E90 BMW Recalls, My Experience: Airbag, Blower Motor

Airbag Recall: 

New Airbag E90 330i 2006

Let me start by saying that I never experienced anything weird with the air bag, but I don't think I was supposed to, I think the problem is when the airbag deploys that it could cause damage to the driver.  None the less I was happy to get it replaced.

NO appointment: bad idea...
I just showed up at BMW El cajon, CA.  I didn't have an appointment and they told me I had to call the "appointment center" to be seen, so I went home and I made call, they told me the next day was available so I went in this morning... It took 3 hours to get it replaced.  Initially I was told 1.5 hours, but let me explain why I was okay with it.

They also inspected my Blower motor wiring, which is the 2nd recall I knew about that I wanted to get fixed.  Which leads me to the second part of this post....

Blower Motor Wiring Recall:

The cable is now brown, it's actually 2 RED wires, when good.

The blower motor part is available, but the cars affected by the recall need to be inspected First and given a Repair Order number.  Then when the part arrives they call you to bring the car in.  I was okay with them taking an extra hour to inspect my wires because this means that I am now in line to have the Blower motor/ Wires replaced.  Which is what I wanted.

3 levels of "BAD":
The service representative told me that they have 3 levels of "bad", referring to the burnt wires.  Level 3 means that it's bad, and it should be replaced soon.  Which is what I have.  He told me that I could wait a week to a couple of months for the parts to be available.  Hopefully it won't take that long.  Level 1 and 2 are not very serious damage, which means the wires are not burnt... yet.


Cost for Recalls:  Zero
The cost of the recalls is only my time, which some may say is worth more, but I was okay with it because I got a new Airbag, and hopefully soon a new blower motor/wiring for my car.

Blower Motor Stopped Working: Temp Fix

A couple of days ago I started my car and to my surprise no air was coming out of the air vents.

So I set about to find out what was wrong.

The problem was that the wire got so hot that it burnt the wire terminals and from the heat it became corroded between the terminals to a point that no power was going to the "resistor module" that runs the Blower Motor wires.

Temporary Fix: Please do this at your own risk.

I needed the blower to work no matter what so this is what I did to "temporarily fix" the problem.  Now keep in mind that this is not meant to fix the problem, I did this to my car because I assumed the responsibility of what could happen.  I assume no liability if you do this to your car, please follow this instructions at your own risk.

This fix made the blower motor work again for me.

No association with Websites, they just have the parts I needed:

If you don't want to deal with this, the easier fix is to buy a new Blower motor resistor:Amazon link at the bottom of the article.

www.Amazon.com  They are $40.00 Dollars

Link to Connector, without wire :  Connector replacement Website

www.autohausaz.com  They are $3 dollars

If you want to fix it yourself, do this:...

I removed the board "Resistor module" and I found the bad terminals

Burnt Terminal

I unsoldered the terminals... NOT an easy job.

I sanded the PCB board to see PCB terminal connections. to make sure I knew where they were supposed to be connected.
In case I ripped a trace.
Back of Board

Also removed the coating the board had, and the burnt materials, as Burnt material is conductive.
Front of Board

I flipped the connectors, good ones were on the left, so I soldered them on the right

After I cleaned them, I ended up sanding them clean, for a better connection.

Only 3 pins are used, note which, the circled one I did not install because it goes to nothing.

More pics:

Known as "Resistor" module, this is the inside of the module

Burnt Connector on "Resistor Module"

This is the Reason for the Recall
Blower motor Burnt Wire / Connector

Cable is below the Blower motor.

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Blower Motor Replacement

Blower Motor Replacement

After months of procrastination I finally got around to replacing the AC blower motor in my car.  It was not that difficult.  But it was an experience to get it replaced.  I think the most difficult part was figuring out that I have to remove the cup holders before I can remove the glove box.  After that it was downhill to replace the motor.  I didn't get the resistor controller, I only got the motor, although later I regretted not getting the resistor controller too, I'll tell you later in story why, pictures below.

My motor was making a strange sound at low speed, it was getting in my nerves, I run my fan ON all the time, and at time it was unbearable, sample fan noise below.

If you are interested this is where I got my motor: Amazon Link at the bottom of the page

My car: BMW 330i 2006 E90

Instructions:

1.  Remove the trim around the cup holders,

2.  Remove the cup holders, (both cup holders).
3.  Remove screws around glove box, and remove glove box.  (If you don't remove the cup holders you won't be able to remove the glove box.  Disconnect all lights and switches from glove box.

4.  Remove lower trim at the bottom of the globe box, a few screws there too.

5.  Remove the duct, to get to the fan.  (note that you have 2 parts to the duct, they go to the back seat/cup holder in the middle compartment), they are only pressed in, no screws for these.

6.  Disconnect Blower Fan
7.  Pinch the release tab in the front of the Blower motor Housing,  (tab is facing front of car), then blower motor just drops off.

8.  To re-install everything follow reverse order.

The Blower Motor Resistor / Controller Concern:

Blower Motor resistor on Amazon: Link to Resistor / Regulator.

Being that my motor was only making noises, and that it was not broken, I assumed that the Resistor was okay, but to my surprise it was not, it had signs of overheating, which apparently is a common thing on this model year car.  I ended up using the same "overheating" resistor, and it is still working, but I ended up taking it apart, to see what the problem was, everything "ohmed" out good, so I ended up reusing it again.  I did end up scraping the "crud" off one of the Terminals because it very discolored, like it had overheated, the Connector "plastic" also, looked like it overheated, and melted the plastic around it, which I have to say I am very surprised there hasn't been a Recall for this type of issue.  In my case the wires on the terminal fused together, which could cause a Fire.  I cleaned/scraped both terminal and I crimped the connector to make sure they were making a solid connection, because I suspect it was a loose connection that caused the overheating.  I also separed the wires that had fused together and I re-wrapped them.  I suspect these wires were draining my battery too.

Resistor BMW part number: 64 11 9 265 892

Blower Motor BMW Part number: 64 11 9 227 670

The Melted Connector:

Melted Resistor Controller Connector

Both Wires fused together, not sure if it's Battery Power and Ground on the connector but I assume it is.

A few other interesting picture of the Resistor controller:

The final results:

Before I replaced the Blower Fan

Noisy Blower Fan

After I replaced the Blower Fan

Replaced Blower Motor (No weird noise)

I am very interested in knowing how many people have replaced their motor, only to find that the connector had been overheating, let me know in the comments below.  Thank you for reading this far.

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I hope you found this information useful,

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If you found the information helpful consider donating:

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Please note that the blower listed below doesn't come with a resistor regulator, which is why I also included it, both links below:  

Until next time...

Burned Blower Motor Regulator Connector, but still working.

Burned Blower Motor Regulator Connector, but still working


So I kept hearing this strange noise coming from the Blower Motor, and it seemed to stop when I turned the air off in my car, and I have heard stories of the Blower Motor being the cause of this noise, so I decided to go in there to see what the problem was.

I removed the Blower, not that difficult, unfortunately a lot of screws, about 10, then removed the glove box, and the bottom panel, then, just rotate the "Blower" to the right, after you undo the plastic "lock".

Plastic lock

Pull down on the plastic lock, I used a screwdriver, and then rotate blower to the right.  Then the motor comes out, unplug the cables from the fan before you rotate blower motor.

This is what I found:

Fan Blower Regulator

Bad Fan, Good Regulator? The fan motor was very hard to rotate and I could tell it was ready to go bad, I will replace it soon.  Unfortunately not only will I have to replace the Blower Fan, I will also have to replace the Blower Regulator too, as you can see it's has been overheating.  It's just a mater of time before it goes bad.  The regulator alone is like $90 dollars.  Here is a link to Amazon if you are interested:

Amazon link below...

Bad Fan:  I believe the culprit of the Regulator being burned is probably the fan because if the fan is struggling to rotate it's probably pulling more Amps, to try to rotate, which in turn will draw more power, which will create more heat.

Replacement fan:

Blower Motor part #

Here is a link to the Blower on Amazon:
Amazon: Blower Fan only, no Regulator

Note: you can also buy the blower motor with regulator attached.


Blower motor part # OEM:  64119227670

Youtube video that really helped me get to the Blower fan: 

Thanks to : Leo Perez, for the good video.

Let me know if you are going through the same thing, I am curious to know how many people have gone through this...  Thanks,


Link to Amazon Blower motor, please note, this particular motor doesn't come with the heater, with a heater it's more expensive.