new to e53, few basic questions

[fronton]

After owning a 2002 4.4 for a few weeks, I am very pleased with my purchase. There are a couple oddities though that I'd appreciate help with.

1. Regardless of where I leave the temp or fan controls when I turn the engine off, when I next turn the car on the fan blower is automatically on the lowest speed. This drives me nuts because most of the time I don't want any fan blowing so I just have to turn it off when I start the car. How do I set it such that the fan is off when I start the car, or better yet, even where I left it last?

2. Automatic wipers are terrible. I can't get them to just go a normal mid pace. It is either every ~5 seconds or rapid fire. I know they are supposed to vary with pressure of rain and that I should be able to fine tune on the tip of the wand but they are just terrible.

3. I just installed BSW's One iphone control for my standard hi-fi system which does not have NAV. Am I supposed to be able to track through songs through the steering wheel and the dash control or am I stuck ONLY advancing through songs on the iphone itself?

Thank you

[mrbmwx5]

You will your answer for 1&2 in the magic book that live inside your club compartment .

[TerminatorX5]

i think 2002 4.4 had a rain sensor installed, did it? if you don't have a rain sensor with a knurly knob, then you can set the pace of intermittent wipers by turning the stalk to intermittent position, wait number of seconds you wish it to be (from 1 sec to 30 sec), move the stalk to OFF position, and then move it back to intermittent position...

if i remember the procedure correctly, you will have the desired number of seconds from that point... system will remember it for next time... with rain sensor, you turn the little wheel to set your sensitivity
... look it up in the manual, just to be sure...


and welcome to the forum

[Gregory891]

For #1 (aside checking your owner's manual), I am wondering if this could be a specific failure / defect mode of the final stage resistor. If your car has a digital temperature and fan control (as opposed to knobs your rotate) and since your car is 12 years - you may want change it. You can do this with fairly easy access (check the Xoutpost, there is a good write-up with photos). Buy the new updated part (BMW dealer or get the made in Germany OEM who's name escapes me). Replacement takes 30 minutes. DON'T wait till the cold of winter for it to fail and you have no blower fan - trust me

[fronton]

I tried using another key and with it the fan does not automatically come on. I read in the manual that the auto temp can be programmed with a key but only at a BMW center. Surely there is a way to do it at home because I can't imagine having to go to the dealership to change a programmed key every season of the year. I will use the other key for now but would still like to know how to change it if anyone knows.

If it makes any different, my controls are digitally displayed, not the round knob system.

[Qsilver7]

I think you have a misunderstanding of the IHKA (auto climate control) and the "selective" key settings that can be programmed...along with some idiosyncrasies of how BMW NA programmed the BMWs either shipped here or built here...for this market.

The IHKA is an automatic climate control system...which is designed to come on at every start for this market (Hot Climate). There is a period of 16 minutes that the car remains "AWAKE" after shut down...in which the car will go to SLEEP after 16 minutes if no calls are made on items connected to the P-Bus (door handles, windows, sunroof, & remote key buttons).

So if you had the IHKA turned off, and shut down the car...if you come back within 16 minutes...the settings you had prior to shutting down will remain. If you come back AFTER 16 minutes...then things return to default mode...which is the system will turn on at the lowest fan speed setting (if you had the IHKA control panel turned off)...or return to the previous setting if NOT in "auto" fan speed or air distribution mode...or return to the AUTO settings if you have them selected.

The IHKA is designed for a "set it & forget" it operation...except for some extreme cases where you may need to use the MAX cooling (pre-programmed setting) or RAPID DEFROST/DE-MIST mode etc... or you may want to turn the AC compressor on/off (snowflake button) depending on if it's winter/fall/spring/summer and you need to cool and dehumidify the air.

For those who prefer to turn the blower off and drive with the windows down...I can see where the IHKA can be intrusive in that it always wants to turn on...but even if you do turn it off...when it comes back on it at the lowest fan speed setting and only a simple ONE press of the "-" fan speed button will turn the system back off. If you had the IHKR set up...with it's 3 dials and bowden cables...life would be much simpler because off is always off but you do have to manually control everything about the climate control system...instead of the set-it & forget-it of the digital IHKA set-up.

(from the owners manual)

IHKA control panel with:

• no auto air distribution selected (manual selection for: defrost/dash/floor vents are selected)
• no auto fan speed selected (manual fan speed is selected since the word AUTO does NOT appear in the fan speed display)
• AUTO recirculation (AUC) is selected (left green LED is illuminated on the AUC button)
• rear window DEFROST button is selected

Below is the manual IHKR control panel that it sounds like the OP would prefer...everything is manually selected & when off, it remains off...when on, it remains on until the IHKR panel is changed:

The KEY SELECTIVE features that can be programmed for the e53 that have the IHKA control panel are similar to the ones you see listed below for the e38 & e39...this is different than the designed operation of the IHKA climate control system...and you can see some of the settings that can be changed or set for each specific key:

("=" symbol indicates the default)

[fronton]

Thank you for the detailed info. I still don't know if there is a way for me to change the default programmed temp setting. I assume that the setting is temperature based only, and that in the winter the heater automatically comes on rather than the AC. Regardless, I'd like to be able to make the default temp and/or all HVAC settings be OFF. Is this something only a dealership can do?

[Qsilver7]

I don't think you can get all that you're asking for...but as far as the TEMP setting...there isn't a "default" temp setting...you select what temp you want the cabin to be...and the IHKA does what it takes to keep the cabin at that temp. You just need to select a temp that is comfortable for you and leave it there....there's no need to keep raising or lowering the temp.

In the winter, the IHKA will do whatever it takes to keep the cabin at the temp you have set...the same for spring & fall. But when humidity and/or temps get high in the spring/summer/fall...use the AC (snowflake) button to turn on the AC compressor which will dehumidfy the air.

The snowflake button may be required also in the spring/fall/winter if the ambient temps are above 41° F and the air is heavy with moisture...or excess moisture is brought into the cabin from wet clothing from the passengers (causing condensation to form on the inside of the glass)...if you press the snowflake button, the AC compressor will turn on and dehumidy the air inside the cabin...but the air will not be ice cold (as it would in the summer).

There's only a few times a year I may adjust the TEMP setting on my IHKA control panel...and that's in extreme winter & extreme summer temps. In the winter, I may raise the TEMP setting to 72° F...and in the summer I may lower it to between 68° F - 70° F (along with the snowflake button in summer).

To get the system to remain off and stay off...and not default to on...will probably require going into the BUS system and changing a setting. If you look at the chart in the reply above...the very last one has an asterisk in the KEY SELECTIVE settings where it wasn't available yet on the e39 at the time of the doc's creation. But by the time the e53 came along...as well as for the latter e39s...this feature may have become available. Those forum members that have the software can be of more help in this area...I'm sure they've seen the selection that can be turned off/on.