Author Topic: A quick heater switch question (Read 5153 times)

Uglybob · « **on:** December 08, 2009, 02:53:21 AM »

Read in the buyers guide that the heaters and/or switch in 318's have a tendancy to not work on anything but "4"? Said it was a $30.00 fix but kind of a pain to get too. Any more word/advice/hints/tips/pointers on this? Sort of bugs me that I have to blast the heat and my wife (who's car I sold to buy the '91 318iS

) is a little irritated by it. Any help on this is much appreciated.

Car:

1991 Alpine II 318iS M42, 5 speed manual
Chipped, Flywheel, SSK (1.9 Z3), Bilstein sports, H&R Race Springs, GC front Camber plates, M3 CAB's, 3.73 LSD

Thanks again everyone and anyone!

P.S.

No, my name's not actually Bob or Ugly.

Uglybob · « **Reply #1 on:** December 09, 2009, 10:57:04 AM »

Nadda?

DesktopDave · « **Reply #2 on:** December 09, 2009, 12:32:22 PM »

It's your blower resistor. It's not that tough, and only $40 IIRC.

You have to take off the firewall wiring cover, then the hvac cover. I can maybe snap a pic or two if you need some off my spare HVAC unit.

Or just google "BMW e30 blower resistor" & you should get some really good walk-throughs.

Uglybob · « **Reply #3 on:** December 10, 2009, 04:22:10 PM »

Awesome! Very much appreciated, DesktopDave.

Uglybob · « **Reply #4 on:** December 10, 2009, 04:23:09 PM »

One other thing. The slides on my HVAC panel also don't work. Is this indicative of anything else or should I just fiddle with the rear of the HVAC panel/sliders?

longtallsally · « **Reply #5 on:** December 25, 2009, 06:59:20 PM »

I think you get to pull the panel to start with. It is pretty simple to get off, but not easy to get back on.

The sliders all have fiber optic cables running to them to light them up and then cables that attach to trap doors in the HVAC blower thingy that block off the air.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #6 on:** January 30, 2010, 04:46:01 PM »

Your vent door seals are shot (like all the rest of us). The little foam flap seals harden up over 20 years.

It's not worth dissecting the HVAC unit...having said that, I was thinking about pulling out my spare & trying to fix the flaps so that it's not so hard to pull the cable slides.