e36 vent motors

[bmw9818]

I've got an issue with the vent flap motors, basically they don't function at all, when I got the car the top demist and centre vents did not work, the foot vents did however I tried second hand actuators and none of those seem to work either?

Not sure if the control unit could be faulty in this department, I've heard they suffer from issues but not bringing much up from Google on this issue...

Currently I've got them all disconnected with vents manually open, but can't seem to get any motors to work..

Any ideas as to what else it could be?

[Simon13]

the control unit would be my first try. Is it a facelift with the digital climate control? Then yes they fail and can cause all sorts of odd faults

[bmw9818]

Yep s reg 328i,

Cool il see if I can bag one and try it out

[pacerpete]

Be aware there is a separate loom and small plug that fits into the back of the climate panel. This controls the vent motors. Often when people replace the troublesome panel, they forget to reconnect the plug.

[Brianmoooore]

Be aware there is a separate loom and small plug that fits into the back of the climate panel. This controls the vent motors. Often when people replace the troublesome panel, they forget to reconnect the plug.

Interesting detail, relevant to my E36 aircon thread.
Do you know if much of the E36 climate control wiring is separate looms, pete?

[pacerpete]

Sorry Brian, due to the dire returns , I have never fragged one. I have come across the plug mia scenario a few times, The first , many years ago, caused a lot of head scratching, especially as the craftsmen had cut the plug and a length of loom and the remainder was lost down under the console !

[wellard]

The loom that connects the flap motors is a bus loom, each flap motor is coded to a particular flap and they are connected in series out of the control unit and back again.