Sooooooo.
I took the liberty of preventively replacing my heater core and heater valve on my 1989 325is. At 250K miles, I figured it would be a good thing to do when I drained the cooling system to replace a blown head gasket.
I sourced a BMW branded heater valve from a dealer in IL. I needed it quick and they could get it to me in 24 hours.
To be clear, I am talking about a late model, air-conditioned car heater valve that looks like #16 in this diagram:
Which is what this part looks like real life (although I don't believe the one in the image I found is BMW OEM, I think it's brand called Original Equipment Supplier)
But the part I got looks like this. It has a little plastic thing on the front and brass nut on the top. It's a BMW part that came in a BMW box.
I remember there being a heater valve recall at some point for the E30, but I can't find anything in my searching that makes sense of the different parts.
The problem is there is a solenoid above the heater valve that the brass nut conflicts with. Not a big deal, I relocated it. Then once I got my car running my NEW OEM heater valve was leaking at the seam where the valve is. I gently tightened the 4 allen screws, but it didn't stop. So now, I'm thinking about ordering the O.E.S. one that is exactly like the old one from ECS Tuning.
Does anyone know the difference between the original and re-designed heater valves? Jim Levie?
I took the liberty of preventively replacing my heater core and heater valve on my 1989 325is. At 250K miles, I figured it would be a good thing to do when I drained the cooling system to replace a blown head gasket.
I sourced a BMW branded heater valve from a dealer in IL. I needed it quick and they could get it to me in 24 hours.
To be clear, I am talking about a late model, air-conditioned car heater valve that looks like #16 in this diagram:
Which is what this part looks like real life (although I don't believe the one in the image I found is BMW OEM, I think it's brand called Original Equipment Supplier)
But the part I got looks like this. It has a little plastic thing on the front and brass nut on the top. It's a BMW part that came in a BMW box.
I remember there being a heater valve recall at some point for the E30, but I can't find anything in my searching that makes sense of the different parts.
The problem is there is a solenoid above the heater valve that the brass nut conflicts with. Not a big deal, I relocated it. Then once I got my car running my NEW OEM heater valve was leaking at the seam where the valve is. I gently tightened the 4 allen screws, but it didn't stop. So now, I'm thinking about ordering the O.E.S. one that is exactly like the old one from ECS Tuning.
Does anyone know the difference between the original and re-designed heater valves? Jim Levie?
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