Now that it's gotten cold again I'm getting no or very little heat in the passenger compartment. No check engine light so I'm assuming that the cooling system is getting to temperature properly. Engine runs good.

Every now and then I'll get a bit of warmth out of the dash, but nothing like it should be.


Earlier this year I replaced the thermostat housing that was leaking, don't know if that would be part of the issue. I did have to use a wire adapter to adapt the newer version of the housing to the existing harness. But that was pretty straightforward.

Suggestions on where to look? I have a Autel Bluetooth diagnostic tool if that'll help hunt things down.

 

More information

I fired up the Autel and checked some things out.

• As I suspected the engine temperature is right where it should be, sitting about 80C when the car is warmed up
• There is a reading for the "heat exchanger" which sounds like it might be the heater core. That is at 7-8C while the engine is at 80.

So for some reason the hot is not getting into the cabin but the engine is making plenty of it.

 

Are you sure you got all the air out of the heater core when you replaced the thermostat?

 

"Sure"? no, but I did get liquid squirting out of the bleed hole when I did that part. I should probably check that again though.

It's so fun trying to find that damned thing! I'll pull the car into the garage tomorrow and give it a try. any hints on what I might have missed when I did it back in June?

 

All I know is you need to make sure the heat is on high to get the heater valve to open, then a start the car to get the water pump spinning.

When I replaced my thermostat, I used a vacuum tool to suck the coolant into the system.

 

Can’t you also you the motive bleeder and do it that way? I think I’ve seen coolant flushes done using it, I’ll post YouTube links when I run across them again.

 

You say the car is a 80C when warm. That sounds about 20-25 degrees low. Mine runs around 102+/- degrees C when warm. Unlock your display on the tach and monitor it.

 

it may not have been fully warm, I was just sitting in the driveway.

I did get some "air" out of the vent hole and the coolant reservoir went down about 1/4 of the capacity when I vented the air. hopefully that was my issue, I'll be driving the car later today and will check. (and will put the Autel on it to monitor the temp, but just for grins how do I unlock the display to get stuff like temp? And what else can I see when unlocked?)


I know that I did the vent when I installed the thermostat since I could see the dried coolant around the vent from when the liquid came out. maybe I should have done it twice.

 

Just go into YouTube and search "unlock hidden menu mini cooper r56". Many videos showing you the process. Once unlocked go to test number 7.

 

 

I drove it for a while today and yesterday and the warmest I saw it was 103 when I was getting off the highway and then in the high 80's/low 90's when driving around town.



The good news is that I have heat in the car, so that small amount of air must have been my problem. I had to add about a cup of coolant so it wasn't that much, but the heat works great now!

thanks all!

 

Glad you got it settled without too much extra work