Well, after all my obsessing earlier (and I thank you for your patience for that...time was of the essence as I can't be car-less, single father and all...) I went to pick the car up and they'd done the bypass for me.

Now I'm not exactly jumping for joy as I am fearful of how tight the bypass is (as this place did, after all, start w/ a quote of 907, revised that to 690, and then went to 390 and change after I questioned the need to also do the heather valve.) The guy tried to explain the routing, but I never got a close enough look at the stock configuration to begin with- so it may be a bit of a challenge straightening this out myself, though the diagrams should get me through.

Now truth be told I only have a very short drive most days for my little one, and outside of that I don't drive it nearly as much as I used to (since moving to a place two blocks from my office.) I may bump along and see how it goes as it is. On my 4 mile round trip (some through town) the temp needle stayed steady and the heat worked fine...other than my paranoia about it leaking someplace the car worked as it should, drove just fine.

I wish it was hard to believe this BMW shop would have gladly soaked me for 907 had I not questioned them (and then, when they waffled, I simply pulled the plug.) So again thanks guys...I was worried about trying to get this worked out cost effectively, busy w/ work, etc. He*l of a day and w/out your guidance I'd have been scrambling to find the info to make informed choices. I'm sure I'll be back to pick your brains when I do the rest of the job.

It's tough- I like this car (I've had it 8 years, it now has 116K on it) but it's getting old. Overall it's been very reliable, but I have had to replace the transmission, the radiator 3 times, various smaller issues, and some niggling gremlins (actuators rightfully doing their safety thing when they go bad and unlocking the whole car, door panels starting to come loose, headliner starting to sag, and stuff like that.) It's been maintained very well though, and it still looks like new. I'm torn on selling it for a younger car.

Sorry to go long, thanks again.

Eric