Yep, I figured out that this lever appears to control the heat going to the foot wells. I was able to loosen the upper part where it attaches to the electric control module and move it by hand. When I do that I do get warm air out of the foot vents. So, I most likely have a bad ECM which I believe is the part on order. However, the heat coming out is still warm and not hot. So, there is likely a secondary issue beyond the ECM, but you gotta fix one thing at a time in cases like this...

 

OK. So, the part the small local shop diagnosed as being faulty actually works just fine. This would be the blend flap actuator. I got antsy (it's been 2 weeks since they put the part on order) so I decided to check this out more closely myself. All flaps work exactly as they should. I took the car over to dealer to get a $95 second opinion on this and my FM issue (see separate post on that). So, we've now confirmed the core is definitely the issue. Since the dealer wants nearly $700 to replace it, I'll be doing this myself. I saw the part that ECS posted earlier. Has anyone used this before and/or are there any other brands/style that may be be better and why?

I will now thoroughly research the best way to get this done, though I now have my Bentley manual in hand and based on what I've seen so far here and on YouTube, it doesn't appear this will be too much of a problem. I do want to flush my system as well as possible without going to extremes, so any advice on that is appreciated. I'll study again the threads I've seen on NAM regarding this subject.

Thanks All!

 

Hi I know this post is old but I really would like to know if the heater flap issue was the problem. I seem to have exactly the same problem with my 2002 Cooper, the engine gets up to heat no problem and the needle gets to the middle of the gauge and stays there. The heater matrix gets really hot and I get cold air when I turn the dial to 'LO' and when I start to turn the heat up the air does start to come through hot but doesn't seem to get any hotter above 22 degrees. I need to get it sorted before winter comes! Please help! Also is the flap easy to replace?
Thanks Phil

 

So I'd love to bring up an old thread.

Let me preface this by stating I am mechanically inclined.

I bought an 03 R50 naturally aspirated on the cheap, needed a clutch and some touch up stuff. Started the engine only for a few seconds prior to buying it to make sure it at least turned over and ran, throwout bearing made a ton of noise so shut it down after only 20 seconds or so. Towed it home and started a clutch replacement. While apart, I noticed that at some point in time someone had lifted the front end by the radiator support, increasing my parts bill by a radiator and condenser. Finished clutch job, recharged ac system, filled coolant and bled system. Id been driving the car for a couple weeks with no issues, no overheating, ac blowing cold. Then it started to get a little chilly, to the point there was frost on windshield, ut oh, no heat. Used a IR thermometer on heater core (first mistake, only checked the end case, and not the lines coming in) noticed that heater core was at 180F. Started my tear down of dash to gain access to heater box to change blend doors and actuators.

This is when I realized all blend doors and actuators worked fine. I determined this by reinstalling dash harness and running car with controls and all connected so I could see all doors moving and all actuators actuating. It was at this point in time I decided to temp check the lines coming into heater core. Bingo 180F in 115F out, clogged heater core. Take heater core out, not much coolant spilled out, weird. then a bunch of debris came out of heater core, STOP LEAK, I hate that stuff, both the sawdust kind and alumaseal. Order new heater core, and h-pipe on hoses at firewall, (mistake #2 broke it) now I have an aluminum one from ECS Tuning. Install heater core, new h-pipe, reassemble dash, fill coolant, bleed, NO HEAT!!

Lets go back to clutch job. Remembering that I replaced radiator due to being bent from a jack, I never inspected it for stop leak or anything of that nature, also knowing that I did this prior to running it, I had no idea if it was overheating in current condition or not, all I know now is that it doesn't.

Inlet on heater core still 180F outlet now up to about 130F, so it still seems as though there is not enough flow, but I know the heater core is new and unrestricted. I know there is no debris in the radiator as it is new. The antifreeze that came out of engine was relatively clean, and replaced with new during clutch job. While doing heater core, I drained a decent amount of coolant off, and it was like new, no debris from stop leak.

So what could be causing a flow problem? Thermostat? Waterpump? Keep in mind the car runs great with no overheating, ran for a few weeks, and had I not needed to defrost my windshield I would have not even tried the heat to know that doesn't work.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.