No heat - need help

itsmywifesX5 · #1 01-28-2014, 01:58 AM

The air inside the car doesn't even get warm, neither the right, left nor rear. Here's my diagnosis:
Coolant is full
Engine temp is normal
The radiator is hot
All 3 hoses going into the firewall don't get hot. The one that comes from (or to?) the radiator is not hot except where it's near the radiator.
The hose going from the engine block to the dual water valve doesn't get hot either
The 2 valve solenoid bodies are burning hot. My forearm accidentally touched it a few times when I tried to touch the hoses at the firewall and nearly got burned.
Once in a while it gets hot for a while just to tease me then it's gone again.

So, please tell me what can be the problem. Bad valve? Blocked heater core? Something else? Thanks.

TerminatorX5 · #2 01-28-2014, 02:08 AM

which X5 do you have?

upallnight · #3 01-28-2014, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

which X5 do you have?

ItshiswifeX5

tmv · #4 01-28-2014, 09:42 AM

^His wife's one.

Can you adjust the blowing fan speed and feel it running?
Is your Tstat working?

Brandon002 · #5 01-28-2014, 10:43 AM

There is a heater control valve in the engine compartment. It looks like two small cylinders standing vertical on top of a block. On the V8's it's typically attached to the inner driver's side shock tower. These valves can freeze up. Tap it lightly and see if your heat comes on. It's a common problem.

If you don't have a V8 I'm not sure where it's located.

upallnight · #6 01-28-2014, 11:57 AM

With the rest of the country suffering from the Polar Vortex for the last couple of weeks, some how I don't feel sorry for a guy in NorCal driving his wife X5 with no heat.

Do you have hoses to the two solenoids? Are they HOT?

Two words Infrared Thermometer.

Brandon002 · #7 01-28-2014, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by upallnight

With the rest of the country suffering from the Polar Vortex for the last couple of weeks, some how I don't feel sorry for a guy in NorCal driving his wife X5 with no heat.

LOL

I didn't even see his location.

It's -31 with windchill here right now, -17 actual temp.

If I was in nor-cal I'd be driving with the windows down, in shorts.

Qsilver7 · #8 01-28-2014, 01:26 PM

Model, model year, build date, and/or details about the system/set-up if there's multiple options for the topic at hand...helps us to help you better. Here's some help to determine which X5 you have:

itsmywifesX5 · #9 01-28-2014, 04:18 PM

Thanks everyone for the response and rant about the weather. We gotta have some kind of compensation for the earthquakes you know.

The car is 2001 3.0i
The fan and AC work fine. They respond to the control panel.
I banged on the 2 cylinders with the end of a big screwdriver and that didn't work.
All 3 hoses at the solenoid valves are not hot. The other one between the radiator and firewall is only hot at the radiator end.

Can someone tell me how hot your solenoids get when the heat is supposed to be on? Also which way does the water circulate? Thanks again.

Dan

X5SND · #10 01-28-2014, 04:25 PM

The solenoids will get warm....I wouldn't go touching them.

IIRC it comes from the head to the bottom outlet on the solenoids, them splits and goes to the heater. If everything else checks out, its likely your solenoids are likely toast.

EDIT: Since you say that all three hoses DONT get hot to the firewall, the valves are definitely the problem. One is a return while the other 2 are supply lines. You need to test to see if you're getting power at to each solenoid.

You can apparently monitor the solenoids as the cycle in real time through inpa....but I havent figured out where yet.