Coupe no blower, rear demist or aircon

the gill · Post by **the gill** » Thu Mar 08, 2018 5:35 pm

Hi all

I had the coupe stolen a few months ago. The car was recovered and there was a minor knock on the front passenger headlight\front wing so even though I was offered a good price (£11K) I decided to keep it (I've owned it almost since new and it's a late Dec 08 reg (so last of the coupes) and I know it's a great car that has been looked after). All new locks were replaced as part of the repairs (toe rags stole the keys in a burglary).

Anyway the insurance company returned the car with no blower fan, rear demist or air con working! (the latter 2 buttons don't light up when you prese them). They ordered a new switch module but this hasn't fixed this. They said an auto electrician has said there are a number of faults coming up related to this so they are now going to remove the dash to get to the problem areas.

I'm wondering if they are missing something simple to get this sorted - if anyone has any ideas for that may cause these faults (together) please let me know. I'm driving around in an awful Corsa atm !!

Cheers
Adam

Ducklakeview · Post by **Ducklakeview** » Thu Mar 08, 2018 5:36 pm

It'll be in transport mode - Needs connecting to "proper" diagnostic machine to delete, rather than remove transport mode.

Mike

ph001 · Post by **ph001** » Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:21 pm

My God, I can't believe they were going to remove the dash!!! This is transport mode as DLV states - diagnostics is all that is required. What a set of muppets

mr wilks · Post by **mr wilks** » Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:37 pm

ph001 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:21 pm My God, I can't believe they were going to remove the dash!!! This is transport mode as DLV states - diagnostics is all that is required. What a set of muppets

scary how inept some "qualified" techs are but the Z4 transport mode is a strange quirk ive not experienced with any other car make or model

ph001 · Post by **ph001** » Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:46 pm

I think most of the European stuff has it. Certainly Audi and Merc do... quick Google and you will see tons of hits on it.

UPDATE: yeh, even Fords have it too.. http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/mk3-focus/283690-transport-mode.html

I think the weakness in the Z4 is that it doesn't say it's in transport mode anywhere!

the gill · Post by **the gill** » Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:07 pm

Thanks all. I've just spoken to the garage and they will take a look at this thread and report back to me. Chap did say their auto electrician was v. experienced and had all the kit so he would be surprised if you guys are right. I and I'm sure the garage will be happy if you are though. I'll keep you posted. Cheers Adam

Ducklakeview · Post by **Ducklakeview** » Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:17 pm

The main problem with transport mode, starts at the dealers during PDI.

They have a choice as to either "deactivate" it OR "delete" it. the formers takes seconds per car, the latter about 10 mins - When they have a lot of cas to do, it's easy to see why they deactivate, rather than delete it. Unfortunately, if it's only deactivated then it cane come back into operation, whereas if it's deleted it never will..

Mike

the gill · Post by **the gill** » Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:01 pm

The garage has sent me a pic of the faults that the auto electrician's kit found earlier. I wonder if this still would show up if it was just this Transport mode malarky

: car faults.jpg (93.31 KiB) Viewed 1118 times

ph001 · Post by **ph001** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 1:48 pm

Any update on this OP?

the gill · Post by **the gill** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:27 pm

Sorry for late reply. I just got car back a few minutes ago. I'm still waiting for the paperwork from BMW Bristol who carried out the repair but the insurance repair centre said it was definitely one of the bits in the diagnosis so not Transport Mode.
The blower works and the rear demist light now comes on (not steamed up so hard to test) but the aircon light is flashing on and off and I'm pretty sure the aircon is broken (it's a cold day but it doesn't seem to be as cold as it was before).
So the saga continues - any idea what a flashing aircon light signifies - I've left car idling for 5 mins as I read on one place with aircon on but that hasn't fixed it.
Cheers

ph001 · Post by **ph001** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:40 pm

All sounds a bit suspect to me. Low speed blower, no rear demist light or aircon light would be transport mode 99.99% of the time for sure. You probably also had no reverse parking sensor operation (if fitted) and central locking not working from button inside car.

Absolute classic symptoms.

Ducklakeview · Post by **Ducklakeview** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:52 pm

As above - Sounds a bit fishy to me.. as for A/C light flashing, I've NEVER seen or heard of that one, possibly been charged with too much refrigerant?

Mike

ph001 · Post by **ph001** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:56 pm

I've heard of aircon light flashing through dodgy reprogramming of car modules - it's basically a communication problem. You could try a hard reset by removing battery terminals and shorting together (you'll prob have to reset your windows again / clock etc).

Also check fuses 22 & 39. If they blow, the ECU can't pull the compressor clutch in and it sometimes gives a flashing light.

See fusebox diagram here... viewtopic.php?f=3&t=38888

the gill · Post by **the gill** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:44 pm

Sorry for late update - BMW has now diagnosed a leaking aircon condenser. They have quoted c £500inc to replace this. I can see the parts are around £100 on the bay but wondered how many hours labour this would take. I may take to an indy but wondered how involved this work was. Thanks

the gill · Post by **the gill** » Sat May 05, 2018 11:35 pm

Final update - Aircon condenser replaced and all is now fine (so flashing aircon light would suggest coolant pressure issue).

Z4-forum.com

Z4-forum.com