re:<E30> heater hose replacement questions

[Dave Mulhouse <mulh0021@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>Greg,
>The tee and assorted small hoses you are talking about are there to
>protect the heating system from failing and dumping hot coolant on your
>feet and legs. Make sure that you reinstall the whole assembly. I
>believe the aluminum tee is a temperature actuated bypass valve that
>will allow collant to bypass the heater core so that the temperature
>does not get to high inside it, and cause failure .
> Early on E30 models did not have this stuff installed and would
>occasionally puke the hot fluids on to the drivers legs, obviously not
>pleasantries . . . .It would be like dumping a cup of Mickey Dees coffee
>on you. ;-)

>Bubba Mario

   While the thermostat is there to protect you from hot coolant if the
car were to overheat, there are some circumstances where you might want
to take it out.   First, if the car does start to overheat, you will not
be able to cool it down by turning the blower motor on high.  Once the
valve kicks in, it is only up to the radiator and engine fan to cool the
engine down.  Second, for those of us that live in the colder climates,
the
thermostat does reduce some coolant flow into the heater core.  After
having the recall done on my 318i, I noticed that the heater didn't kick
out as much heat in the winter.  Before the recall, I used to call the
the heater on the 318i as "the furnace."  On the other hand, BMW might
get very upset if they found out you removed the thermostat from the
car...YMMV

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