Heater/blower question

[weirdfish]

I looked at an x5 today and the heater/blower was acting weird.
Basically the front section wouldn't blow, but the rear seemed to be ok, how can that happen, and what might the problem be.

[X5Sport]

Fan fault? If the fan is running then it could be stuck control flaps in the dash?

[weirdfish]

According to the owner it works one day and not the next, so sounds like the unit itself or resistor, but I though they either worked or didn't, (the resistor that is ).

[weirdfish]

I've now purchased this vehicle, it was just too tidy not to, and the price was right.
The blower is not working as far as I can tell from the short journey that I've made, but I'll check in more detail in the morning.
How do i approach this, what do i check first.
Th drivers door handle is also a problem, it's basically hanging off, is there a fix it link on here.
I'm sure there will be other things, but for now that's it.

[sleepyfolk]

Surely we need to see pictures of this new money pit!

Drivers door handle fix - there’s a gert thread in the how to section - link to a page here. https://xdrivers.co.uk/forum/viewtopic. ... &start=120 hopefully where I put some info and pictures up after doing my passenger side, by some strange act of god my drivers side has gone today after picking it up from a £180 polish and clean - ££££££ - it never ends

Fan issues - there are a few I’ve come across:

1. Fan doesn’t work, works intermittently or changes speed of its own accord, or runs even with no keys in ignition! - FSR resistor (hendgehog) duff - £70 and easy to replace. A pretty common issue.

2. Temp control seems not to correspond to temperature set - clean out little vent grilles and micro fan in air con control module - the bit with the buttons on the dash.

3. Flippy flappy valve issues not sending air to the right place - can be the air con control - at worst if the flaps are knackered it’s a major hassle but doesn’t seem terribly common.

4. Confusion about how the system works seems to abound, after reading huge amounts I agree with some other forum advice and understand it to be like this: to set full auto climate control have the 2 middle buttons on the right hand side of the panel selected so they are lit green, hit the auto button so it says auto on the screen - no other setting on mine seems to make the system fully automatic and control all the flaps and air speed.

5. The centre vent on top of the dash is not part of the climate control per se, it has a dial/wheel in the middle with a differing amount of red & blue marks for obvious reasons, in the car manual it says something along the lines of “you can use it to blow cold air in your face to keep you alert whilst driving” independently of the climate control - so you can have warm feet and a cold face, so don’t pay too much attention to it if you’re trying to work out if the dual zone cli,ate control is working properly.

[weirdfish]

Thanx for that, will have a good read later today.
Pics will be forthcoming as soon as this shite weather allows.
I'll also give a more detailed description as to what the fan/blower/heater is doing as soon as I can get a few minutes to investigate.

[weirdfish]

Just having a very quick look, ( it's hammering down here ), the door handle will still open the door and seems to be hanging off more at the front rather than by the lock part, does this still require the same part replacing, if so I'll get and order it ready for the drier weather to arrive.

[Alan Gunn]

Door handle easy to change just a 10mm spanner needed.
FSR-hedgehog is not so bad on the e53 as long as you don't have a bad back.(buy a branded one not a cheep ebay/china job).

[weirdfish]

As it happens my back is shot, I have a degenerative back condition hence why I wanted a car with a better seating position.
I'll just take it easy when attempting the various positions, lol.
Any links as to which carrier and resistor to go for, I don't want to be doing the job twice due to a couple of quid saving.
The door handle hopefully will be straight forward, the resistor I might want a bit of guidance with.
Where is it situated, what's the best way of testing it, or is it just a case of testing to see whether there's power getting to the connector and go from there.

[sleepyfolk]

The FSR is down in the drivers footwell, if I recall just a case of taking the trim cover down and the top piece of carpet trim off the tunnel, then you need to work upside down and have three tiny hands and do a bit of swearing and you’ll get there in the end! Once you can feel it there is a small tab to press to release it and it’ll pop out - guide here with some photos https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticl ... cement.htm remember it’s US when referring to drivers side etc.

I bought one from Cotswold BMW though this forum - you get 10% off, the new ones have more heat sinks on them apparently so are more reliable allegedly. There are plenty of cheaper ones - even most of the ones that claim to be branded on eBay are fake so I’d steer clear of there personally, maybe eurocarparts?
Part number I had written down was 64116923204 - best check on RealOEM if it’s right! If you haven’t come across RealOEM it’s a website you can put your VIN in and it will give you the part numbers for anything and everything - helpful when searching for bits online! http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/select

If your door still opens from outside then hopefully it’s just a quick fix, be nice if something was, I just put a new vapour barrier on the door last year so I’ll have to be careful with that and while I’m doing the door carrier I’ll replace window regulator and motor which has been dying slowly!

[weirdfish]

I've just had a quick 5 minutes sitting in the car to try and figure out what's going on with the blower unit.
I turned the ignition on and the fan started up straight away, I increased the speed and it increased as it should, I switched the engine on to make sure I didn't sit there and drain the battery and pottered about trying to pair my phone, ( that's another story ).
Anyway, all was well for about 5-10 minutes, then the fan just stopped, the indications on the panel were still showing the fan on high speed but nowt happening, I did toggle all the switches and even switched the A/C on to see if it would make any difference, nowt.
The only thing I noticed was that there was a strange tapping noise, ( oh shite, the engine!!!! ), but it was actually coming from behind the heater control panel, when I increased the fan speed, on the display that is, the noise increased, when I decreased the speed the noise did likwise.
I'll have more time over the weekend to maybe remove a couple of trim panels to have a better look.
Now, where's that phone pairing guide, lol.

[weirdfish]

Fan working again this morning, but I noticed that it didn't seem to be all that powerful, if I remember correctly these things have quite powerful fans on them.
The rear fan is working ok, but then that's totally independent of the main one.
Might just change the resistor and go from there.

[sleepyfolk]

Might be worth a shot anyway, mine had a bit of a mind of its own, then failed completely and put the fan on almost full power even with the car turned off and the key out, completely killed the battery - I was glad it happened when it did as I had a new Bosch S5 battery sat in the back ready to fit!

Change the hedgehog and report back, just ordered new window clips in the hope I don’t have to change the window regulator completely, some more butyl tape to seal up the vapour barrier, a new door carrier- just need some sunshine

[weirdfish]

Will order the resistor from bmw cotswold, how do we get the discount, just mention this forum?

[sleepyfolk]

Yes just send them a PM through the forum, they are down as cotwoldbmwmini on the member search I think and they will message you back with the price, and payment options, or you can email tradeparts@cotswoldgroup.com

once you get the name of someone regular to deal with it’s quite handy, the chap I deal with is on holiday but generally I’ve had excellent service and quick answers to price queries. Tried my local dealer and they won’t match the prices.

Although some prices are high for things at main dealer I am constantly amazed at how many bits and bobs I’ve got that were quite reasonable or just above the copy parts available online - that excludes the ridiculous £175 power steering pipe I had to get though