[steves]

Hi guys,

We went out in the 120d SE this evening and noticed that the windows were misting up, and then realised that there was no noise from the heater fan.

The climate control panel is lit up and functioning - and you can hear the ventilation flaps (or whatever they're called) moving behind the dash when you change a setting. But the fan/blower doesn't seem to be operating (you can't hear/feel it even with the fan setting on full).

My first instinct was to check a fuse, and found the panel behind the glovebox. But I'm not sure which one I should be checking!

There are 3 possibles from the list attached to the back of the panel:

No. 60, Air conditioning/heater - 10 amp
No. 69, Electric fan - 60 amp
No. 67, Fan - 30 amp

Since they seem particularly fiddly to access, does anyone know which one its likely to be?

Or has anyone else had this problem before? If its not a fuse, I guess its going to be £££ to sort out. Shame the car less than 2 months outside the warranty period!

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[steves]

Help! Checked all the relevant fuses with a circuit tester, and they are all fine.

If anyone has any ideas where to start checking next, would appreciate it No idea how to check whether its the blower/fan motor, or something else electronic.

 

[m6569]

have you checked all the connectors on the back of the AC unit - It's pretty unlikely one of them has come off as they are locked in very well, but you never know.

After that it's probably a more obvious thing like the AC fan.

How old is the car?

 

[steves]

Hi... will go and fish around under the bonnet later and have a look. Where would I start looking? It really does seem to only be the fan that's not working (everything else is audibly functioning).

Found this thread:

http://www.babybmw.net/viewtopic.php?t=6868

Which is the exact same problem, which would point at it being the fan/blower motor.

Car is literally just out of warranty :-( It was 3 years old on 21 January this year.

In two minds as to whether to take it to the local main dealer. Perhaps they'll be able to get a goodwill contribution from BMW towards the cost since we're only a month out of warranty. On the other hand, if they don't, its likely to cost loads more money to fix than our local independent. Guess I need to find for sure what the problem is first, and how much it costs to fix it.

 

[m6569]

the blower motor is in the dash (i think) behind the glove box, next to the fuse box - you'll need a set of torx keys and a S shaped spine

 

[steves]

OK, took the car to our local independent BMW specialist, Star Tech, who reckon that they tested the fan motor, and found it is drawing excess current, and is probably on the way out.

But on reassembling everything, it started working again :lol:

So, we were advised to leave it as it is and see how it goes. Diagnostics didn't cost us anything, which I think is excellent service, and we'll certainly be taking the car back to them when its oil service is due in April.

 

[grey1]

my fan motor has stopped working this morning, it went down to -7. so either my fan is broken or frozen.

has anyone removed the blower unit from the car?

 

[grey1]

have spoken to local bmw dealer who say they have changed a few of the motors and regulators recently

fan blower unit £115
Regulator £75

this is useful

http://www.import-car.com/Article/46360/BMW_Climat.aspx

 

[grey1]

it works tonight, must have been a frost problem !!

 

[grey1]

-5.5 this morning and it doesn't work, car left at home for the 2nd day running. seems daft a bmw doesn't like cold weather!!

have looked on the net and some say if battery voltage is low the car will stop some parts of the car working including the heating and fan.... i'm not sure how true this is.

also been told today Golf's also don't get warm very quick in the cold as they try to protect a "heating element" from damage.

 

[grey1]

14 months later from my last post the blower unit gave up. £122.42 to replace, easy to swap.

Guide here

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=464807

and from E90 forum
There is a TSB out for the cowl covering on your lower windshield to leak....in most cases down onto the A/C blower. The water will cause components to rust and the motor will squeak and eventually fail.

 

[Chriselias272]

Hi all. I'm new on here but found the site when my heater stopped working.
Same symptoms as listed above.

Tried pulling the motor out in the dark at first. Don't do that. You can't see enough with a torch. Wait until daylight. I pulled out the glovebox ect. But in hindsight you don't need to. Just the footwell panel and the air duct blowing down on your feet ( you can just bend it out of the way if you're lazy.)

But any way, follow the guide in the previous post to remove the blower unit.

Then what I did was to spin it by hand. It didn't spin freely at all.

I then removed the 3 small torx screws on the back of the housing, and the flap where the wires come through.

Pull the motor free of the housing. I let the housing soak in fairy liquid and really hot water to clean all the crap off it. Whilst that was soaking I connected the motor to a cordless drill battery (18v) and it spun like hell!

But I saw that the bearing near the fan was rusty and dry and the rear bearing was seized to the shaft and the bearing was spinning in the housing.

I cleaned all the crap off the entire motor with brake and parts cleaner and then doused in Wd40. Let it soak and keep on topping up the spray.

Have a cuppa.

This went on for a while and it was still seized for me. So I did what every man does when he's nothing to lose. Whacked the spindle from te fan side with a sharp shock from a hammer. The spindle moved toward the rear of the motor. Whacked it again. Flush with the fan.

This freed a load of rust coloured wd40 from the rear bearing.

Spun the fan. Free as a bird. I plugged it back into the car (still out of the housing) it spun.

I got a washing up bowl and kept it on low speed whilst dripping oil (3-in-1) all over the back spindle for 2-3 minutes.

You have to re align the spindle now by looking at the wear lines on the spindle and using a long socket or something on one side and a hammer on the othrr to gently knock it through.

Works absolutely perfectly. The problem, I have concluded, is resistance from the rear bearing seizing.

Hope that saves you £130 like it did for me!!