You first have to remove the stereo. To do this you have to open the two small flaps on the sides and then use the factory tool or a small allen wrench and twist until the catches release and allow you to slide the deck forward.

Looking up you see two screws going up into the bottom of the vent. Remove these.

Pull the bottom out and then slide downward to release the plastic clip holding on the upper left corner.

You will not be able to remove it at this point.
There is a cable attached to the back of the left most dial that controls the bias in temperature between feet and face vents.
In order to release this cable you will need to remove the lower driver's side knee panel and the heat shield beneath it.
Once you do this if you look towards the center of the car on the side of the central plastic core to the ventilation system you will see a blue cable with a yellow end.

You have to release it in two places. The first is at the bottom of the cable on the side of the heater core vents.
It is a black plastic hoop that is snapped over top the white nub that looks like it is split in two. You will see this at the center of the picture

The second place is at the yellow portion of the cable. It is snapped into a black catch on the side of the ventilation chamber. In these last three pictures down is to the right.

Removed, the complete assembly looks like this:

Thanks for the info old skool. I have a rattle coming from my center vent that I need to hunt down and kill, and this makes my life much easier.

Glad to hear it.

This article covered my initial problem, but what is the trick to removing the lower driver's side knee panel and the heat shield beneath it. As usual I feel there is a brain saving tip that will help.

Thanks for all your DIY's.

I have those writeups in my sig. Follow the link to the BF.C articles and you should be able to find one that covers this.

Nice, tried this myself, but wasn't sure on how the get the cable off.

Btw, the cable on the vent is the bias between hot/cold air coming from it without effecting the foot and window vent temps.

Maybe a little nuance....

That scrollwheel is still highly strange. Image climate control set at 30 degrees. Now the temp sensor will detect cabin temp and alter fanspeed and prolly warm/cold air to get into the cabin too get it to the set temp.

Now the temp is 30 and you begin playing with the scrollwheel on the centre vent. You want a little colder air so you don't fall asleep. But with this cold(er) air coming in, the temp sensor should register a decrease in temp and will start changing output untill the set temp is reached again.

So it's kinda odd.

BMW's seem like the most complicated cars to take apart. I am always breaking things. Thanks for this excellent instruction.

Maybe they are hard to take apart, because the are so well put together!

Allow me to revive this thread to say thanks much to the OP and others. I used the information here to replace the center vent on my 98 recently. Here's a linky to my DIY. Not much new info there, but a few more pictures. Hope others find it helpful...

http://www.dvatp.com/bmw/diy/center_vent/

-Doug

Looks good

Not sure what happened but mine is nothing like your's. Just a simple connector behind the radio panel. Wish I hadn't spent an hour trying to find that blue cable. Bummer!

This is mine 93 325is built 12/92 if it matters.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/adis_daddy/Img0102.jpg

Interesting. What AC controls do you have? The digital climate control or the analog AC control?

One option is to start to pull the vent out of the dash and look behind it to see if it has the blue cable attached to it.

Analog I thought but digital would explain it. It came out really easy once I figured out that the blue cable didn't exist. One clip right in behind the radio. Should have taken less than 5 minutes.

This is not a critique just a heads up for others. Maybe someone can explain which models have which style of connection.

pre-9/96 have the eletric plug, post 9/96 have the blue cable which i am still trying to get to. The metal wall is hell to get off.

Will the cable in question here be the same cable that allows the temp control to change from Hot to Cold

Reason is that my control does not change and is always on cold, when i turn it to heat it goes around 360 so i'm guessing the cable is loose....

Bump

Thanks

The cable adjusts the temperature of the center vent relative to the rest of the vents. It can be adjusted to colder or hotter.

Will the cable in question here be the same cable that allows the temp control to change from Hot to Cold

Reason is that my control does not change and is always on cold, when i turn it to heat it goes around 360 so i'm guessing the cable is loose....

Bump

Thanks

same problem as me! did you ever resolve ? or anyone esle know what needs to be done ?

Thanks!
m

I have those writeups in my sig. Follow the link to the BF.C articles and you should be able to find one that covers this.

I do not see one that covers this in the link in your sig. Can you give me another hint?

Not sure what happened but mine is nothing like your's. Just a simple connector behind the radio panel. Wish I hadn't spent an hour trying to find that blue cable. Bummer!


Where did you unplug it from? I can't seem to find it on my 93 318is.

Where did you unplug it from? I can't seem to find it on my 93 318is.

Bump

Anyone know? Dont leave us nonbluecable guys out in the cold!

Anyone know? Dont leave us nonbluecable guys out in the cold!

If you can't see it, you probably don't have AC so you just take the lid off and pull out the only cable there is...

Not sure what happened but mine is nothing like your's. Just a simple connector behind the radio panel. Wish I hadn't spent an hour trying to find that blue cable. Bummer!

This is mine 93 325is built 12/92 if it matters.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/adis_daddy/Img0102.jpg

Mine looks like that but for the life of me I can't find where that end connects.

I do not see one that covers this in the link in your sig. Can you give me another hint?

I still can't find the write-up that shows how to take the lower driver's side knee panel and the heat shield beneath it off. Any help?????????

Mine looks like that but for the life of me I can't find where that end connects.

+1

I still can't find the write-up that shows how to take the lower driver's side knee panel and the heat shield beneath it off. Any help?????????

I'm sure I have it somewhere...

You have to take out the screw holding the trunk handle in place. Then carefully dismantle the spring and handle. Then there are a couple obvious screws. Then the panel just slides out. (that is the kick panel.)

The knee panel under the dash has a few obvious screws and then you have to carefully work it free from the other panels in that area.

The heat shield under it is just a matter of removing those large bolts that go through it with a nice socket extension or deep socket.

Thank you. I will be giving it a try tonight!

Oh.. And if you DONT have the blue cable what you do is pop out the OBC (stick your finger through the hole underneath and push out) and look around that area inside and you should see the connection for the center vent wiring. Unplug and poof-be-done.