E36 Ventilation Control

[fastfreddy]

My 323's ventilation control is broken. It rotate OK but the actual ventilation is always blowing at the windscreen.

Also, regardless of what I do with the controls, I can hear something going on behind the dash - sounds like a ventilation flap opening and closing repeatedly.

I've had a look around the web but this doesn't seem to be a common problem like the blower resistor pack.

Any ideas where I should start looking to try and fix this? Are the flappy bit contolled mechanically by the dial or electrically?

[jamesson]

Can't help with the permanent windscreen directed ventilation, but I can tell you that the noise you keep hearing is indeed a common problem, and according to the doctors, there is no cure...





(I stand ready to be corrected!)

[fastfreddy]

I've tried again to fix this recently but it looks like a devil of a job. Can get the control panel out but the cable for the vent selector disappears behind the dash somewhere and I can't even pull the ventilation panel out far enough to see if the cable has broken at that end.
The Haynes manual is bloomin' useless and doesn't say anything about it.
Anyone got any ideas?