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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

WestSussexZ4
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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by WestSussexZ4 » Sun May 02, 2021 9:17 am

Hi All,

I would greatly appreciate any help diagnosing the following problem on my 2011 e89 23i:

1. When I start the car all is OK. All vents (dash, windscreen, floor) work fine. The blower motor is turning over nicely through the speeds and the temperature control works fine including the ac ac...no issues.

2. Then after a short period of time, usually a couple of minutes, the airflow through the dash and floor vents completely shuts off. For the rest of my journey, the only air pumped through the system is from the windscreen vents, and it is hot air only!

3.Whatever settings I try, the only thing I can influence with the controls is the speed of the air through the windscreen vents, which as I say is warm air only, even on the cold setting.

Next time start the car, steps 1,2 and 3 repeats.

Thanks for any help!

Adam

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mr.tourette
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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by mr.tourette » Sun May 02, 2021 9:26 am

Possible battery issue... I know my daily not long after i first bought it would shut down blowers to minimum level from time to time particularly if i had things like heated seats, stereo and wipers on all consuming power, modern cars consume stacks of power these days with daylight running lights and lots of power modules and ecu's etc, when i put a new battery on the daily it never happened again.. time to get the multimeter out or pop down to halfords for a free test:thumbsup:
if its got tits or tyres..its trouble :D

WestSussexZ4
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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by WestSussexZ4 » Sun May 02, 2021 9:36 am

Thanks for your reply. I drive the car infrequently and it is on the original battery by the looks of it. I will investigate further

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mr.tourette
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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by mr.tourette » Sun May 02, 2021 9:47 am

WestSussexZ4 wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 9:36 am Thanks for your reply. I drive the car infrequently and it is on the original battery by the looks of it. I will investigate further
Almost certainly a battery issue then, if its more than 7 years old you should think about replacing it regardless as it can cause a myriad of electrical problems including the well documented electronic handbrake fault that needs a trip to the dealer to install an update which would cost more than replacing the battery plus you would still need to replace the battery should you get that fault
if its got tits or tyres..its trouble :D

WestSussexZ4
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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by WestSussexZ4 » Sun May 02, 2021 4:16 pm

Thanks, battery is indeed showing less volts than it should. Showing as 12.12

WestSussexZ4
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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by WestSussexZ4 » Tue May 04, 2021 2:21 pm

Sadly a new battery did not solve the issue, guess it must have a specific fault with the system, vacuum leak, resistor, blend doors etc.

Pbondar

No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by Pbondar » Tue May 04, 2021 3:38 pm

WestSussexZ4 wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 2:21 pm Sadly a new battery did not solve the issue, guess it must have a specific fault with the system, vacuum leak, resistor, blend doors etc.
I assume you don't have a code reader?

With these cars its pretty much a requirement with upto 42 micro processors on board managing everything :tumbleweed:

WestSussexZ4
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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by WestSussexZ4 » Tue May 04, 2021 3:54 pm

Haha, yes so much going on! I have an autel obd2 which I used for my previous w214 merc. I did do a quick scan on it to see if I could locate any faults for this issue but all seemed well but perhaps more in depth checking required?

Pbondar

No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by Pbondar » Tue May 04, 2021 6:32 pm

WestSussexZ4 wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 3:54 pm Haha, yes so much going on! I have an autel obd2 which I used for my previous w214 merc. I did do a quick scan on it to see if I could locate any faults for this issue but all seemed well but perhaps more in depth checking required?
Don’t know the Autel unit but I use the Bimmergeeks Protool which is solely bmw ..it picks up errors with the blower doors etc :thumbsup:

WestSussexZ4
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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by WestSussexZ4 » Fri May 14, 2021 5:26 pm

Quick Update: took it to my local garage, they were unable to pinpoint the issue, recommending a specialist auto electrician takes a look.

I have got an array of error codes (I took a photo of the garage's computer screen) in case it helps anyone here provide any suggestions:

9C48 IHKA (Integrated Heater and AC System) left blending flap motor
9C49 IHKA (Integrated Heater and AC System) right blending flap motor
9C4A IHKA (Integrated Heater and AC System) fresh air/recirculated air flap motor
9C4B IHKA (Integrated Heater and AC System) defrosting flap motor
9C4C IHKA (Integrated Heater and AC System) footwell flap motor

(there were more error codes after this but I didn't capture these as were on subsequent pages)

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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by mcbutler » Sun May 16, 2021 9:49 am

Sounds like a faulty IHKA module if you have so many faults at once.
You will spend days tryin g to solve this via the forum, I suggest you find a good loacal autoelectrician
Are you getting a 9C59 code at all (IHKA unit signal not present)?
Do the codes re-appear immediately after clearing?
Does it do it in auto & manual modes?
Mark
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E89
35i
Carmine Red
Black leather

WestSussexZ4
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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by WestSussexZ4 » Sun May 16, 2021 10:28 am

Thanks Mark.

I only got a photo of the codes in my message sadly. I will source a proper diagnostics unit myself, as an earlier member said, seems like a useful investment for the future.

The garage technician managed to reset it and it seemed to fix it but then after a few seconds of working all the codes would return, irrespective of auto or manual mode.

When you say the module, do you mean the unit itself with the 4 dials? I might try and source a salvage unit as a final 'punt' before admitting DIY defeat.

Thanks all for your help. Come what may I will report back on this.

Cheers
Adam

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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by Pbondar » Sun May 16, 2021 12:21 pm

The head unit contains the ECU which is throwing the errors..

https://www.online-parts.co.uk/bmw-bike ... ntrol.html

However its possible that the actual mechanical unit is the issue..

https://www.online-parts.co.uk/bmw-spar ... tunit.html

Without proper diagnostics and probably someone who knows that specific area I think you are stumbling in the dark..

WestSussexZ4
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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by WestSussexZ4 » Tue Sep 07, 2021 7:54 pm

Hi All,
I've finally resolved this issue with the help of my local bmw specialist, I wanted to share my troubleshooting to hopefully help someone else in the future.
1) the garage ran a diagnostics on the system and it said the blower actuators were at fault.
2) one by one the garage tried to change them over, sadly this did not resolve the issue so a entire new blower unit was required.
3) the required part is not currently available from bmw (talking to my bm specialist and my local dealer the suspicion was that there was insufficient demand on the part, so no urgency on Munich to sort out a new supplier).
4) after lots of back and forth, pushing and probing we gave up on getting any tangible info from bmw this side of Christmas.
5) to cut a long story short, I basically sourced the required part second hand from ebay ensuring the chassis of the donor matched the spec of my car.
6) my mechanic fitted the part and luckily I now have air con!
Thanks all for your help and advice, I really appreciate the support.

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No Air through dashboard or floor vents

Post by enuff_zed » Tue Sep 07, 2021 8:08 pm

Well firstly I'm pleased you got it fixed.
Secondly, thank you very much indeed for coming back and letting us all know.
Fingers crossed your ownership experience improves from now on. :thumbsup:
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