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Expected behavior or sign of something else

2K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  surf_ 
#1 ·
In cold temperatures it takes seemingly forever to get warm air out of my vents. I get all the way to drop off the kids at school and it's still cold, which is 5 minutes stop and go traffic. The air is however warm once I get back into the car after dropoff, car parked sitting for about 2-3 minutes.

My e28 would spit out warm air much sooner.

Could it be that the designers wanted to focus the early heat energy on uniformly heating the engine before fully opening the valves to the heater core, or is this a sign my water pump is starting to go? In tends over 30 degrees it's less of an issue.

I do always get a code for water pump communication error. However, the pump spins and engine temp seems good when I do monitor on longer drives with Carly app.

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#2 ·
It takes a good 6-8 minutes of driving at 40+ mph to get my heat to come out of my vents well.
 
#3 ·
IS the vent selector on "Auto"? IF so, in cold temps it sends air to the windshield and floor primarily until the car warms up. Try manually setting it to the main vents (middle button) and see if its' warm. I start getting warm air after only 4-5 minutes even below 20F driving 30-50mph. But I don;t really get warm air until 10 minutes.

That being said, it warms up quicker than any other car I've owned, by a LOT. I think electronic thermostat and water pump are part of that.
 
#5 ·
It is on auto and I'm putting my hand over the driver window defrost vent at top left of dash. The vent has plenty of air flow coming out which is fairly cold until prob 6 minutes.

Do you mean the engine warms up quicker or the cabin air, when compared to your other cars? My sense is that the air takes longer but engine might warm quicker than my other cars due to the electronic parts you mention. Would get better gas mileage on short trips, but at expense of user comfort.

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#10 ·
Could it be that the designers wanted to focus the early heat energy on uniformly heating the engine before fully opening the valves to the heater core, or is this a sign my water pump is starting to go? In tends over 30 degrees it's less of an issue.
There is no hot water valve to the heater core on an E90. Coolant is always circulated. Cabin air temp is controlled by a flap in the heater box.
 
#11 · (Edited)
On all of them? I know there isn't on an an N54. I thought there was on an N55.



 

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#12 · (Edited)
What model/engine does the original poster have?

Our 325i (N52 motor) is still pretty quick with the electric water pump, faster than my prior X3 with the M54 engine. The coolant pump on the engine doesn't run at first in order to quickly bring the motor up to operating temperature.

I park outside and assuming it starts in the morning from -10°C, it takes about 5km of steady state driving or 4-5min for the heat to start flowing to the HVAC on mode automatic. However for my standards, that's really good. Of course as with any engine, given similar circumstances, the engine warms up faster when driven versus idling.
 
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