Heater Blows Cool Air & Sometimes Hot

[rjones2500]

I have a E36 1993 325i BMW with 190K on her. The temp gauge stays right in the Middle, but it blows cold Air in the morning (5:00 AM) and hot Air in the afternoon on the way home from Work (4:00 PM). I have read so many posts and now I am really confused!!! Is it the Thermostat, Waterpump, Heater core, Heater control valve, and so on and so on???

Coolant Has Been Replaced and Level is Right where it should be

[e30e]

Your a/c temperature does not have anything with the engine temperature meaning your water pump, thermostat, and coolant have nothing to do with your a/c. If you have a leak in your a/c you should be able to see grease and dirt at the location of refrigerant leak in the engine bay on the passenger side of the vehicle. That side of the vehicle has the majority of a/c components.

[rjones2500]

I'm not talking about my a/c

[e30e]

I'm not talking about my a/c

Then what's blowing cold air are you talking about, in the morning the car's temperature itself is going to be colder than in the afternoon when outside temperatures have warmed up. Its going to take longer for the air to blow hot air if the outside air is cold, just like it takes longer in the afternoon for the car to blow cold air when its hot outside. Why are you using the heater in the summer?

[BMW_tech]

2 POSSIBILITIES :

The cable that adjusts stratification at the CENTER VENT (red/blue) may have popped off where it was attached to. There is a clip like securing tab that attaches it to the heater box on the right side footwell (passenger). You may need to remove the glovebox in order to see where it attaches to. The repair WAS to use a short screw and drive it through without puncturing the heater box and anything that's there. This keeps it from popping off again, when the cable is moved.

The second possibility, YOU'RE low on refrigerant and your peception is out of whack. In the morning it is obvious that your body has the cold sensation versus when you have to wear shades to see.

[rjones2500]

OK I Think I need to start all over Sorry!!!

I have only had the car for 3 wks now and have driven back and forth to work everyday during that time. Since I leave Very Early in the morning, I turned on the defroster (Front/Dash) and even after traveling 10 mins I noticed Cool if not Cold Air. Then after 20 mins of traveling (60-70 MPH) I turned on the Heater and got the same effect Cool Air. That same day (Temp in High 80's)while traveling home (I had left the heater on from the Morning) I noticed that it was Blowing Very HOT air so I thought the Problem was fixed. The very same thing happens Everyday. The Temp gague ALLWAYS stays in the Middle Never moves after about 5-10 Mins of traveling.

After searching on the Internet I saw Tons of Issues with Coolant being Low. It was 1" above the Cold Line on the Bottle. I filled it up and forced the Bubbles out of the Bleeder Screw. . The same thing happened the very next day. I don't care if you drive to the Moon in the Morning it will Never get Hot and on the way home no matter what temp on the 2 dials the temp Never gets cooler. Also the A/C has never worked for me.

UPDATE!! yesterday I had 10-15 Mins Extra travel time due to Traffic for a total of 30-40 mins travel time (I added coolant the night before) after being home 1 hour I came out to my car and noticed coolant all over the Ground and the Bottle was only 1/2 Full!!! The screw and cap are tight.

[E36 Phantom]

Right beneath the center vent there is a dial with red and blue markings. This has to be over on the red side for hot air. BMW's climate control system is a little odd, to say the least. Took me a while to figure it out, too.

[rjones2500]

Update: I Put in a new thermostat yesterday and drained all the coolant per Steps on Pelican.com. I took my time adding the coolant very slow and did it SEVERAL times to make sure I had all the Bubbles were out of the system. Last night during a test drive I had heat, but it was 90° here in Indianapolis yesterday. This morning on the way to work 5:00 AM it was cool again. Ok what do I do now???? I also want to Pullapart Indianapolis and got a used heater Control Valve off a 318i (1993) and replaced the Valve. After doing this I stuck the Garden hose in all of the firewall inlets and made sure I didn't have a blocked heater core. The Floor is NOT WET so I didn't believe that that is the problem.

The Dial below the Center Vent is all the way over to Heat and still no heat