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E39 Heater control valve DIY

Printed From: Bavarian-Board.co.uk - BMW Owners Discussion Forum
Category: Technical & Model Specific Forums
Forum Name: BMW 5 Series
Forum Discription: This forum will deal with any issues on the BMW 5 Series (E12, E28, E34, E39, E60 & E61)
URL: http://www.bavarian-board.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=46322
Printed Date: 28-March-2024 at 20:46


Topic: E39 Heater control valve DIY
Posted By: voxpop
Subject: E39 Heater control valve DIY
Date Posted: 08-February-2010 at 10:10
Hey Guys, Ive been having a look around and couldnt find anything - can anyone point me toward a heater control valve(tap) replacement step-by-step guide for an E39.
It looks pretty straight forward - remove jublee clips, lift unit up and out, put in new unit and reattach hoses. Any surprises or is it that straight forward ?


Any help appreciated.



Replies:
Posted By: Andrew Rolland
Date Posted: 08-February-2010 at 12:51

Can't much to the above other than make sure you have the heater at full heat and have the fan set to low when you re-fill the system.

You will need to be careful to bleed all the air out of the system on re-filling.

Andrew



-------------
Be exclusive and drive a Petrol 5 Series!

Current
'13 62 F10 535i MSport Auto

Previous
'04 04 E60 545i SE Auto
'03 53 E60 545i SE Auto (Stolen)
'98 S E39 523i SE Auto


Posted By: voxpop
Date Posted: 08-February-2010 at 13:28
Im working on this example from pistonheads - its the only one I can find
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=49338 8

He doesnt go into great detail - but it seems easy-ish.

Might be a stupid question - but am I defiantly going to need to refill the system, i.e. will all the coolant run out. The Heater control valve unit itself is raised, so I was thinking that once I keep the pipes up high - ill only need to top up coolant ?




Posted By: Andrew Rolland
Date Posted: 08-February-2010 at 14:38

You are bound to loose some coolant.  The heater valves are located below the cylinder head (IIRC) so you will loose some coolant.

Be prepared to top it up at the minimum.

Andrew



-------------
Be exclusive and drive a Petrol 5 Series!

Current
'13 62 F10 535i MSport Auto

Previous
'04 04 E60 545i SE Auto
'03 53 E60 545i SE Auto (Stolen)
'98 S E39 523i SE Auto


Posted By: voxpop
Date Posted: 09-February-2010 at 10:00
What sort of coolant should I be putting back in - standard antifreeze or bmw coolant - the liquid in the expansion tank looks clear to me. Im guessing its not a great idea to mix types ?


Posted By: jetsetwilly2000
Date Posted: 09-February-2010 at 11:34
I use standard in my E34.  Anybody care to comment for the E39?

-------------
E90 M3 DCT, E46 330d Touring, VW T5 wannabecamper

Previous: Disco 3 TDV6, 2x E34 540i6,

E34 535iS



Posted By: voxpop
Date Posted: 09-February-2010 at 11:40
Im thinking that halfords "advanced" antifreeze should do the job. It just needs to keep things ticking along until the nicer weather comes along and I can do a full flush. Halfords say it can be mixed with any colour of antifreeze- it looks pink btw, if that makes any difference


Posted By: Andrew Rolland
Date Posted: 09-February-2010 at 12:50

I replaced the coolant in my E39 with Mobil stuff it was buy 2 get 1 free from Halfrauds.  I have never seen it again in Halfrauds.  Beware of Halfrauds own brand stuff.  Make sure what ever coolant you do use meets the specifications from BMW.  These will be given in the handbook for your car and printed on the back of the coolant bottle.

The Mobil stuff was pink.



-------------
Be exclusive and drive a Petrol 5 Series!

Current
'13 62 F10 535i MSport Auto

Previous
'04 04 E60 545i SE Auto
'03 53 E60 545i SE Auto (Stolen)
'98 S E39 523i SE Auto


Posted By: Crispy-d
Date Posted: 18-February-2010 at 21:34

Bit late on this one and I'm not sure how the E39 compares to my E34, but when I replaced mine (I've had the heater valve and pump out twice now) I lost hardly any coolant. If it's below the cylinder head on the E39s then it might be a different case, but either way if you plug the pipes with something clean then you will lose so little you shouldn't have to top up at all.

As for the coolant, I did lots 'research' into this, as much as you can do on the internet anyway and I came to the conclusion that anything to 'G48' spec that is NAP (nitrates, amines, phosphate) free and is approved by BMW will be fine. Personally, I've always used the Comma Xstream Green antifreeze which has the BMW BMW N600.69.0 approval.

Hopefully you've sorted it now anyway without having lost much coolant!



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BMW E39 M5 - 2002
Land Rover 110 4.0 V8 - 1986
BMW E39 530d Manual SE - 2001
BMW E34 540i 6 Speed Manual - 1995
Volvo S90 3.0 CD - 1997
Volvo 460 Si Turbo - 1995
Volvo 340 GL - 1989


Posted By: voxpop
Date Posted: 19-February-2010 at 13:30
Cheers Crispy-d. Its not sorted yet, turns out its not the valves but a pump. Being worked on at the mo, seems these E39s have an overly complicated coolant system, or mine does anyway!


Posted By: Crispy-d
Date Posted: 19-February-2010 at 14:15

Sorry Voxpop - I've been a bell and not read your other post! If the auxiliary pump is seized then that would obviously stop coolant from passing through the heater cores! My auxiliary pump went, but rather than stop working it just split a seal and leaked coolant out everywhere.

Also, if you have this latent heat thing then that would obviously complicate the pipework and then adding to complication is the fact that apparently it's down at the bottom of the radiator?! So you also have gravity against you - I don't know enough about the E39s yet but I hope it's self bleeding!

If the independent IS a specialist, then surely they have the skill to just whip it out and replace it with a new one with no fuss? Why is there actually a problem? Or is it because of the expense?

Either way, hope you get it fixed because I would hate not having my heater working when it was -2.5 the other night!!



-------------
BMW E39 M5 - 2002
Land Rover 110 4.0 V8 - 1986
BMW E39 530d Manual SE - 2001
BMW E34 540i 6 Speed Manual - 1995
Volvo S90 3.0 CD - 1997
Volvo 460 Si Turbo - 1995
Volvo 340 GL - 1989


Posted By: voxpop
Date Posted: 19-February-2010 at 14:33
Ah no worries - the problem and (possible) solutions have moved around a bit, started the new thread after I was told it was the aux pump, which surprised me as the aux pump is generally 98 onwards feature. I think the latent heat accum feature necessitates an aux pump where most 97 E39s wouldnt have one.

As far as I know, its not self bleeding and that half the problem, I think you have to bleed the latent heat accum side and then the rad side, so it adds some extra steps. TBH the Indy guys seem to know what they are talking about, just havnt come across many E39 like mine, they spoted the heater taps were fine and pointed to the pump as the problem straight away.

Hopefully it will be all fixed next week - parts on order - as you say, not nice driving around without a heater in this weather



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