before you guys replace anything, try turning off the vents that blow toward your feet in the settings... that worked for me last night! i was having the same issue where the air was very weak; immediately after i turned off the vents that blow towards the feet, it started working normally and all was warm...

 

Appt is for tomorrow morning...tell me about it...froze mine off today here in Jerz.

 

That worked for me....always thought my heater was weak, checked out the i drive settings after reading this thread. My settings was all the way in the blue. I adjusted it all the way to max red, and it was way too hot in the car even with the thermostat knob turned all the way cold. I went back in and adjusted to the gray section between the red and blue settings, and it's perfect now...
Stupid design in my opinion.....I assume I'll have to go back in and set it to the max blue in the summer time.....why can't we just adjust the thermostat knob only and get full adjustment like in any other car :thumbsdown:

 

I dropped my 07 525 off at the dealer the other night then went back the following morning to take the service tech for a ride. It was in teh 20's out and he drove at highway speeds for about 20 minutes with the system set on "Auto" The vents never changed from blowing full on the windshield. Previously I have driven for an hour and a half at 70 mph and the vents never move off the windshield. have to see what excuse they have this year, since I went through this same thing last year.

 

Same problem here on mine 05 545 , at standstill , not moving the car at all, the blower starts blowing cold air even at the highest set temp and the 4 bars red , and then when I start moving the air comes out warm , not even hot , just warm , thank god my car have cold weather package otherwise..!!!!! Anyway I will take my car next week to see what's up and I hope I'm covered under cpo warrant...!!! Happy New Year to Everbody.

 

Same here, i get cold air or lukewarm nothing to hot, im in socal so its not that big of a deal but still would like it to work fine.

what seems to be a pattern here and how much is this repair running

 

its amazing how we're all having the same sort of issue.. froze my ash here in jersey too past 2 days.. had it on full heat temp setting.. 4 red bars and everything.. get to a stop and warmer air comes out..

went to circle bmw today and $80 for my thermostat and $20 for some coolant.. gonna replace it tonight or tomorrow.. can't wait to have heat once again!

 

Do you think this is the problem, thermostat is bad

can you show me where i could make the same change, i wonder if this is related to when i turn my car on in the morning unless i give it gass it will start just fine and in 5 seconds it turns off. Im getting worrried

 

after lots of searching, reading, and using past experiences.. i'm 100% sure my thermostat is bad (stuck in open position).. you can also check your engine temp and see how hot it gets during your trips.. i drive 40miles one way so i know it's had plenty of time to warm up to be blowing hot air... here are some quick instructions how to check your engine temp.. should be approx 90C... i'm getting 70C

1) Turn ignition key to position 1 (Radio)
2) Press and hold Trip button until 01.__ appears.
3) The car?s chassis number will soon appear below this ? add the last five digits together, and remember this total for later on.
4) Press and hold Trip button to get 01.__ again, and then keep pressing the Trip button repeatedly until menu ?19 Lock On? appears
5) As soon as 00 appears below it, immediately keep pressing the Trip button until this figure reads the same as the total number of the last five digits of the chassis number which were added together previously
6) Wait momentarily until menu 01.__ appears, and then press the Trip to get menu 07.__, and the temp. will appear.
If the car is started from this menu, you will get a continuous temp. read-out until the ignition is switched off again.


as far as your car shutting off after 5 secs.. i'm betting that has nothing to do with poor heat/bad thermo

 

i just called chino hills autohaus and he said the thermostat problem is common and it does seem to be the problem

charges me 350 to replace it 85 diagnostics still pricey if you ask me