Good afternoon all, now firstly I hope I am in the right section but here goes. I have just bought a 2001 318i SE and it is a dream however, this air con business, when in the auto mode it seems to be blowing at full force, with loads of noise, cooling well but very annoying, Take it off auto and in the minimum setting it still blows like a bloody train. All I want it to do is slowly and gently "trickle" cool air into the cabin without it blowing what little hair I have left all over the place. Where am I going wrong? is there a fault which needs to go back to the dealer's? or am I an idiot setting it up wrong. It just doesn't seem right that such a precise car could be so adrift with it's cooling of the cabin. Please, any advice will be gratefully accepted. Thank you Mike
New Owner but confused with climate control
Jun 26, 2005
7 Replies
If you can't control the fan speed in manual mode it's most likely the infamous final stage resistor fault.
In auto, it should blow full speed until the temperature gets close to that set then reduce to a near quiet setting.
Thanks Dave, the infamous final stage resistor fault sounds rather sinister, should I be overly concerned or is it easily sortable at the dealer's without loads of cost or is it something that this forum has a fix for?
It's simply a question of plugging in a new one - they cost about 50 gbp. I'm not sure about the location in your model, though.
Make sure you haven't set it to "MAX". Even so, the auto function will go to MAX cooling if you have set the temp quite low with respect to the outside temp. In any case, you can deselect AUTO, (and/or in some cases just press the down fan button), to get it to blow at the speed you want.
So the OP doesn't go hunting for one, I'm pretty sure a 2001 318i doesn't have a 'MAX' button. My 2000 318i doesn't but my 2000 E39 does.
Exactly - So E46 "Maximum A/C" means temp set to 59oF (or Celsius equivalent), A/C compressor on, and either "Auto" on or fan speed set to maximum.
Tom K.
What I do when I first get in is raise the preferred temperature high enough so the fan slows down, then lower the temp a couple degrees at a time until it's the temp I want.
janet
Mike Fitzpatrick wrote:
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