Climate Control Repair Simplified

[gr8full]

The first step in repairing your climate control is to check out http://www.macadamizer.com/bmwfix.html. The site will most probably identify your problem and will provide all the instruction you need to encourage you to make the repair yourself if you have the time and are so inclined.

If you don't want to do the repair yourself, there are two people on eBay doing repairs for $45 and $49.99, plus shipping. I would wait for a listing from the person doing it for $49.99 (didn't get his eBay name). He doesn't use scare tactics, has a better listing, and I believe has more experience/positive responses. My assumption is that he is more reliable.

If you remove the climate control and must drive your car before the repair is made, and you live in a warm climate, remove fuse #20 for the heater blower, found in your engine compartment. The default setting with the climate control missing or inoperable is for the heater to be on full blast.

Once you have studied the above referenced web site and have possibly checked out other threads regarding climate control repair, you may still have the following questions that I have answered to my satisfaction:

Do I actually have to replace the capacitor?
I didn't. Enough people said that all they did to repair their climate control was to improve the solder connection. A friend with soldering experience heated each connection on the suspect capacitor for about 5 seconds with a low wattage soldering iron (not gun). That was it, no scraping, desoldering, or recoating. The unit now works fine.

What capacitor should I buy if I choose to buy one?
.47uF microfarad 35V capacitor. Just find that one, although a higher voltage will probably work fine (not a lower one). Did not confirm this, but the Radio Shack stock number is .47uF35V (suprisingly enough).

Should the capacitor be polarized?
Whether the capacitor is polarized or not is immaterial. If you do purchase a polarized capacitor, put the wire on the positive end of the capacitor in the hole closest to the nearest short edge of the circuit board.

Hopefully you find this thread helpful. I was so grateful for the information I got from the forum, saving me time and money, that I wanted to give back in some way.

[ParadigmGuy]

I'm glad you posted this today. Tonight my climate control gave me problems. I had a 3 hour drive. It worked fine for 2 hours. I stopped to get some food and when I got back in the car it wouldn't turn on, is this capacitor my problem?

[gr8full]

"yourauctionlistingservice" is the eBay seller I referred to.

ParadigmGuy, if the climate control powers back up by itself anytime soon and than continues to be an intermittent problem, I'd say you have the quick, easy fix as detailed in the link in the first post of this thread.

In regards to the capacitor with the bad solder connection that is causing the climate control problem, I see no reason for replacing it even if it costs only $.49. Concerns over purchasing the correct capacitor and the additional trouble & risk for novice solderers in removing the old capacitor and replacing it with a new capacitor just doesn't seem worth it to me. Has anyone's experience suggested differently?

[ParadigmGuy]

It has quit on me several times recently so today I was going to replace it but couldn't find the right capacitor. I pulled it out and just resoldered the connection. It seems to work fine so far, we'll see after a few days.

[gr8full]

Thanks for the update.

Didn't get e-mail notification of your first post. My second post was too late to save you the trouble of looking for a replacement capacitor, although people might still feel compelled to try to find the correct capacitor anyway (even though no one is absolutely sure which capacitor that might be).

A post in a couple of weeks confirming the results of your repair attempt might help spare others the hassle of replacing their capacitor!

[ParadigmGuy]

Will do.

[snoopy]

i have an e36 328i and there have been dark times for me my problem is as follows , i have the digital climate and everything works just fine eccept the blowers keep stopping after its been on a couple of seconds everything else continues to work ie i can turn up the blowers and the digital readout says they are increasing but the fans have stopped they only start working again after i shut it down for a few minutes or turn the car off can anyone help??????

[gr8full]

Welcome to the forum, snoopy.

In the upper right hand corner of any of the forums at Bimmerforums is "Search this forum". Click on it. To pursue an answer to your particular question, type the word "blower". Check out the threads and you will come across:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ghlight=blower

(click on the link)

If that thread doesn't do it, keep looking (or keep snooping).

Regarding this thread, has anyone else successfully done the described repair without replacing the capacitor?

[ParadigmGuy]

It has quit on me several times recently so today I was going to replace it but couldn't find the right capacitor. I pulled it out and just resoldered the connection. It seems to work fine so far, we'll see after a few days.

3 days later, still working.

[gr8full]

In regards to the capacitor with the bad solder connection that is causing the climate control problem, I see no reason for replacing it even if it costs only $.49. Concerns over purchasing the correct capacitor and the additional trouble & risk for novice solderers in removing the old capacitor and replacing it with a new capacitor just doesn't seem worth it to me.

After 10 days climate control works fine after repair without changing capacitors.

[ParadigmGuy]

Still working. I only resoldered the connection, I did not replace anything.

[bmwarie]

It is now three months and still working - all I did was put the soldering iron and some additional solder onto the capacitor "legs" after scraping the lacquer off that is around it on the board. Worked like a charm.

[rummy666]

This post should stay near the top. That is a really nice link, and great information. Thanks.

[ParadigmGuy]

I didn't remove the laquer.

[rgoodwin]

The http://www.macadamizer.com/bmwfix.html URL is down. I found it cached at archive.org, but without any pictures. Does anyone know of a URL/mirror that still has this info?

I THINK it is the same as my problem. Basically car sat for a few weeks, then wife got in and the climate control computer wouldn't light up and the A/C/fan/etc wouldn't turn on. After about 30 seconds it kicked on and worked, but ever since that day I haven't been able to get it turned on.

I'm going to check all of the fuses later today, but I have a feeling I may need to tinker with the computer as described in this post.

Thanks!

[gr8full]

ParadigmGuy - I didn't remove the lacquer either. Just a few seconds of heat to each of the "legs" of the existing capacitor using a low power/low wattage soldering iron. I didn't use additional solder.

Fix has been good now for about a month.

[rgoodwin]

I just popped out the OBC and stuck my hand in the back and touched the harness and it's working again now! Guess it had just gotten loose over time...

[BmwAlpinaB2.5]

I don't have the digital climate control(94 325is),I got the manaul ones,anyway my problem is that,I can only turn my climate control to 4,1-3 don't work and that really piss me off sometime because it will either get too hot when I turn the heater on or it will get too cold when I turn the AC on. does anyone here know what the problem is and how do fix it? anyhelp will be good. I appreciated.

[94-325i]

This is easy fix. All you need is replacing resistor pack. It takes about 15 minutes.

[BmwAlpinaB2.5]

This is easy fix. All you need is replacing resistor pack. It takes about 15 minutes.

where can I get the resistor?do I just look for bmw e36 heater resistor?and can you describe how to fix it?

thanks

[94-325i]

Here is the one that you are looking for.
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...d.php?t=270726

[gr8full]

"I don't have the digital climate control(94 325is),I got the manaul ones,anyway my problem is that,I can only turn my climate control to 4,1-3 don't work and that really piss me off sometime because it will either get too hot when I turn the heater on or it will get too cold when I turn the AC on. does anyone here know what the problem is and how do fix it? anyhelp will be good. I appreciated."

For fan speed problems, search the forum for "blower resistor" if you have a manual climate control or "final stage unit" if you have a digital climate control.

[spiderman97]

is it the same for the e46 as well? i was told its the final stage resistor. can i buy this at radio shack as well? 49cents and 80 dollars sounds like 2 different things but i want to make sure. the dealer is saying like $250. dont know how much with cca discount if there is one. everything leads back 2 e36 diy

[jagger333]

i fixed my climate control today just resoldered the connections of the capacitor. i really don't think you need to buy a new one from radioshack. but we'll see if it keeps workin...

[euro4life]

In regards to the capacitor with the bad solder connection that is causing the climate control problem, I see no reason for replacing it even if it costs only $.49. Concerns over purchasing the correct capacitor and the additional trouble & risk for novice solderers in removing the old capacitor and replacing it with a new capacitor just doesn't seem worth it to me. Has anyone's experience suggested differently?

I tried resoldering the connection at first. It would work great for a few months and give out again. I have replaced the capacitor now and haven't had any problems yet.