E30 Zone

Hi Everyone,

Newbie here, so apologies if I have not got all the terminology spot on!

My car:
1989 E30 325i Convertible Automatic

Spec:
Heated Leather Seats
Air-Con
Electric Mirrors
Heated Rear Screen
Electric Windows

The car has been in the family since New, and I bought it from my Father about 6 months ago. It is all in pretty decent nick, but there are a few issues that I would like to get sorted on it:

1. Heater Blower only works on setting 4
2. Rear Screen heater / de-mister doesn't work
3. Driver's Heated Seat doesn't work
4. LCD clock/date/temperature screen has leaked Liquid Crystal leaving a vivid orange blur across most of the screen.

The most important issue for me to sort is the heater / blower, as I can more than live with the rest for the time being. I have done searches on this forum and others and can see that working just on '4' is a common issue for the E30, and I know that I need to give the resistors a fiddle / replace them. I also know that the resistors are located somewhere to the right of the glovebox.

However, the question that I have is where do I get access to the resistor, and what do I need to take apart to get the access? I am pretty new to this and don't know what is what on the car.

Many thanks in advance.
Neil

Neil...

I had the same issue with my heater motor got some contact cleaner on it and is now working fine!

You will need to take apart the glove box if your resistor is located there, also a firewall cover to inspect the motor.

(Open The Bonnet)!
0. Fuse!
1. Take the rubber seal off.
2. You will see a cover directly in the middle under the windscreen, behind the inlet manifold. Roughly 20inch wide - http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=64&fg=99

3. Held on with 10 or 9mm Hex head screws, remove 4 of them
4. Pry the top part of the cover out towards you and pull it up to remove!

Now you will see your heater motor. There will be 4 half covers (put together will make 2 whole covers) juts remove them if you want to inspect the motor fully. part 3,5,6,4
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=64&fg=15

Not to difficult, time approximately 30min. Hope this helps.

Will try and post a picture up tomorrow.

cheers ksp, i have a similar problem.

Those resistors sometimes sit in the glovebox or by the heater motor itself depending if you've got A/C or not.

My car does have aircon - does this mean that it will be by the glovebox?

Also, as to where 'in the glovebox', I note that there is a panel which is held on by a small screw which seems a bit loose. Will I have to remove this to get access to the resistors?

Its hard to describe exactly where the resistor is located but will be come apparent if you drop the glovebox down and thumble around towards the middle-back untill you find a wirng multiplug.This connects to the resistor.
The resistor is actually held in by a little tab that you push to the side with your finger.
I keep the wiring connected to give me something to pull on to remove.
As said bit hard to explain but simple once you know blah blah

Google pic of the resistor