate, any help is appreciated

NEO™®©

its been cut out mate as many ppl do this thinking the thermostat is at fault when all it really is is an air lock as bmw's are cunts to get air out of my vote is that its airlocked to death m8 and nothing more sinister had loads of em do it!

C4llyT

Yeah as above, take ages to warm up if simply no thermostat, and would get heat from blowers.
No hot water getting to heater matrix for any heat.
Often hear they're a pain to bleed, think mine's self bleeding, which is nice

dojj

iTrader: (3)

the other thing to check is to see if the fan is working properly or not, assuming it's got one of them viscous fans, but that stat's been cut so don't worry about where the rest of it is

fit a new one and then get the air locks out, normally done by letting it warm up and then pulling the cap off the expansion tank, but it's been absolutly ages since i did them so it may come abck to me it may not

i also rememebr soemthing about using a coke bottole to top up the header tank and them squeezing it into place so that you can actually get more waer into the system to flush out the locks

Coldo

NEO™®©
Some man, i hope your right and the stat has just been chopped

C4llyT
How do i go about bleeding it then? Whats the easiest/cheapest way to do it?

dojj
The fan works fine mate, it is a viscous one

Cheers fellas, bit of a relief, had a horrible feeling the block was worth its weight in scrap if it had bits of thermostat kicking about in it

C4llyT

E36 is back up.
All I've ever done is run 'til hot so 'stat is open and water is circulating, then leave it running with cap off.
Never had a trouble with a car, maybe just one of those things.