Thermostats Housing and Winter Cold

[NOVAX5]

Well, winter is back. I am having the same problem I have the past 2 winters. When its cold (25 F) the temp gauge needle pinned to RED after 5 mins driving after start, no heat produced. I restart engine, the temp. gauge is back to normal, heat is normal for the rest of the day, unless I let the car sit for long period of time outside in the cold. This topic has been covered before. Everyone seems to be pointing at thermostats housing. I wasnt able to fix it the last 2 winters. I will have some free time coming before tha extreme cold return to the NorthEast, i want to fix it. Please confirm it is the faulty thermostat housing causing this issue. I will have it fixed this upcoming weekend. Thanks.

[X5 in AK]

sounds like classic case of thermostat not opening. Engine gets really hot, thermostat pops open (finally) and everything works. Replacing the t-stat should fix problem.
How many miles on your X? Thermostat and water pump are limited life items, might be due for replacement anyways.

[NOVAX5]

I will be replacing the thermostats housing before i get to water pump. I already ordered the part from autohausaz. water pump is the next item in my preventive maintainance list. thanks for quick reply.

[adnoid]

Originally Posted by X5 in AK

sounds like classic case of thermostat not opening. Engine gets really hot, thermostat pops open (finally) and everything works. Replacing the t-stat should fix problem.
How many miles on your X? Thermostat and water pump are limited life items, might be due for replacement anyways.

Just curious - this exact thing happened to me this morning, EXCEPT...as soon as I saw the temperature indication pegged to the right I shut off the engine (I was stopped), but I immediately turned the ignition back on and the indication was between the first two marks - the engine itself did not appear to actually get hot, and there's no way it could have cooled that far in a matter of seconds. I restarted it and the temperature rose as normal to the essentially straight up and down position it is normally. I'm going to search right now to see if this is also a common issue, as it happened to the previous owner as well.

Just thought I'd chime in that it may be just a transient instrumentation error.

eta: Or perhaps this problem:

http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...temp-cold.html

[X5 in AK]

It might be worth it to check actual coolant temp if this happens again.

See this webpage for how to get the information from your cluster.
http://www.ideaphile.com/bmw/540-obc.html

this only works if you have the 'high' level cluster, which some of the 3.0 liter cars don't have.

Sounds like there could be some gauge weirdness going on.

[adnoid]

Originally Posted by X5 in AK

It might be worth it to check actual coolant temp if this happens again.

See this webpage for how to get the information from your cluster.
http://www.ideaphile.com/bmw/540-obc.html

this only works if you have the 'high' level cluster, which some of the 3.0 liter cars don't have.

Sounds like there could be some gauge weirdness going on.

Thank you for the tip - I do have the appropriate cluster, so I'll give it a shot.

I also have an OBD reader. There is a code for overtemp:

P0217 Engine Overtemp Condition

but I don't know if this would be stored, or you would only get it if the engine was over temp at the moment you made the reading. This code wasn't stored in my car, all I had was one related to the MAF which was an isolated incident unrelated to this one.

[acattaneo]

Do you have the two special tools for removing the fan assembly? I got a set off ebay and it made the job sooo much easier.