new owner with problems - BMW Forum

steviebhoy · 10-07-2003, 01:39 PM

Hi,
Great site i surfed into when looking for answers to the problems i have recently encountered.
Anyway, i have a 1997 318, had no probs till recently.
Without warning the AC has failed. It decides when to turn on and off on its own and whether to blow hot or cold air. Ocasionally before this happend i would here a grown from the system if the AC had been on for an hour or two.

The second issue i have is with the brake lights. All three of them have failed on me. Fuses are fine and given that they all went at once i presume the bulbs are fine also. I did notice they worked intermitantly before they decided to chuck it all together.

Any help advice greatly appreciated!!!!
Cheers!

Furious · 10-07-2003, 05:12 PM

sounds like your climate control unit is f*cked. (its located deep behind the glove box) assuming when you say intermintent you mean that weather its hot or cold its not consistant. second thing that i can think of off the top of my head is that your a/c compressor is starting to go. i say that because im not clear if when you say intermintent that you mean just the a/c.

secondly the bulb situation is usually pretty simple, pending that you have changed all three and they all work. its a funny thing about it but once one bulb blows they all have a tendency to go. at the mechanics shop where i help out, its common practice to change all brake light bulbs regardless to how many are blow, because its a pain in the ass to have a customer come back an hour later with another bulb. HOOOOWEVER if you have since replaced the bulbs and they still dont work , id check the relay or possible connection problem.

hope this helps a bit, and for your a/c problem id take it to a professional, not some joe-nobody's a/c repair

steviebhoy · 10-07-2003, 05:33 PM

Thanks!

With the A/C, when i say intermitant i mean the unit will turn itself on completly at random and then when on it may blow hot, it may blow cold independant of outside weather.
Regardless looks like a job for a pro.
Cheers.

GreenDragon · 10-07-2003, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by steviebhoy@Oct 7 2003, 09:13 PM
Thanks!

With the A/C, when i say intermitant i mean the unit will turn itself on completly at random and then when on it may blow hot, it may blow cold independant of outside weather.
Regardless looks like a job for a pro.
Cheers.

Have a pro check it out. It may be a short in the system somewhere, or a ghost.

Hamann 325i · 10-07-2003, 08:13 PM

i had problems with my brake lights, the contacts were bad on the bulb-holders. I just went to my local dealership and bought a few more. They ripped me off big time $7 for each peice! i got pwned!

mostwired · 10-07-2003, 09:49 PM

Brake lights are a definite failure of a brake light switch, located under your brake pedal. Cost of part - around 20$, another 40$ to install at the dealer, or do it yourself, instructions here:
http://www.bimmerzone.com/brakelight.htm

On a 318 with no check control, you won't get "brake light switch" error, as the article describes. But replace the switch anyway, and don't drive the car with no brake lights

YonexGuy · 10-08-2003, 07:54 PM

My 98 323is did the same exact thing with my AC unit. I would be driving when all of sudden my AC would just shut down, heat would come out of the vents, then suddenly just cut on and blast me with cold air!

My vehicle was still under warranty at the time, but the BMW dealer said the problem was caused by faulty fuse/connection in the RMFD Control Unit (AC/Heat Unit w/display, pops out of your dash like a stereo). They just pulled the entire unit out and replaced it, and then recoded the IMKA unit.