heater blower not working. temp gauge aint either!

[daveyw]

the fuse and relay is ok for the blower. any ideas what the problem might be? the car was a 1991 316i touring but have just converted it to a 2.5. was told from one of you guys that the reason my rev counter isn't working is because of a small kind of chip thingmejigger at the bottom of the instrument cluster that needs changing from a 325. could the temp gauge be of the same problem or am i talkin crap?
cheers, davey.

[gareth]

hehe! i've been having similar problems swapping from a 2.5 to a 3.5!

i have no useful help to offer though, just sympathy!

[Brianmoooore]

the fuse and relay is ok for the blower. any ideas what the problem might be? the car was a 1991 316i touring but have just converted it to a 2.5. was told from one of you guys that the reason my rev counter isn't working is because of a small kind of chip thingmejigger at the bottom of the instrument cluster that needs changing from a 325. could the temp gauge be of the same problem or am i talkin crap?
cheers, davey.

Do your electric mirrors work?
Rev counter would still work with the wrong "chip", but would give wrong readings.
Check fuses 10,12 and 21 - they all feed the instruments.
Common cause of rev counter not working following an engine change is a poor connection at pin 9 of the C101 engine loom plug.

[mk1chopper]

When you say the heater blower is'nt working, is it not putting out heat or is it not turning on at all, if theres no heat and the temp gauge isnt working this would point towards the thermostat being broken, as mine was, easy to replace and now my temp gauge goes out of the blue and my heater puts out a lot more heat. If the heater is'nt spinning take the cover off and give it a clean and spray with wd40 and see if this helps. I also had a problem with the rev counter not working properly, changed the control unit and now it works fine, i can post you the old control plug if you want its a 6 cylinder one hence why my rev counter was not going past 4500rpm.

Oh cheers brian for the all the adive so far.

[daveyw]

the fuse and relay is ok for the blower. any ideas what the problem might be? the car was a 1991 316i touring but have just converted it to a 2.5. was told from one of you guys that the reason my rev counter isn't working is because of a small kind of chip thingmejigger at the bottom of the instrument cluster that needs changing from a 325. could the temp gauge be of the same problem or am i talkin crap?
cheers, davey.

Do your electric mirrors work?
Rev counter would still work with the wrong "chip", but would give wrong readings.
Check fuses 10,12 and 21 - they all feed the instruments.
Common cause of rev counter not working following an engine change is a poor connection at pin 9 of the C101 engine loom plug.

no the mirrors don't work either. why do you ask? will check the loom plug, cheers.

[daveyw]

When you say the heater blower is'nt working, is it not putting out heat or is it not turning on at all, if theres no heat and the temp gauge isnt working this would point towards the thermostat being broken, as mine was, easy to replace and now my temp gauge goes out of the blue and my heater puts out a lot more heat. If the heater is'nt spinning take the cover off and give it a clean and spray with wd40 and see if this helps. I also had a problem with the rev counter not working properly, changed the control unit and now it works fine, i can post you the old control plug if you want its a 6 cylinder one hence why my rev counter was not going past 4500rpm.

Oh cheers brian for the all the adive so far.

the heater doesn't spin so will try as you suggest. can you pm me your phone number? would be great if you could post your old control plug. cheers.

[tonyppe]

excuse me for not having the time to read all the posts

my car is 318 with 325 engine running gear etc etc etc

rev counter is an amusement to watch as its a 4 cylinder 1. so it likes 4 sparks for 1 revolution. BUT 2.5 is 6 sparks for 1 revolution. so u can work it out, the counter goes round and round when i boot it. passengers get all scared thinking th eengine about to blow hehe

the blowers:

i had a problem on mine
but blowers, windows, didnt work
windows worked when door open tho.
the problem was a screw had come off the starter motor.

im guessing its part of the cuircuit that is to do with cranking, like when u turn the key all the way you will notice that EVERYTHING shuts off to give all the power to the starter and spark. may be someone else has more time and can explain better?
i didnt no what the prob was, and got it working by booting it as hard as i could. the wire was just touchin and booting it made it touch and stay until i switched off. hehe

[daveyw]

fitted a new starter when doing the engine transplant so it aint that problem. cheers anyway dude. my rev counter doesn't even move?????

[gareth]

the windows and fan blower not working is likely to be down to operation of the unloader relays, when i fitted my 3.5, the electric windows and fan wouldn't run as described above. on a 2.5 car with a 3.5 engine, pin 15 of the engine loom plug needs earthing to make things work. i don't know what needs doing with a change from 1.8 to 2.5 but it's likely to be similar.

[daveyw]

cheers gareth, dontcha just hate feckin wiring? makes me

[gareth]

they're alright the whole time things work! to be honest, bigdek told me the wires than needed moving etc on mine and later corfirmed by brianmoooooooooore.

beers owed lads

[Brianmoooore]

no the mirrors don't work either. why do you ask? will check the loom plug, cheers.

I ask, because if I have ALL relevant information I can point you towards what's wrong with your car! Give me just part of the syptoms, and you won't get the right answers.
Do your electric windows (and roof,if fitted)work with the doors closed and ignition on?

[mk1chopper]

pm sent

[tonyppe]

mirrors, windows, blowers are on the same cuircuit.

even tho u fitted starter, please check the small wire on the starter, ill take a pic of mine tomorro n show u. u may have missed it,
i say this cos u have exactly the same problem i had for ages! EXACTLY the same.

[Brianmoooore]

mirrors, windows, blowers are on the same cuircuit.

even tho u fitted starter, please check the small wire on the starter, ill take a pic of mine tomorro n show u. u may have missed it,
i say this cos u have exactly the same problem i had for ages! EXACTLY the same.

Mirrors and blowers are on one unloader relay, windows are on the other.Thats why I'm asking if the windows work.
The common link between the two unloaders is the wire to the starter motor, as you say, and , on the principle that the last thing replaced is the chief suspect in any fault finding, then I fully expect that the starter motor is where we will end up. May even be the wrong starter motor.

[tonyppe]

how have you gotten on mate? any luck?
im not sure what an un-loader is! lol
hope u get it sorted soon!

[Brianmoooore]

Unloader relays are used to switch off certain electrical items on the car while the starter motor is engaged.

[daveyw]

not got it sorted yet guys. i've been busy replacing ball joints and brakes. thanks for all the info so far. in response to brians question, the windows only work with the door open and the mirrors don't work. the temp gauge goes up past the red as soon as the ignition is switched on. also there is a red light that stays on all the time next to the handbrake light. its a circle whatever thats for?

[Brianmoooore]

also there is a red light that stays on all the time next to the handbrake light. its a circle whatever thats for?

If it's got dotted brackets around the circle it's the brake pad wear indicator.
Both your unloader relays aren't working, so check out a black/green wire that connects to the smallest terminal on your starter motor.You may find that this wire has been left off, or you have been supplied with the wrong starter motor.

[daveyw]

cheers brian, you're a hero! i remember when plugging in the small wire that it didn't look too shit hot so i'll check this tomorrow.
thanks again.

[daveyw]

not checked the wire yet but when i took the car for a quick blast tonight i noticed the speedo doesn't work either? is this problem related to the above or is it something to do with the coding plug at the bottom of the cluster? cheers (again)

[Brianmoooore]

Have you checked those three fuses?
Usual cause of speedo failure is an internal break in the wire coming from the speed sensor plug on the back of the diff.

[daveyw]

yeah fuses ok. will check that wire aswell. thanks.