e60lurker

Not sure of any other way to put it, but my heater is weak. I have an 04 530i, 60k, meticulously maintained and absolutely no other complaints other than my heater does not produce heat very well. My defrost blows at "full power", but my vents do not, even when turned to full power. That, and it takes a loooong time to heat up. I'm talking about driving around for a half hour, and my heater is still not blowing noticeably warm heat. Let alone hot.

It's gotten so bad that my car is now known as the cold car (compared to my girlfriends scion tc. not a good look)

Is this a common issue? This is my 2nd winter owning this car, and I noticed it last winter as well.

Are there any simple things to check? I'd hate to go to the dealership and ask such a broad question. I might as well bend over and let the raping begin.

Thanks.

turboawd

it could be a bad thermostat. is your microfilter clean? on your i-drive, on the climate control,do you have the heat adjusted in the red, and not the blue?

e60lurker

Heat is most definitely in the red. Haven't checked the microfilter. Would I get an I-Drive message if the thermostat is bad?

e60lurker

Is the microfilter the same thing as the cabin air filter? Also, if anyone could provide a link to a thermostat DIY, it would be appreciated. Thanks.

Richard in NC

With an '04 you should have the variable limit around the tach. When the car is cold, it would show 4000 RPMs. Does it take a long time to move around to 6000 RPMs? That would be an indication of a bad thermostat which wouldn't allow the engine to get to operating temp.

To confirm, do you get a lot of airflow, its just not warm? Or do certain vents just not blow air, regardless of settings?
Or do some blow warm and other vents blow cool?
Older BMWs did have a problem with a resistor in the fan speed circuit. It would cause it to not allow high fan speeds.

Lastly to confirm, in the iDrive under climate, is a setting for center vent temperature. Make sure its at 4 red bars. You need that, not just the temp dial to full red.

porsche911targa

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if none of the above suggestions work, it might also be a clogged heater core, which might run on the expensive side to fix. G/L

gmcc

My 07 525xi spent a total of three weeks vacationing at the dealer last year while they changed the radiator, the thermostat, reprogramed all 17 vent controls (then told me 17, I never counted them) and replaced various other parts. The end result is I finally have heat, but only after about a 15 to 20 minute ride. Unfortunately my office is only about 10 minutes away so with the seat heater and the heated steering wheel on, I make it. The lines by the tach only go down to the three after a 20 minute ride. If I leave the system on full "auto" it starts blowing cold air at the windshield and then alternates betwenn feet and dash. I have played with al the settings, little red guy, soft, med and intensive and the plus and minus dashes. Seems to regulate the fan but there is no heat for the fan to push out. I keep it off "auto" and keep the fan down low until I drive far enough to to get the tach lines down. Then "Auto" works.
Very disappointed in the heating system.

cleung

this is the same thing that is happening to me, this also happened to me last year and the dealer replaced the blower motor as well as the final stage (not sure exactly what that is). The problem came back again since we have been experiencing some extremely cold temps. So I booked another appointment with the dealer.

bigbadbull

Did you adjust the temp setting in Idrive to blow Warm air instead of Cold air?
Makes a Huge difference...

Climate
vent settings
click on the driver side vents and rotate the knob till you see the back ground of the vent selected go from blue to red/pink. You can adjust the flow coming from the individual vents too, cold feet but hot head... adjust the feet for warmth and the colder air coming out of the top vents.

I did not know about that on my 535i and always though unless it was set at 80+ it blew cold air... thought it kind of odd...


Started playing with the Heater settings on the 530 and low and behold ... I can now wear shorts and a t-shirt in the car when it is below 30degF. The car will still put out cold air even if you have the dash temps at 80+.

E9x have a Hot -cold selector on the dash near the center vents... all throw backs to the 2002's which were the same way.

On both of them it took about 15-20 mins for truly warm/hot air to come out.

Stupid? Maybe... Quirky... defiantly

gmcc

I will go check the settings. I am pretty sure I tried that last winter but you never know
Thanks
Gil