cold weather season now (40 degrees). i noticed that the heater isn't making any hot air come out the vents. even after 15 minutes of driving. changing the temp rocker switch from 80 to HI doesn't do anything either. car has like 45k miles on it.

any ideas? one thread said it may be a bad themostat or bad HCV, but the original poster never posted a resolution for his/her problem.

 

Water pump and thermostat! Just had mine replace on my 07 with 51,000 miles on it. Was around $800, the dealership wanted $1400. Got plenty of heat now!

 

Low coolant is another possibility, I had a very small thermostat housing leak that let little enough out that it didn't drip and over time I lost enough for the heat to be intermittent.

 

well well well...... another two issue popped up since my last posting:

• i have a "TIRE LOW" message on the dash.
• and the speakers don't emit any sound for the radio/cd player/bluetooth.

this sounds electrical...

but if Charlie is right about it being the water pump and therm (as NicknBecka says its thermostat related), why wasn't he covered under warranty?

 

Warranty's to 50,000, so it wouldn't have been covered in Charlie's case. Mine was at ~75,000, if I remember correctly- also non-warranty and about $400.00 to repair at a non-dealer shop.

You should check the tire pressure manually, but low tire warnings aren't unusual for cold weather. The car monitors changes in pressure over a short-ish period of time (ie., noticeably lower than two hours ago), not absolute pressure. A rapid change in temp can do this, because the air pressure will change with temperature changes. Mine went off Monday morning because we went from 55° to 20° or so and all the tires read three or four pounds of pressure low when cold.

The TPMS won't detect extremely slow leaks though, so you should check them with a gauge now and again.

Lots of possibilities, I'd say take it to the dealer and have them figure it out. Guys with the car in their hands are better than speculation on the internet

 

i have a service appointment scheduled for this coming Saturday.

another problem now:

• NO coolant

it was empty. filled it up. disappears after a few hours.
told the dealership (via voicemail) about the issue.
strange.... why didn't a light pop up saying that the coolant was empty/low? i guess its still safe to drive...since the no warning lights (besides the tires) went off and the engine is still functional.

 

NO! Don't drive the car without coolant- with no coolant there isn't anything to make contact with the temperature sensor, so the car will only *appear* to run normally. Until it severely overheats and you end up with a motor that's a solid piece. With zero coolant, it WILL do this.

 

well.... i finally got my car back yesterday. the car stayed at the shop for 7 days straight. i turned down the loaner vehicle in hopes i would get it sooner, but once i was 3-4 days in, i finally took it (a 2011 BMW 3-series).

oh...and the steering wheel went to crap the day i brought the car in. it was making groaning sounds and would turn funky.

this is what they were supposed to have fixed:

• the coolant leak (FIXED via thermostat replacement)
• the heater (FIXED via thermostat replacement)
• the speakers ("FIXED" itself a days before bringing it in)
• the tires (possibly caused by it being under-inflated. but now ''FIXED'' by being inflated to 36psi)
• the new steering wheel issue (FIXED via replacement of SZL module)

this is what they fixed that i complained about months before:

• the cold start chatter (supposedly ''FIXED'' via new timing chain)
• the trunk release button (FIXED via software updates)

the reasons why my car was stuck in the shop for a whole week:

• there were no software updates ever done to my car since i first picked it up. which cause a +5hr software update for everything.
• the replacement SZL module for the steering was faulty, which needed another one shipped out.
• the unexpected timing chain replacement (i guess since it was there for a whole week they were going to notice it eventually.

well...that was my adventure. THANKFULLY (i can't stress this enough) this was all under warranty. and my service guy was cool and sympathetic enough to my situation to help out.

i'm looking into extending my warranty for another 50k miles ($3900). i'd like to keep my car for another 3-5 years. but i think i might look for another vehicle with a much better warranty later.....

now if i can only get them to replace my melted hood scoop.....

 

I'm having Molly Flatbedded to MINI of Portland tomorrow for this exact problem, Heater was blowing COLD air tonight!! Was going to check for Codes after we got home as no Warning *Bong* was heard, but before I checked for Codes I popped the hood...NO COOLANT!!
Had been fine all day of driving all over the city, then on our last leg of errands had the Heat on High (Auto A/C) and no heat was coming out of any of the Vents!!

Props to my SA Jarid, I texted him, he's a personal friend as well, and got an A-OK to have her towed in!!