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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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...

Broken Breather Hose, Expansion Tank "How to Replace"

Broken Breather Hose, Expansion Tank "How to Replace"
BMW 330I 2006 E90

Hi guys, just wanted to do a quick post, I recently replaced the hose for the expansion tank.  It doesn't seem like it but this little hose is very important.  Basically this hose runs to the Expansion tank from the Radiator. 

Leak Video

I had recently taken my car to get an oil change, and right after it I started to see a little big of liquid every time I parked somewhere.  Initially I thought it was condensation from the AC, it's has been very hot here in San Diego, CA. But After a while I started to notice it more and more where I park at work.  I could see a stain, day after day, so I decided to look into it.  

Leak of Antifreeze

To my surprise it was actually not leaking very much liquid, and what I determined was that this leak only happened when the engine was very hot, under normal condition, it was okay. 

It was surprisingly easy to replace, one end just pops off when you remove the retainer, the other end just needed a screwdriver to undo the hose clamp.

What I assume happened was that when the I had the car in to get the oil changed, somebody must of leaned on this hose, and snapped it, 

See retainer

my car is 2006 (330i), and being that it's 10 years old, some of the plastic hoses have started to deteriorate, I live Southern California and it gets very hot here in the summer, and unfortunately heat and plastic don't mix, Thus: Brittle hoses.

Again just a quick post.  Thanks for reading...

I go the replacement from this company called Bavaria Auto Sport: Website
Their part number for the expansion tank is: V20-1227, if you are interested.

BMW part number: 17 12 7 565 093

Let me know if you've had this hose replaced, and how old your BMW is, I am curious to know if you replaced it around the same time period I replaced mine.

This repair was very easy to do,

Until next time...

Broken Sun Visor replacement

Broken Visor, Passenger side.

If you own a BMW E90, chances are that your passenger side visor is broken, they usually break on the clip to the right of the mirror.  I have to say I've had 2 visor replaced already today being the second time. I am not exactly sure how or when it broke, but if you know anything about these visor, you know this thing is not all that great because it doesn't allow much travel on the clip.  I would say only enough travel to keep a business card or a picture on it, otherwise forget it, the clip will expand and break.  Then when it's broken, somebody will try to pull on it, not knowing it's broken and then snap! it ends up looking like mine, (picture above).

I got my Visor for $39.00 dollars on Ebay, it's much more money if you go to the Dealer.  I've had good luck on ebay, so I definitely would recommend going on Ebay to get a replacement.

This is a link to where I got my visor: eBay Visor link.

I am sure this has happened to more people, so I wanted to share my experience on how to replace it.  Let me know if you went through the same thing...

This is how to replace it:

You are going to need a T25 Torx bit,  No it doesn't use a phillips or flat head, of course it had to be complicated right...

Undo the 2 screws, as you can see they are not that long,

Move the sun visor out of the way to get access to the screws.

When you remove the screws slowly pull out the wire connection, this is for the switch, to turn ON the Light Bulb.  One of these days I'll replace the light bulb with an LED light, I'll post that when I do it.

Then unplug it.  Only 2 connections on the plug if you are interested in knowing.  1 pin is missing in the middle.

Old and New, Visor connector cable.

Then simply plug the new visor, and install the 2 screws, and you're done.

Installed Visor, when you slide to see the mirror the light should turn on, if you did everything right.



Good Luck Replacing your visor, let me know how your installation went...

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