Z4C in the garage
Discussion
The Z4 has gone in today to deal with the problems we found at delivery and also hopefully to sort out the cabin temperature issue.
I have to say that is the bit that worries me. Two people within the dealer have sat in it/driven it and do agree that it is warm. In comparison the 320i they lent me today, I was sitting comfortably with the vents open at 21 degrees, yet in the Z4 it has to be below 18 degrees.
What do I do if they come back and say that they can't find a fault.
I have to say that is the bit that worries me. Two people within the dealer have sat in it/driven it and do agree that it is warm. In comparison the 320i they lent me today, I was sitting comfortably with the vents open at 21 degrees, yet in the Z4 it has to be below 18 degrees.
What do I do if they come back and say that they can't find a fault.
You're asking a main dealer to track down a mechanical problem which can't be electronically diagnosed? Good luck! 
Applying some common sense to it, it sounds like you have a heater duct valve incorrectly fitted - by this I mean where 16 deg on a correctly fitted one would mean the unit drawing 100% outside air, and 32 deg is 100% air via the heater matrix - perhaps on yours the control flap isn't aligned - meaning at 16 deg it's not fully closing the draw from the heater matrix - therefore you're always drawing warm air?
The only way to confirm would be to pull the dash apart...
Applying some common sense to it, it sounds like you have a heater duct valve incorrectly fitted - by this I mean where 16 deg on a correctly fitted one would mean the unit drawing 100% outside air, and 32 deg is 100% air via the heater matrix - perhaps on yours the control flap isn't aligned - meaning at 16 deg it's not fully closing the draw from the heater matrix - therefore you're always drawing warm air?
The only way to confirm would be to pull the dash apart...
Edited by Dunk76 on Wednesday 21st March 12:30
this seems outrageous to me. ive never bought a brand new car, but surely this isnt acceptable? youve just payed a huge amount of money for something that isnt working as it should. if it was a stereo, TV, toaster etc, you would take it back and ask for a refund or a replacement... bad karma... very sorry to hear your woes with the car...
Ok well it will be ready at 5pm.
Apparantly they have tested convertible Z4's and Coupe's and the heat issue is the same.
They think it is that the air con system has been built for a roadster with no adjustment for a hard top. In fairness they are going to discuss with BMW technical to see if there are any other complaints and if so then hopefully there might be a software fix.
Apparantly they have tested convertible Z4's and Coupe's and the heat issue is the same.
They think it is that the air con system has been built for a roadster with no adjustment for a hard top. In fairness they are going to discuss with BMW technical to see if there are any other complaints and if so then hopefully there might be a software fix.
I found my Z4C's ventilation system is bit strange too, but have got used to it. Having driven cars with really bodgy ventilation (eg Ultima), the Z4's is comparatively civilised. However mine does run slightly warm as well. I assumed that it was just that I hadn't learnt how to operate the system properly. I don't like having the aircon on all the time, so I've been running it with aircon off, the temp set at minimum (18?) and the fan on the first or second click. This gives a reasonably comfortable temp inside, but sometimes I have to open the window to get a blast of fresh air. Also I've found that if I have the air circulation set on re-circulate, or with the auto- pollution re-circulate switched on, then it does heat up quite rapidly.
nerf said:
this seems outrageous to me. ive never bought a brand new car, but surely this isnt acceptable? youve just payed a huge amount of money for something that isnt working as it should. if it was a stereo, TV, toaster etc, you would take it back and ask for a refund or a replacement... bad karma... very sorry to hear your woes with the car...
Rubbish. Its an unusual issue which could easily be missed during PDI - BMW are now doing exactly the right thing and rectifying the fault whilst supplying a good quality courtesy car in the meantime; what more are they supposed to do?
catherinej said:
Yes, im on about 17/18 to be comfortable, I'm just worried what it will be like in the middle of summer.
We picked up our Coupe on September 1st last year and drove straight to the south of France; sitting in 30C was absolutely no problem with the AC switched on. Conversely the system gets immensely hot (almost painful) very quickly, if its -10C outside no problem 5mins later you'll be bathed in warthm.
youngwill100 said:
I don't like having the aircon on all the time, so I've been running it with aircon off, the temp set at minimum (18?) and the fan on the first or second click. This gives a reasonably comfortable temp inside, but sometimes I have to open the window to get a blast of fresh air. Also I've found that if I have the air circulation set on re-circulate, or with the auto- pollution re-circulate switched on, then it does heat up quite rapidly.
To be honest this is what I tend to do with mine too, I prefer to run it with the aircon off most of the time and find that the temp is comfortable set to 18-20 with the fan clicked on 1 or 2.
catherinej said:
youngwill100 said:
Are you runing 17/18 with aircon on or off? With my aircon on, setting the temp at 18 makes the car very cold very fast.
Aircon On.
I did a little experiment this morning for you, with the auto aircon switched on and the temp set to 22 my car seemed to get a fair percentage warmer than when I run it at the same temp with aircon off and just the normal fan setting on low? Why this happens, I have no idea, perhaps the metering of the aircon temp is off or something? Just thought I'd let you know my findings
.edx said:
catherinej said:
youngwill100 said:
Are you runing 17/18 with aircon on or off? With my aircon on, setting the temp at 18 makes the car very cold very fast.
Aircon On.
I did a little experiment this morning for you, with the auto aircon switched on and the temp set to 22 my car seemed to get a fair percentage warmer than when I run it at the same temp with aircon off and just the normal fan setting on low? Why this happens, I have no idea, perhaps the metering of the aircon temp is off or something? Just thought I'd let you know my findings
.Snap, It appears to be that the auto air con bit is the weak link. I have switched it to manual and it is much better.
Update...........
It's officially fecked.
We went to the 3 series cabriolet launch today (a very nice car btw). On the way the car was blowing out warm air at 18 degrees.
When we left the fan was switched to full power and there was nothing coming out of the vents other than a strangled whistle sound. We took it back and it was witnessed by the D.P. He went and got a technician to look at it and after fiddling with the controls out came some air and it was nice and cool
Unfortunately by the time we got half way down the motorway it was getting very cold so we turned the temp up to 26 degrees and it got colder still. So I drove the car back to the dealer so they could see I wasn't making this up and sure enough they experienced it for themselves. So the car is now in their workshop and their initial thoughts are that it could be a blender flap that is either stuck open or closed and there is no half way option.
So I am actually quite happy because it does suggest there is a problem with my particular car, which should be fixable.
It's officially fecked.
We went to the 3 series cabriolet launch today (a very nice car btw). On the way the car was blowing out warm air at 18 degrees.
When we left the fan was switched to full power and there was nothing coming out of the vents other than a strangled whistle sound. We took it back and it was witnessed by the D.P. He went and got a technician to look at it and after fiddling with the controls out came some air and it was nice and cool
Unfortunately by the time we got half way down the motorway it was getting very cold so we turned the temp up to 26 degrees and it got colder still. So I drove the car back to the dealer so they could see I wasn't making this up and sure enough they experienced it for themselves. So the car is now in their workshop and their initial thoughts are that it could be a blender flap that is either stuck open or closed and there is no half way option.
So I am actually quite happy because it does suggest there is a problem with my particular car, which should be fixable.
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