No Defrost or Footwell Heat, Dash vents fine

[thrillcat]

Got our first real snow of the year yesterday. It was a doozy. I noticed last night when I was driving home that the windshield was having a hard time staying de-iced.

So this morning I took a few extra minutes to try some things before leaving the driveway. What I discovered is that, while the dash vents and the rear vents are working just fine, the defrost and floor vents are not blowing air.

I usually just leave things set to Auto and 70º. This wasn't doing it last night, so I hit the Frost Annihilator button. The fan ramped up to max like it should, but the cabin didn't get nuclear hot and the window continued to ice over.

This morning I played around with the different manual settings and discovered that no air was coming from either the Defrost vents or the Floor vents.

Is this a problem with ye olde flaps not opening & closing? RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 4.8is ACTUATOR FOR AUTOMATIC AIR CONDITION

Or is it a problem with whatever tells them to open & close? Is that the FSR?

Thanks in advance.

[bcredliner]

Symptoms don't sound like FSR. Usually the fan is indication of bad FSR--cannot control fan speed. Fan might even run when ignition is off. It could be the blend door actuator.
When there is a problem with the system it should default to only heat from the defrost.

First thing I would do is check coolant level if you haven't already done so. If the coolant level is fine I would run a diagnosis to check for errors that might narrow it down. I wouldn't start buying parts yet. there is more troubleshooting to do.

[CrazyOneToo]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

Symptoms don't sound like FSR. Usually the fan is indication of bad FSR--cannot control fan speed. Fan might even run when ignition is off. It could be the blend door actuator.
When there is a problem with the system it should default to only heat from the defrost.

First thing I would do is check coolant level if you haven't already done so. If the coolant level is fine I would run a diagnosis to check for errors that might narrow it down. I wouldn't start buying parts yet. there is more troubleshooting to do.

Hi all. So does this actuator go bad regularly? Mine stopped switching between dash, defrost, and heater one night when it was really cold. Now it does switch between them but when its on floor heater it doesn't seems to put much air down there compared to how fast the fan is blowing. I can put my hand down there and feel air but it seems rather lacking in a heater. Another issue....how much air is the back seat fan supposed to blow? When its on I can barely feel anything from that unit even if my hand is right in front of the vent. Thanks for any pointers.

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[thrillcat]

Cool, thanks for the post. Digging DEEP into the archives and finding a whole bunch of FSR replacements and not many other confirmed solutions.

Things on my list so far:
Blend Doors
Coolant
Cabin Filters
Heater Control Valve

[lps5053]

Originally Posted by thrillcat

Cool, thanks for the post. Digging DEEP into the archives and finding a whole bunch of FSR replacements and not many other confirmed solutions.

Things on my list so far:
Blend Doors
Coolant
Cabin Filters
Heater Control Valve

I had the complete opposite of you. The stratified air dial on the dash was bound due to the white piece at the end of the bowden cable being off track. I pulled the glove box out along with some footwell vents and could access it fine.

[thrillcat]

Yeah, I've seen other reports of the problem with the stratified dial. That seems to function perfectly. It just seems as if the vents to the defrost and footwell are stuck shut. I can feel warmth above the dash, but no real blowing to speak of. Can't really feel anything down by my feet.

[thrillcat]

Interesting development. Got in the X yesterday afternoon and the blowers all worked just fine. This morning they all worked fine.

None seem to be getting as hot as they should, however.

[bcredliner]

Have you checked coolant level?

[thrillcat]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

Have you checked coolant level?

I haven't had a chance to yet. I've been swamped and I want to do some thawing before I pop the hood. We've had -35F wind chills all week and even inside the garage is below 32º. I don't want to snap anything at this point. Hoping to get that done this afternoon. I would like to think it's okay, since it just came out of the shop multiple times, the last time being just after Thanksgiving...

Crystalworks, mine seems to have only cut the defrost and floor once, and now it's more a matter of it not getting real warm, so that's the alley I'll be troubleshooting right now, unless it stops blowing from the defrost and floor again. - Hope you feel better soon, that stuff is nasty.

[bcredliner]

What's regularly? I have not touched mine with 114,000 miles on the clock. How much air is getting to the floor depends on the setting you are using. There is a rotary dial on the rear seat control, if it is wide open there should be noticeable air flow depending on fan speed setting.