Ever since the cold weather has hit the northern va area, my car rarely ever warms up to show the coolant temperature at 12 o' clock. its now usually a little past the first mark showing normal operating temperature.

Are you guys having the same issue.

Sounds like a bad thermostat to me.

Just to be safe I just ordered the following from zygmunt

1 88 degree thermostat
1 aluminum thermostat housing.
1 thermostat housing gasket
1 thermostat O ring

total price for it all was 50.86 shipped :) not bad

This should fix the problem. I'll reply back after I get this done.

My 325 does the same thing in the Winter... I'm also replacing the thermostat tomorrow.. we'll see how it goes.

do not worry about it,
it is normal, especially in weather under 32F ...

you can probably safely remove the main fan
for the rest of the winter ... *no thermostat
changes required or anything else* ... and keep the
fan in the trunck just in case ... i am doing that and
it helps somewhat ... the needle now stays at 10:30 ...

it is NOT a thermostat problem ... it simply doesn't
heat up enough ... try not using the heater for a
change and then you can see if it heats up a little
better ...

my 2c

That IS a stuck open thermostat and is NOT normal. Just because you have the same broken part does not mean that the part is not broken :nono

That is true... the car should run at 12 o clock no matter what time of the year it is. I found out by replacing my thermostat and all is good :)

i JUST finished replacing mine... have fun!

drain the lot of your coolant while your at it... here's the DIY i used, it was very helpful:

Radiator Flush (http://www.logun.org/radflush.htm)

Thermostat Swap (http://www.logun.org/therm.htm)

edit: the only difference is that there is an o2 sensor (i think) in front of the OBDII exhaust headers which is NOT pictured in the DIY for when you take off your drain plug for your block.

you are not right.

the stuck thermostat problem is diagnosed by watching the
fan run when it's not supposed to ... if the fan does NOT run
at all ... *e.g. removed connector :) and the car still doesn't
get at 12 o clock ... it is OK, just very very cold outside and
radiator (too) big ...

my 2c

bimmerforce, you are flat out completely wrong about this. If you wish to continue driving around with a stuck OPEN thermostat, go right ahead, but don't try to tell folks that it's normal for their BMW to run below normal (12 o'clock) operating temperature.

The thermostat is a temperature sensitive valve that prevents cooled down coolant from returning from the radiator if the coolant temp inside the engine falls below a set temperature. When the thermostat is DEFECTIVE and cannot seal off the flow of coolant returning from the radiator properly, the temperature of the coolant inside of the engine can drop below normal operating temperature. When the DME see a below normal coolant temperature the software is programmed to go in to "cold start" mode and richens the fuel/air mixture. The overly rich mixture decreases mileage considerably and will eventually foul out the o2 sensor(s) and the catalytic converter.

A stuck open thermostat would NOT cause the electric fan to run "when it's not supposed to". The electric fan is controlled by a switch on the "cold" side of the radiator. Because the coolant would never get up to normal operating temperature, since it's just flowing unchecked though the radiator and is not allowed to get up to proper temperature, the coolant would not be hot enough to trigger the fan to kick on.

I've personally driven my M3 in -3F temperatures, with the heater on full blast, on the freeway without having the temp gauge drop below the 12 o'clock position. How is that possible? Because I have a thermostat this is functioning properly.

hmmm ... you are right
i was thinking about the electric fan thermostat ...
i didn't know about the temperature actuated valve ...
i guess i'll have to change mine too soon :)

my bad.