97 328 No air flow to feet

[alsimma95]

Hi,

Weird issue, everything in hvac works fine, albeit a/c compressor is a little noisy... Anyway, hot air works great at windshield and dashboard vents, but I'm not getting any air to the feet... Toes getting chilly now that things are cooling down...

Anyone have any idea what this could be? Don't really want to start tearing things down without an idea of what to look for.. I have newer style climate control, with auto fan button..

I don't think it's the hedgehog b/c everything else seems to work fine. Not sure if theres some valve/flap/actuator that could be stuck, if the climate control unit is bad, etc...

Appreciate any advice or insight!

[jordynstattic]

Common prob on these E36s. The flap that directs air to the footwells might be jammed or the actuator controlling it could be toast. Try running the system through all the modes a few times—sometimes that loosens it up. If no luck, check the actuator behind the dash near the climate control. Not a fun spot to get to, but better than freezing toes.

[Eric93se]

Those actuators are very difficult to reinstall when the dash is in place (nightmare like).

An easy thing to do is pop out the digital climate control, there is a serial cable that controls the actuators you can clean both sides with Deoxit 5% and scrub with an old toothbrush. The actuator connector on the left side of center can be unplugged and cleaned but again don't remove the actuator unless you have a lot of micro tools.