Nothing coming from Air Con / Vents

[robocal]

Started the car yesterday and nothing was coming out the air vents. Tried with the AC on and off. Tried pressing MAX and still nothing. All the indications on the AC panel were correct but nothing coming from the system. Did some reasearch on the site and the final stage resistor came up quite a few times. Could failure of this part cause these problems or could it be something to do with the blower fan. The fan in front of the radiator is working but not sure if this has anything to do with it ....probably not.

Thanks in advance for any light that can be shed on this issue.

[nextel773]

final stage resistor, your ac system lights up? yes .. then final stage resistor, may be out of commission, or you may just need to reset. this happen to me when i unplugged the ac blower in the center consol, no ac, but the ac controls, looked like normal. so and assumed i did not wire it up correctly, but i called my frnd at bmw, and they told me to unplug the final stage resistor, and plug it back in, and wala..

theres a great link on how too , Final Stage Resistor Replacement - X5world... if you want to play with it, but if your under warrantee let them deal with it,

[robocal]

Is the final stage resistor the same as a blower resistor ?

[bimerbenny]

also check your microfilter.i had the same problem and change the filter. it all went back to normal

[alpac]

Originally Posted by robocal

Started the car yesterday and nothing was coming out the air vents. Tried with the AC on and off. Tried pressing MAX and still nothing. All the indications on the AC panel were correct but nothing coming from the system. Did some reasearch on the site and the final stage resistor came up quite a few times. Could failure of this part cause these problems or could it be something to do with the blower fan. The fan in front of the radiator is working but not sure if this has anything to do with it ....probably not.

Thanks in advance for any light that can be shed on this issue.

Is your AC just not blowing any air at all all the time? A failure with the final resistor usualy generates erratic air flow. Sometime it would not blow and sometime it would blow at max without being able to control it via the AC control panel.

[Tomaz]

Alpac is right. Your HVAC fan is probably not working or you may have blown a fuse. Check fuse #59 and you may find the problem. Good luck

[Lin]

I have this same problem but i noticed that the rear air was still coming out. The air is not coming out of the front vents. This happens to me on and off. Sometimes I would shut off the car and let it sit and start again and the air would come back on. Should i check the same things?

[alpac]

Originally Posted by Lin

I have this same problem but i noticed that the rear air was still coming out. The air is not coming out of the front vents. This happens to me on and off. Sometimes I would shut off the car and let it sit and start again and the air would come back on. Should i check the same things?

This does look like a final stage resistor issue. If your car is still under warranty or CPO this would be covered. If not there is a DYI there http://www.x5world.com/articles/x5/m...placement.html

[robocal]

Thanks for the replies guys. Final stage resistor was replaced yesterday and A/C now up and running again. For your info Alpac before the fix there was no air coming through at all i.e. no erratic flows of air.

[Lotus Man]

Great post, guys. I have this EXACT same problem now. Problem is, I'm out of warranty. About how much would a job like this cost (at dealer and at independent service shop)? Parts and labor?

Thanks in advance for your help!

-Will