bmw e36 coupe long time to heat up

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Thu 30 Nov 2006 19:17
bmw e36 coupe long time to heat up - adam f
my car seems to take an awfully long time to heat up. what i mean is, the needle on the temp gage on the dash takes around 10-15 minutes to get to the middle.
i recently replaced a k&n air filter and sports exhaust with the original ones for the car. (exhaust was brand new, air housing was scrapyard)
does anyone have anyideas why its like this, remedies to fix.
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Thu 30 Nov 2006 19:24
bmw e36 coupe long time to heat up - horatio
It usually means the coolant thermostat is stuck open.
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Thu 30 Nov 2006 19:53
bmw e36 coupe long time to heat up - SpamCan61 {P}
this seems to be fault of the month....check the temperature of the top hose a couple of minutes after starting the car. If it is already getting hot then it's the thermostat. See other recent threads for likely cost of fixing.
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Thu 30 Nov 2006 21:32
bmw e36 coupe long time to heat up - adam f
if it is the thermostat that is stuck open, is there a way to unstick it?
a new thermostat is around a tenner but what sort of labour time should i be looking at?
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Thu 30 Nov 2006 22:01
bmw e36 coupe long time to heat up - DP
On most cars this is about an hour's work including refilling and bleeding the cooling system afterwards. Not a major job unless the 'stat is particularly inaccessible on the E36. The worst I've experienced is SWMBO's Fiesta which requires removal of the alternator to get to it, but even that didn't take me more than an hour or so.

You don't muck about trying to fix thermostats. When they fail they go in the bin and you fit a new one. I've never heard of one being repaired before.

Cheers
DP
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Fri 1 Dec 2006 00:46
bmw e36 coupe long time to heat up - horatio
You don't have to fix it, you just use marginally more fuel while your engine runs a bit colder than usual. After it warms up it will be the same as with a working thermostat.

You can tell from your temp gauge if the car is warming up to the temp you usually get, and if it isn't you should be able to tell on a tank of fuel if you are getting the same mileage as before.

In winter it can be the case that the engine never warms up fully, and this will only be a problem if your fuel consumption goes up or you cannot get the car interior warm.

You could opt to leave it until your next service interval (the service might involve a change of coolant) and so you only pay once for new coolant.

www.bimmerdiy.com/diy/e36coolingsystem

Unfortunately the pictures did not open for me.
It doesn't sound particularly easy to get to the thermostat, have to remove the fan and some duct on the alternator, but note this guy did a lot of unecessary work, you don't have to drain the car completely and you don't have to flush the engine. You could start at step 1 - 14 (after having parked the car with the heater set to hot and letting the car cool down.). Put some catching trays underneath the car to catch the coolant which will come out when you undo the thermostat pipe.

You can re-use the coolant you catch if it doesn't pick up too much dirt on the way down, if it does have a few bits of dirt in it you can let them sink to the bottom and don't let them pour back in your engine. If you want to use new coolant mix then pour your old coolant down the loo and flush (obviously).

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