freeway driving plus heater.... - United Bimmer Community

**brien4787** · 08-31-2005, 11:00 PM

wtf.. i was driving home from school(30 minute driving all freeway)..

it just seemed a little strange to me.. i know using your heater while driving will cool down your engine temp, but i looked down at my gauges a little after turning on my heater on full blast, and the engine temp was at 1/4...
think there is something wrong with my gauge? it seems like it cooled down my engine a little too much....

DEATH2000 · 08-31-2005, 11:15 PM

i dont think so. My moms van will do that, it just depends. How hot was the engine temp when u turned on the heater?

**xsperf** · 09-01-2005, 01:02 AM

thermostat maybe?

**donald1476** · 09-01-2005, 01:29 AM

Mine does that too after long freeway driving, your fan kicked on.

**brien4787** · 09-01-2005, 01:33 AM

it was in the middle..
damn...
should i keep it on full cblast? i just did it so it didnt have to be so hot...

**Spieluhr** · 09-01-2005, 03:04 AM

my car did that kind of thing. You should be fine.

**Dudesky** · 09-01-2005, 05:42 AM

Yea, nothing odd about it. Although the E36 had certain issues as far as mechanical parts failing, it is a very efficient cooling system.

**bitcore** · 09-01-2005, 01:58 PM

Your engine likes to be at a specific temperature, no colder, no hotter. At highway speeds, there is enough air moving through the radiator and engine bay where you really dont need to turn on the heater to keep your engine cool.
Hold your hand out the window, feel coler? There is your anser.

During city traffic where you are not moving, the engine has to cool itself using it's engine fan (attatched to the water pump using a heat controled viscus clutch) and it's main auxilary electric fan that kicks in when the engien fan dosn't cool it enough. The aux fan is also suppose to kick in when you turn on the AC to cool the receiver-dryer.

If anything, run the heat during city traffic to cool the engine more than during highway driving. During highway driving, throw on the AC since you don't need so much preformance and you might as well be comfy if your driving so long.