E46 Heater not blowing hot

[seancp]

Dont know if anyone would be able to help. The heater in my 330i has completely stopped blowing any hot air. Im driving it to the Austrian alps on Friday, so this is not ideal.

Does anybody have any idea what could cause this and how to solve the problem?

Thanks

[gizlaroc]

Could just be the radiator needs bleeding properly??

I had this on my E46 a couple of times, just had and air bubble in it.

[pompey boy]

Is it lack of airflow or plenty of air but not hot enough?

When the car's been driven for 15 minutes what does the temp gauge read?

[seancp]

pompey boy said:

Is it lack of airflow or plenty of air but not hot enough?

When the car's been driven for 15 minutes what does the temp gauge read?

There is plenty of air, but its cold, no heat at all.
Had a 2hour journey today and the temp gauge was in the centre for the whole journey.
Any ideas?

Iv now checked the coolant level and tried bleeding the cooling system but its had no effect.

[obscene]

Sounds like the heater control valve to me.

[sniff diesel]

Pollen filters get clogged up too, although that would stop all airflow not just hot.

[Bumble SV]

I've just had the identical problem. It turned out that the flap/baffle that controls the blend of hot and cold air to the vents had got stuck in the "cold only" position after a couple of weeks of not being used. It took the Indy 2 mins to diagnose, 10 mins to resolve, and then several checks throughout the day to make sure it was sorted.

It is quite common at this time of year apparently.

Learning point - every so often, change the a/c temp to max, then to min, then max again.

[bap1609]

Hi bumble sv I seem to have the same issue, could you tell me if you know where the mixer flap is and how to gain access. Thanks

[STW2010]

I appear to be having this issue. The heaters were fine right up until this morning, which is annoying.

Here are the symptoms-

Engine temp is fine, as is the coolant level.

No heat coming through the vents.

The climate control does nothing, so putting on 32 degrees the fans remain on the lowest setting.

The fan speeds can be adjusted as normal, but no heat at all.


A bit of research seems to show that the water valve is the problem (http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=617301). Does anyone have any experience of this issue? I would prefer not to go down the road of replacing each component, if a simple test could be done to narrow the problem down a bit.