ac fan only works on 4 write up :)

[jajou318]

I bought the resistor, but mine started working again of its own accord. I therefore have one spare resistor. It's new in box. If anyone needs one pm me.

Just install it.. yours will end up doing the same thing again..

edit: I just quoted an almost 3 yr old post =/

[sir rip]

Well I had the famous ac fan problem. I found some decent threads on this problem, but all were a little lacking I decided to make a pictoral walk through. With this walk through you should be in and out in under an hour

The problem is caused by the resistor to the fan. There are some that have been able to just clean the resistor and reuse. I had no such luck. I picked up a new resistor for about $50. This resistor is located under the windshield wiper cowl.



First you will need to open your hood. On the cowl you will see that it is held down by some plastic expansion pins. These pry out very easy.



Under the push pin is the actual expansion clip. These too pry out very easily. These both are reuseable. Unless you lose one you should not have to buy new ones.




Now you will have to remove the windshield wiper arms. There is a plastic cap on the arm. This easily prys off.



Under the plastic cap there is a 17mm nut. It is easy to remove also.



The Bentley will say that you need a puller tool. Not true. If you just push down where my thumb is the wiper arm will come lose with no problems.



Now that the wiper arm is out of the way, you will have to remove some weather stripping. It just pulls off and pushes back on.




Now just remove the plastic cowl. It should just easily lift off the windshield.
What you will see is a cylinder shaped box with two plastic ties on it.



Unsnap the ties and remove the cover. On the bottom of the fan motor you will see the resistor. I am pointing to it here.



Just pull straight to the front of the car to remove it.



Here is what it looks like removed.



You can clean it off with some wd40, pop it back in and see if it works. If not, just replace with a new piece. The new one I receivied was blue.



Now put everything back together and enjoy the breeze coming from your vents

Thank you thank you for the easy step by step on replacing the resistor. I completed it in 25 minutes.

Thank you bcausseaux for the easy step by step process on replacing the blower resistor. It only took me 25 min to complete the whole thing and the blower is working just fine. Now my wife can stay warm with the heater and not just the heated seats, lol. Thank you again!

[mt3]

I replaced the resistor last month but the blower is still playing up.
I'm going to change the motor, but the dealer claims this is a dash-out job!

Surely to replace the motor itself, you can access it the same way I did for the resistor?

[Z3speed4me]

Mine is similar but different, my ac is now amazing. But my heat only works on 3 & 4. Back down to 2 its cold...

[Fraika]

Thanks, this is great!!!

[jersey2.8]

Well, mine still feels like the fan is running. It blows pretty hard on "0"

Even when parked, or only while driving?

[Fraika]

Even when parked, or only while driving?

My one do the same, but is like if I put in 0 or 1 I dont have any difference. Still fell cold air and my heater dont work in anyone 0,1, 2, 3, 4... Is doesnt matter if youre stop or running still blows...

[dcrothers]

Great write up....
I have a problem and i'm not sure if it is related...
I have a blower sound from the foot well that is always blowing.
It's not terribly loud, but is always going.
Will cleaning or changing the resistor fix this???

[amancuso]

I replaced the resistor last month but the blower is still playing up.
I'm going to change the motor, but the dealer claims this is a dash-out job!

Surely to replace the motor itself, you can access it the same way I did for the resistor?

Your dealer is full of crap. You can clearly see the motor between the twin scroll fans . It's almost the same design as in the 318ti. Removable from the engine bay.

[Randy Forbes]

Great write up....
I have a problem and i'm not sure if it is related...
I have a blower sound from the foot well that is always blowing.
It's not terribly loud, but is always going.
Will cleaning or changing the resistor fix this???

There's a cooling fan for the DME (engine computer) that draws/returns air to the passenger footwell__this always runs. If the key is on, the DME cooling fan runs.

Are you hearing the noise in the driver's footwell too (assuming LHD...); can you feel where the airflow is coming from?

[rf900rkw]

The answer you seek is in the wiring diagrams. The blower motor runs at the lowest speed any time

the fan switch is in position 1, or

the fan switch is in position 0 and
the A/C button is pushed in or
the recirc button is pushed in.

This is per the 2001 diagram, and I know because Di's resistor didn't make it to 200K miles.

[SirataXero]

Thanks for this write up!

I just bought a '96 Z3 and this is the first fix I'm going to try by myself. Hopefully my fan switch will work again in the next day or two!

[Z3speed4me]

Mine is similar but different, my ac is now amazing. But my heat only works on 3 & 4. Back down to 2 its cold...

Anyone have insight on this because I am still confused about it. I will gather its potentially the same latch mechanism broken in some way.... When I go from 2 -> 3 I hear a slight click like something is latching open and then heat comes on. I'd love an idea....even though the cold weather is practically gone.

[SirataXero]

So I finally tried this out today. The wipers were definitely hard to get out. I just sprayed some wd40 on them and shook them loose. Not too bad, I guess. Apparently no one had been under the front trim of the car I bought for over 17 years. There was a lot of junk and leaves and dirt in there. Got a chance to clean it out. When the resistor came out, I was planning on heating it up with a soldering iron and/or dropping some solder on it to make the connection again, but the contacts literally just disintegrated in my hands! The thing was old and terribly rusted. Ordered the part off of eBay and should have blower working at every level by Thursday, hopefully!

[SirataXero]

Success! The new part came in and as soon as I plugged it in, it worked flawlessly! Thanks for the tip and this guide! I love this forum. .

[Z3speed4me]

Never got a chance to fix this on the old car... but it's definitely on the to-do list for this one.

[rboehl]

I soldered all the connections on mine several years ago when it quit working and it is still aok.

[lasersam]

You forum guys are great.
I am just going through my "new" 2001 3.0i and found that it had the full speed only fan problem, only comes on on highest fan setting. Some disappointment, followed by the realization that I'm probably not alone, followed by the discovery of this excellent photo-guided repair thread. Looking forward to fixing it now that I've seen the detailed instructions.
Thank you!

[bouwhuis2000]

I have the same problem. Thought I would look here first and voila. Going right out to the garage and fix this thing. Found it, the problem with mine was the tiny contact on the overheat sensor mounted inside the resistor pack. A quick dose of emery cloth and voila, it worked. On the other hand my wipers were difficult to remove. I levered them off with an open ended wrench under the pivot point, and gave a sturdy knock with a hammer to the loosened nut. Thanks to this post to let me know where to look.

Well I had the famous ac fan problem. I found some decent threads on this problem, but all were a little lacking I decided to make a pictoral walk through. With this walk through you should be in and out in under an hour

The problem is caused by the resistor to the fan. There are some that have been able to just clean the resistor and reuse. I had no such luck. I picked up a new resistor for about $50. This resistor is located under the windshield wiper cowl.



First you will need to open your hood. On the cowl you will see that it is held down by some plastic expansion pins. These pry out very easy.



Under the push pin is the actual expansion clip. These too pry out very easily. These both are reuseable. Unless you lose one you should not have to buy new ones.




Now you will have to remove the windshield wiper arms. There is a plastic cap on the arm. This easily prys off.



Under the plastic cap there is a 17mm nut. It is easy to remove also.



The Bentley will say that you need a puller tool. Not true. If you just push down where my thumb is the wiper arm will come lose with no problems.



Now that the wiper arm is out of the way, you will have to remove some weather stripping. It just pulls off and pushes back on.




Now just remove the plastic cowl. It should just easily lift off the windshield.
What you will see is a cylinder shaped box with two plastic ties on it.



Unsnap the ties and remove the cover. On the bottom of the fan motor you will see the resistor. I am pointing to it here.



Just pull straight to the front of the car to remove it.



Here is what it looks like removed.



You can clean it off with some wd40, pop it back in and see if it works. If not, just replace with a new piece. The new one I receivied was blue.



Now put everything back together and enjoy the breeze coming from your vents

[Vintage42]

Here's a tip:
http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...2#post28831092

[SammyD173]

Here is a tip for removing windshield wipers.

On the shaft that is holding the wiper arm - the shaft you took the 16mm nut off - put a 12mm open end wrench underneath the wiper arm. On the drivers side this works particularly well. Now put a tire iron or something similar between the 12mm wrench and the underside of the wiper arm, and either lever this or twist the tire iron with a wrench and it will pry the wiper arm off the shaft with no drama.

This works better on the driver side because the 12mm wrench is just wide enough to fit on the shaft below the wiper, but it bottoms against a thicker part of the shaft below that. The passenger side shaft is a little different but it still worked.

[mobilenet]

A quick thanks for this great 10 year old write-up.

My fan is working correctly on all speeds again after a quick clean-up of the contacts with some sand paper following these instructions.

cheers.

[ahyiah]

this was a great set of instructions. i just had some issues getting the damn wiper blades off. no matter what i did and sprayed, it just wouldn't budge. i ended up buying a windshield wiper puller off amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000L7JQE8) which did the trick for me. it kept slipping off so i ended up putting the nut back on before using the puller to anchor it.

[Remotion]

Well, mine still feels like the fan is running. It blows pretty hard on "0"

If you have AC on then yes. But othervise it should not blow anything when standing still. On speed it will give you nice blow without fan running at all.
I rarely use AC and I rarely keep fan on at all. And I like good breeze on my face but it just pulls so much fresh air from outside on speed that usually I use fan only on rain.

[PettitWC]

Hugely helpful write up!

Have been able to take the wipers off by hand in the past, but ended up having to use a ball joint puller this time