Re: Cold weather woes

["J. Cash" <j.cash@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Don Bredle writes

Bad news is that with this cold snap, my heater fan or something near it,
seems to be running on long after I turn off the engine and remove the key.
Tonight I heard this unusual fan-like noise for over 15 minutes, till I got
bored and cold and went in the house. At 30 minutes I went back out and the
sound had quit. Is this 'normal'?  Is the main heater fan continuing to run?
I have heard there is a small temperature sensing fan in that area....could
that thing be running on?  Only other symptom is that the heat doesn't seem
to come out very hot, even when I set the cabin temp to 85 or 90 degrees.

- -----
Don
Sounds very similar to the 5 series.

Yes there is a small fan in the climate control unit for venting the cabin
temp sensor which runs for a while after shutting off the car - but there
can also be a fault which can cause the main blower to run during the same
period.

First of all you need to check where the sound is coming from.

Put your ear close to the front of the climate control panel - if the sound
is from there then it is the internal sensor fan.

If the sound seems to be coming from the vents - especially if you can feel
a slight air flow - then the fault will be the resistor pack for the speed
control of the blower - needs to be replaced. This is a common fault on the
current 5 series.

And yes - depending on the fault, it will run after car is shut off till the
cabin computers shut down (after about 16 minutes). They wake up again when
you open a door, or hit a remote key, etc.

This will not be doing your battery any good in this cold weather.

Cheers
Jim Cash

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