e46 Heater Valve Retrofit

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

My heater valve is toast and since all we can get nowadays is crappy MTC heater valve rebuild kits I was wondering if there is an alternative to the stock e28 heater valve or to the MTC kits.

I have seen a few people mention that the e46 heater valve should work a be more reliable than the e28's but I haven't found anyone who has actually done it. So my question is if anyone has done it, and does it work well?

[demetk]

Not yet for me but I'm planning on doing it. You could be the first.

[tig]

Do it!

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

I guess I will have to try it. $80 to replace a unit is a lot cheaper than the $275 for ours.

[davintosh]

Do it. And take photos. Lots of them. Then post a DIY. Pleaseandthankyou.

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

Well I just ordered the parts. Hopefully it will be here within the next month . Stupid holidays interfering with my BMW tinkering

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

Spent yesterday working on getting the new valve put in and I can happily report that it works. It is pretty much a straight swap, the trickiest part is that the direction of flow is reversed on the new valve but with a new u-shaped hose and a 90 degree connector it was easy enough to fix. I am still waiting on the proper connector and I am working on a better mounting method than zip-ties. Right now I am thinking of possibly welding a new bracket onto the firewall to mount the valve.

[tig]

Pics or you've completely wasted your time.

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

Excuse the plumbing and wiring nut I am still looking for better ways to route everything and a new hose for the inlet.

Picture of the valve before installation.



A picture of the plumbing with the valve installed



And this is how it sits right now. The definition of janky.



As you can see in the picture it is really close to where the hood drops down but that is something I am working on fixing when I figure out a better way to run the hose and get a bracket on there.

A quick run down of what was used and how

New e46 Heater Control Valve p/n 64118369805
3/4" Hose clamps - 6 of them
A u-shaped hose I got from NAPA, I don't have the p/n
A 90 degree 3/4" fitting and a straight 3/4" fitting
And a cheap electrical connector I also got from NAPA until I get one off an e46. It works but only as a temporary solution

Quick run down of the process, maybe I will do a write up when I get a couple more things buttoned up

Step 1: Took out the old heater control valve. Coolant went everywhere, make sure you have something under the car to catch it
Step 2: Trimmed the U-shaped hose about 2 inches each side, the u-shaped tube was then used to replace the lower hose coming off the heater core. The amount you trim will depend on what hose you use so you may need to trim more or less depending on the hose you use.
Step 3: I then used the excess hose to create an extension for the inlet on the valve as the standard hose isn't quite long enough as is. I recommend finding a different hose to replace it which would eliminate the need for an extension. I am currently looking for one right now.
Step 4: Attach the other 2" hose to the outlet and then attach the 90 degree connector. I angled it down about 30 degrees or so to match up with the u-shaped hose that it will be connecting into.
Step 4.5: Look at the picture to make step 3 and 4 make more sense.
Step 5: Connect the hoses. The u-shaped hose connects to the outlet/90 degree connector.
Step 6: Mount the damn thing to something. I haven't figured this out yet but I am working on it. It gets tricky due to the hard line that sits right beneath where the new valve is located.
Step 7: Cut your original valve's connector off and then solder the new connector into your original wiring. On the BMW connector it should be a brown wire to brown wire connection and then a blue to green connection.
Step 8: Plug everything and hope it all works. So far from what I can tell it works fine, I haven't done extensive testing on it but I will check back in a week.

[tig]

Hero, you are.

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

Hero, you are.

Lol, I have saved us from the awful MTC replacement valves.

So I have been looking for the proper plug and it looks like the p/n for the plug is 61138365340, BavAuto sells a repair kit for $10 that looks like it should work. It comes with a connector, wires, and the contacts, just search for 61138365340KIT. FCPEuro and Turner Motorsport carry the connector for about $3 but it doesn't include contacts or wiring, it is pretty hard to believe that BavAuto thinks that some wiring is worth $7.

[Blue Shadow]

FCPEuro and Turner Motorsport carry the connector for about $3 but it doesn't include contacts or wiring, it is pretty hard to believe that BavAuto thinks that some wiring is worth $7.

Well have you seen that fancy color catalog they send out? BavAuto has to pay for that somehow. Wonder if their prices aren't just a bit higher all around for that purpose.

[RonW]

Dumb question: If the direction of flow is reversed in the E46 valve, then why not simply install the E46 valve upside down?

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

Dumb question: If the direction of flow is reversed in the E46 valve, then why not simply install the E46 valve upside down?

If you were to install the valve upside down then either the ports would be on the wrong side or the mounting tabs would be facing the motor. While you probably could do that I don't think it would make the plumbing any easier.

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

FCPEuro and Turner Motorsport carry the connector for about $3 but it doesn't include contacts or wiring, it is pretty hard to believe that BavAuto thinks that some wiring is worth $7.

Well have you seen that fancy color catalog they send out? BavAuto has to pay for that somehow. Wonder if their prices aren't just a bit higher all around for that purpose.

They usually send two different catalogs too. I can't imagine how much that costs. I wouldn't he surprised if that is why some of their stuff is a bit more expensive now that you mention it.

[Shawn D.]

Excellent! Now I can replace the ball valve I've been using for the last eight years or so!

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

Just to give an update to everyone the valve works, I can't be 100% sure about the heat adjustment as I stepped on my cabin temp sensor and I am pretty sure I broke it so right now the heater doesn't seem to be adjusting from cool to hot. Before I broke the sensor it seemed to be working fine.

Anybody know the p/n for the cabin temp sensor by chance? I tried searching realoem but I couldn't find it.

[demetk]

as I stepped on my cabin temp sensor ...

Did you squash it like a pancake?

#10, http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E28/U ... ts_heater/

Wow, $170. I just bought an aftermarket temp sensor for $1.50 that may work. I haven't tested it yet though.

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

as I stepped on my cabin temp sensor ...

Did you squash it like a pancake?

#10, http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E28/U ... ts_heater/

Wow, $170. I just bought an aftermarket temp sensor for $1.50 that may work. I haven't tested it yet though.

Wow that is a lot. Hopefully I just have it hooked up incorrectly or something. I didn't crush it so hopefully it is still good and I just didn't plug it in or something.

[demetk]

I have a spare that I resurrected from the dead that you can have. Let me know.

[Drew in NYC]

FCPEuro and Turner Motorsport carry the connector for about $3 but it doesn't include contacts or wiring, it is pretty hard to believe that BavAuto thinks that some wiring is worth $7.

Well have you seen that fancy color catalog they send out? BavAuto has to pay for that somehow. Wonder if their prices aren't just a bit higher all around for that purpose.

They should just stop- it is the 21st century after all. Does anyone still use Yellowpages?

[tig]

E46 HCV is $97.23 and the wiring kit is $3.33 via Blunttech.

[davintosh]

Atta-boy, Charlie!

[jimoreno]

I got a used one on Ebay with the connector and about 6 inches of wire for $42 w/free shipping! Apparently the X3 also uses that valve. I'm thinking about cutting off those three rubber grommets and making a bracket for it somehow (or maybe just a clamp on the body with a bent piece of metal to hang it somewhere).

[tig]

The mounting for M20 cars is different from M30 cars (the valves are different too).

M20
Attaches to a bracket attached to the brake booster. Sits below it and below the brake master cylinder.


The valve looks like this. Note the outlet on the bottom is at a 90 degree angle. This is the difference between the M20 part (64111373188) and the M30 part (64111373191) and is required because it sits so much lower that if the outlet weren't bent at 90 degrees the hose would interfere with the steering column.


On M20 cars I don't think there's a need to adapt the hoses as drastically as is needed for the M30. The inlet and outlet on valve are reversed, but the hoses in the car appear to be flexible enough to just fit.

You can see the half of the bracket where it attaches here:


M30
Attaches to a bracket attached to the firewall. Sits up high. Real OEM shows the same picture as for the M20, but this is incorrect. It shows the correct part number (64111373191 ) which looks like this:


The M20 valve should work on an M30 car, but the hoses may or may not line up; I don't know.

Vlad (my M30 car) has a brand new OE valve in it. So I'm focused on the M20..

A bracket that would support the E46 valve and attach to the original bracket that hangs off the brake booster would look like this:



The big rubber grommets on the E46 valve would just pop into the 3 holes in the bracket and the top two holes would be for mounting to the original bracket (using the rubber grommets that the original uses).



Made of 1/16" steel, powder coated black, will cost me about $200 for quantity of 10. If I got 9 people to commit to paying me $20 + postage I would make it happen. I doubt there's enough M20 interest for this to happen, so I'll probably just hack something together. But, chime in...

[tig]

Actually, made of 1/16" aluminum, un-finished makes it very economical.

If I got FIVE people to commit I could do it for $20 + postage!

NOTE THIS IS FOR Eta's only. It will not work on a 535. I have no idea about a 533 or other weird E28.

[Coldswede]

Actually, made of 1/16" aluminum, un-finished makes it very economical.

If I got FIVE people to commit I could do it for $20 + postage!

NOTE THIS IS FOR Eta's only. It will not work on a 535. I have no idea about a 533 or other weird E28.

I will commit to one Charlie

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

A very similar bracket would work well for the 535. I have yet to take some measurements and design one but something like this would work quite well, I think. I need to pull some actual measurements as I just made these up but this is the general idea of the bracket needed for a 535.

[tig]

A very similar bracket would work well for the 535. I have yet to take some measurements and design one but something like this would work quite well, I think. I need to pull some actual measurements as I just made these up but this is the general idea of the bracket needed for a 535.

Is the bend really needed?

A bend adds about $5 per part.

If you get all the dimensions sorted I can add it to my design as a second part. There may be some cost efficiency for doing that.

[jimoreno]

I'll commit to one for the M30 if you make them!