2005 5 Series heating issue?

[pookie]

My co-worker has a 5 Series and the interior heat never really gets hot. He said even with the temp set on 80 it will only ever get about luke warm. The other issue he is currently having, he said the temp has a auto sensor, and that sometimes the fan will be off and then just come on full blast. He said the fan coming on full blast happens when the settings are at 64-80.

Anyone have an idea on what might cause these issues?

Thanks

[Jazzbass]

E34, E39, or E60? I assume not an F10 otherwise it'd be at the dealer getting fixed under warranty.

[86911TLCAB]

i had lack of heat problem like that in the jeep. The heater valve wasnt opening, allowing the hot coolant to the heater core...likely getting a little warm just from the heat of the engine...was an easy fix once i figured out how the system worked..

[John Clay]

I've never RTM'd on my E39, but I have to manually adjust the temperature on the dial next to the vent in the center of the dash to get temperature I want. Adjusting the auto temperature control on the console by itself doesn't do the trick.

The full blast could be from the auto setting waiting until the car gets warmed up before it blows heat, then it says "you want it hot, I'll get it hot".

[APKhaos]

FWIW, the heater on my Landcruiser went out a while back. Barely warm even with the controls set to max temp. Checked all the usual stuff, but no luck. Like most reasonably modern cars it does not have a heater control valve. Hot water flows through the core constantly and the air mixer doors take care of the temp delivered to the cabin.

Finally popped the cabin temp sensor, which was covered in many years of dust and frass. Gave it a good cleaning with IPA/water and a soft brush. Everything worked perfectly after that.

[Dr K]

Funny you posted this. I'm driving a friend's 2000 540i for the winter (also his Maserati) and even though the heat is set to 63 degrees on both sides (the lowest setting) it constantly blows HOT unless turned completely off. Perhaps we should get the cars together for a compromise...

Anybody know where the cabin temp sensor is in these cars?

[John Clay]

Funny you posted this. I'm driving a friend's 2000 540i for the winter (also his Maserati) and even though the heat is set to 63 degrees on both sides (the lowest setting) it constantly blows HOT unless turned completely off. Perhaps we should get the cars together for a compromise...

Anybody know where the cabin temp sensor is in these cars?

Check my post. There may be nothing wrong with the car.

[Dr K]

Thanks. I'll look on the dashboard later.

[Lucky]

My co-worker has a 5 Series and the interior heat never really gets hot. He said even with the temp set on 80 it will only ever get about luke warm. The other issue he is currently having, he said the temp has a auto sensor, and that sometimes the fan will be off and then just come on full blast. He said the fan coming on full blast happens when the settings are at 64-80.

Anyone have an idea on what might cause these issues?

Thanks

I think an 05 is similar to my 08, so this may help. Have your friend press the button in the middle of the temp control knob and the iDrive will display a pictogram of individual vent temp and flow speed settings -- it may very well be that someone messed with these and the vent temps are set cold and at high or max flow. This is a great feature -- you can blow soft cold air at your face and blast your feet with fire -- but it confuses people that haven't bothered to learn how to control the system. If this doesn't solve the problem, then it may be broken... but from what I've seen that would be a rare event on these cars.

[pookie]

Thanks guys. I've passed the info on to him.

Jazz- its a 525. My bad, I have no idea what the internal BMW designation is, I'm not a BMW guy. Now if you'd ask me about Jeeps internal designations, I'm your guy. :D I can talk all day about CJ,TJ,YJ,JK,LJ,KJ,KK,XJ,ZJ,WJ...

[Dr K]

Temp control between the front center vents worked. Thanks (what a crazy system, but not as crazy as early Porsche). Why do they have this when they have specific temperature control "electronically?"

[roundel]

Why do they have this when they have specific temperature control "electronically?"

marketing

[Jazzbass]

Thanks guys. I've passed the info on to him.

Jazz- its a 525. My bad, I have no idea what the internal BMW designation is, I'm not a BMW guy.

No worries - its an internal generation model designation, like 964 or 993. Narrows it down to a specific time period of similar design. BMW is loves to reuse model names (like 325 or 550) across different generations of the car, so just using that doesn't give much idea into what generation the car is. It's like when someone come here and say "I have a problem with my 911" - do they mean an actual 64-89 911 (and if so, longhood, mid year, SC, Carrera), a 964, 993, 996, 997 or 991? Because Porsche sold ALL of those as a "911".

For BMW, I go straight to Wikipedia to figure out WTF the numbers mean :lol:.

For example, all of the following are 325i (top to bottom, a E30 325i, E36 325i, E46 325i, and a E90 325i):

34414

34415

34417

34416

[LPM911]

e46?

No worries - its an internal generation model designation, like 964 or 993. Narrows it down to a specific time period of similar design. BMW is loves to reuse model names (like 325 or 550) across different generations of the car, so just using that doesn't give much idea into what generation the car is. It's like when someone come here and say "I have a problem with my 911" - do they mean an actual 64-89 911 (and if so, longhood, mid year, SC, Carrera), a 964, 993, 996, 997 or 991? Because Porsche sold ALL of those as a "911".

For BMW, I go straight to Wikipedia to figure out WTF the numbers mean :lol:.

For example, all of the following are 325i (top to bottom, a E30 325i, E36 325i, and a E90 325i):

34414

34415

34416

[Jazzbass]

e46?
I knew I missed something. See what happens when you post before coffee*? Fixed.

* second cup, that is.

[turbohugh]

Thats one sweet e30