E46 Air Con woes! Blowing hot air when car not moving

silvergreye46 · 07-27-2018, 01:13 PM

Hello!

I currently have a 2005 E46 320d Touring Sport that I got from a family member as a spare car. In honesty I wasn't expecting too much as it's covered over 170,000 miles, but it drives superbly and the engine seems great too.

Unfortunately there is a problem relating to the air con system and I will try and describe it below, obviously it's much more potent at the moment due to the very warm weather. It has the usual climate control panel etc.

Effectively there are 2 problems with it:

1. When the car is not moving - the fans blow out hot air, revving the car at idle doesn't help, but when you are actually driving along, the air is much colder. Could this be the electrical auxiliary fan? Or the fuse for it? I can't see the fan as it's behind the radiator on this particular car.

2. The lower fans on your feet always blow out warm air. You can turn them off but this seems to further lower the effectiveness of the air con itself, so it's best left on auto. This is a secondary issue to point 1 - it's not the end of the world.

I have a feeling that the main aux fan (if that's what it is) isn't working properly/at all when the car is sat idle, so the air con system heats up and ends up pumping warm air into the cabin.

Any thoughts? I have already replaced the climate control unit below the radio as someone suggested it could be that, and it works exactly the same - so it's not that. I'm not a mechanic but the car isn't worth much money so I want to try and see if I can get it sorted or at least find out what the problem is.

Thanks!

Frozen · 07-27-2018, 01:16 PM

There is a little wheel/knob at the center vent. It can either be turned to red or blue. If it's on red it will always blow hot air. Did you check that thing?

silvergreye46 · 07-27-2018, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by e90m305

There is a little wheel/knob at the center vent. It can either be turned to red or blue. If it's on red it will always blow hot air. Did you check that thing?

Hi, yes, that is currently always set to blue, it's not that, but thanks!

yco · 07-28-2018, 08:45 PM

sure about the level of ac gas in the system?

07-27-2018, 01:13 PM	#1
silvergreye46 Registered 4 Rep 3 Posts Drives: BMW E46 320d Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: England iTrader: (0)	E46 Air Con woes! Blowing hot air when car not moving Hello! I currently have a 2005 E46 320d Touring Sport that I got from a family member as a spare car. In honesty I wasn't expecting too much as it's covered over 170,000 miles, but it drives superbly and the engine seems great too. Unfortunately there is a problem relating to the air con system and I will try and describe it below, obviously it's much more potent at the moment due to the very warm weather. It has the usual climate control panel etc. Effectively there are 2 problems with it: 1. When the car is not moving - the fans blow out hot air, revving the car at idle doesn't help, but when you are actually driving along, the air is much colder. Could this be the electrical auxiliary fan? Or the fuse for it? I can't see the fan as it's behind the radiator on this particular car. 2. The lower fans on your feet always blow out warm air. You can turn them off but this seems to further lower the effectiveness of the air con itself, so it's best left on auto. This is a secondary issue to point 1 - it's not the end of the world. I have a feeling that the main aux fan (if that's what it is) isn't working properly/at all when the car is sat idle, so the air con system heats up and ends up pumping warm air into the cabin. Any thoughts? I have already replaced the climate control unit below the radio as someone suggested it could be that, and it works exactly the same - so it's not that. I'm not a mechanic but the car isn't worth much money so I want to try and see if I can get it sorted or at least find out what the problem is. Thanks!
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07-27-2018, 01:16 PM	#2
Frozen Captain 600 Rep 853 Posts Drives: Frozen Red e92 ZCP Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: SF Bay Area iTrader: (0)	There is a little wheel/knob at the center vent. It can either be turned to red or blue. If it's on red it will always blow hot air. Did you check that thing?
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07-28-2018, 08:45 PM	#4
yco i'm just saying 6021 Rep 2,634 Posts Drives: E71 X6M '10 (sold) Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Istanbul & Kyiv iTrader: (0)	sure about the level of ac gas in the system?
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