E36 climate control

[dan101smith]

Hopefully an easy fix - the control unit for the climate control intermittently goes off and can't be turned back on, and then anything from 5 - 30 mins later springs back into life. Sometimes the fan keeps blowing, sometimes it doesn't.

Anyone got any thoughts as to what this could be?

[Gad-Westy]

I can't remember what the solution is but I beleive this is a common and easily fixed problem. If you trawl through the posts on either bmwland.com or e36coupe.com you should find the answer.

[MitchT]

This could be one of two problems depending on the symptoms.

Symptom 1: Erratic fan behaviour, erratic display, buttons not responding properly.
Diagnosis: Tired capacitor on PCB in climate controle module.
Three solutions:
1: New climate control module from BMW - £200+
2: Have capacitor professionally replaced for £45 - details here: www.bmw-climate-repair.co.uk/index2.html
3: Replace capacitor yourself for approximately 50p - Instructions here: www.benhirsch.net/m3-maintenance/e36_climate_control.htm

Symptom 2: Fan won't come on or stops when it's on and refuses to come on again. Display and buttons behaving normally
Diagnosis: Tired final stage resistor
Solution: New final stage resistor from BMW for £70(ish) - Easy DIY replacement though can't find any instructions on line. I have a Word doc at home which I'll e-mail you this evening if you send me your addy.

Edited by MitchT on Monday 11th December 13:35

[dan101smith]

Thanks guys - looks like its the capacitor that needs changing.

Bearing in mind my finesse with a soldering iron is similar to my finesse with a large axe, think i might avoid the risk and get it done by someone with some talent!

[Ross_328i_sport]

the fix is not really that hard follow the instructions on this website www.macadamizer.com/bmwfix.html step by step and its a piece of cake