No heat, X5 30i
 

Need help on my 2009 E70 30i, and I trust the forum!
- Lukewarm heat, took it to an foreign car indy in town
- Heat is fine at idle but when moving it gets cold
- Replaced heater control valve, no change
- Replaced thermostat, no change
- Replaced thermostat again (bad part suspected), no change
- Advised that radiator replaced by another shop is not the right one and that all hoses get cold after driving around.
- Radiator replaced by other shop was in August 2022 and I had heat in the winter of 2022 and 2023. P/N is APD 8013336
- Other shop advised an auxiliary water pump may have failed but I don't see one for my vehicle on RealOEM.

Am at my wit's end with this problem and don't know who to believe. When that happens - I TRUST XOUTPOST!

That sure sounds like a thermostat problem if everything is cooling off. The radiator thing is very suspicious though, the replacement radiator has one less coolant line that tees off of the hose from around the water pump/thermostat area and goes to the oil cooler. The change up hose to go with the updated radiator has the branch blocked off. Maybe something got messed up there??
I don't think there is a auxiliary water pump on the E70 but I haven't really checked into that.
OK I didn't read that right, you had heat the winter after the rad was replaced so that makes it less likely to be the problem.

You didn't mention anything about codes??

The radiator was replaced in March this year by the other shop when it was leaking. So the replacement has not gone through a winter yet, however it was the identical part number from the August 2022 replacement. They did replace a coolant hose in March 2024 because it wouldn't seal. But it was not specified which coolant hose. I suppose it's possible the March 2024 replacement radiator has an internal defect or the replacement coolant hose is incorrect.

Is the engine running at operating temp ?? Are you trying to work on this yourself or collecting info for someone else working on it ?

Not working on it myself but the shop says it is getting to temperature but when driven down the road it gets cold. The shop it's at now wants to replace the radiator but I'm questioning this is the answer unless my replacement radiator from March this year is defective.

I'm already stuck with replacing the heater control valve and thermostat, and want a guarantee that if I spring for an $800 radiator that it will fix the problem.

If they can't explain why they want to replace the radiator I doubt it needs to be replaced.
I would look for a different shop.

It's still most likely a thermostat issue and if it has anything to do with the radiator it's because of something wrong with how the hoses are hooked up not the radiator itself.

The hose that gets updated with the replacement radiator "I think" comes from the water pump (before the thermostat) to the oil cooler so that could get messed up if the the rad has been changed back to one with the extra inlet or someone cut the wrong branch off the hose and/or the electric water pump is running full tilt all the time.

The radiator in the car now has 2 ports for the cooler -cooler is integrated into the radiator body. The one this sip says I need is a 3 port style. But it could be the replacement in 2022 routed the hoses correctly but the warranty replacement in 2024 did not. I may have the current shop button it up and take it back to the shop that replaced the radiator. If they want to replace the thermostat and heater control valve: NO.

I hope we get some updates especially since we have 2 of these heat related threads going on ;)

I had the Indy replace the radiator, he promised me he wouldn't charge me if it didn't fix the problem. I now have heat, so he was right. I'm going to take the old radiator that's really not that old back to the previous shop and have a discussion. But on the way home the clock spring in the steering column failed and the 4x4 light came on. So back in it goes for a new clock spring. This is been a nightmare with my x5!