E30 Zone

Have not been here for I while but I am still an E30 owner! OK my blower motor only works on position 4 so it probably is the Resistor Pack that has failed...I will test it first before replacing it.

The trouble is that the WIKI tells you that the Resistor Pack is located under the glovebox in a non-aircon E30 but fails to tell me where it is located in a RHD facelift (1991) 318i with air-con.

I do not feel like having to get to the Blower Motor and tracing the wires back to the Resistor Pack...maybe the Pack is mounted on the Blower...I am too lazy to find out!

So anybody know where it is?

Thanks.

Billwill wrote:The trouble is that the WIKI tells you that the Resistor Pack is located under the glovebox in a non-aircon E30 but fails to tell me where it is located in a RHD facelift (1991) 318i with air-con.

The blower on a RHD facelift (1991) 318i with air-con is in exactly the same place as a a LHD facelift (1991) 318i with air-con, or a a RHD facelift (1991) 325i with air-con, or a a RHD facelift (1991) 318i without air-con:


It's the brown bit (pic taken from the wiki):

[quote="Billwill"]Have not been here for I while but I am still an E30 owner! OK my blower motor only works on position 4 so it probably is the Resistor Pack that has failed...I will test it first before replacing it.

I had this problem, there is an overload safety switch inside, I cleaned the contacts with fine emery cloth and it worked. each of the three resistor readings is only about 1 to 2 ohms

Thanks for the advice Grrrmachine....the Wiki is a bit confusing in stating that aircon E30s have the relay in a different place to non-aircon cars. I see now that the resistor pack is located right near the blower so I should find it easily.

@KW355....yes I had the same thought that it could be the overload switch....the circuit diagram shows it as well as the actual resistance of each resistor...pretty low Ohmage with high Wattage rating obviously. I will definitely open up the pack and try to repair it before checking out the Breaker yards...OEM E30 parts cost an arm and a leg here and we do not have access to decent alternative parts suppliers here!

Thanks for the help guys!

OK I gave up trying to find this resistor pack....as the WIKI states...."the pack is in a different position depending on if the car has air-con or not. If it does not have air-con it is located on the left side where the glove box is"...it does NOT state where the pack is on a E30 RHD with air-con and it is not in the glove box position as the picture for a non-air con model shows!

So short of stripping out the complete insides of the dash to find this resistor pack I removed the speed control switch and it showed an open circuit on the leads going to the last resistor in series. So either the last resistor is blown or more likely the temp-overload contact is faulty but either way I shorted out the last resistor and temp-overload contact so I now have: Position 0 no blower, position 1 slow blower, position 2 faster blower, position 3 and 4 very fast... exactly same speed.

This will do for this car as I have now given it to my ex partner and it will work fine for her!

That marks the end of me owning an E30 as I am now officially too old and feeble to work on these lovely old cars anymore!

I am in a similar situation, however I am told the resistor is behind a removable bulkhead panel... Simply google search e30 heater resistor and you'll see what I mean Bill.

its bind panelon right side of OPEN glovebox, has black plug going to it, its brown in collar.