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IHKA Assembly /blower motor assembly house removal (mini tutorial)
1 Attachment(s)
I couldn't find anything on the internet for E53
Even realoem has very little in terms of pictures https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=64_1135 I'm not 100% sure of the right name but this is what it looks like. https://i.ibb.co/h9KVSRF/20210615-175143.jpg https://i.ibb.co/cQhds39/20210615-152523.jpg https://i.ibb.co/HX4PvXD/20210615-152505.jpg https://i.ibb.co/ZV68StJ/Screenshot-...3342-e-Bay.jpg https://i.ibb.co/kK8rDX9/20210615-175132.jpg https://i.ibb.co/wB5qqVj/20210615-152526.jpg Under the hood it's easy. You remove the plastic cover, there are a few screws but pretty simple overall. Then you need to remove 3 heater intake hoses, clamped with 6 mm bolts. You peel back a very stuck in place, thick tuber grommet, and underneath you will find 1 of 3 10mm nuts that hold the IKHA assembly together. Moving to the middle, in between the 2 wire looms, you will find a second 10mm metal nut which is covered with a bigger plastic 10mm nut and it's like an inch long. Once you remove the plastic nut, you can remove the metal nut underneath. Moving to the left, you peel back another thick rubber and expose the third metal nut. You can unscrew it right away or remove the A/C lines first. You need to find the Allen key that fits, ot you can use torx 40 I believe. Be careful, if you A/C system is full, it will empty it. Once you disconnect the 2 A/C lines and the 10mm nut, you're done under the hood. |
Inside, you need to remove pretty much everything. Disconnect the battery if you haven't yet.
I removed the seats, then removed the dash. Again, not many tutorials there, just take your time and remove all the little screws. Take your time and you'll find them all. You will need to remove the steering wheel and the plastic switch panel (4 bolts). Make sure to use a marker to mark the steering wheel before removing. There are lots of videos online. This is probably the best to remove the dashboard. It's not as hard as others make it out to be. Actually removing the dashboard is easy, just take your time. You'll need to remove the airbag on the steering wheel and on the passenger side of the dashboard. This is the best video I found online for the job https://youtu.be/St_S1xFv-mU Once the dashboard is out, you need to remove the metal crush protector or reinforcement. This is not as on other cars. I really didn't like this part because you need to disconnect the steering wheel shaft, it cannot come out without it. I used this video, start at 2 min, it will explain how to disconnect the steering shaft from the steering wheel side. https://youtu.be/rckQyUf00xI You remove 13mm bolt and nut and then chisel it out. Don't worry if you already took the steering wheel off and need to turn the shaft to get a good position to access and remove the bolt and chisel off the shaft. Just put the steering wheel back without bolting it, and you will be able to turn it. There will be a few 13 mm nuts and bolts to completely remove this steel protector. They are very easy to find. Disconnect the airbags that hang on the sides so you don't rip off the wiring. Then you take the whole thing out https://i.ibb.co/vVs6PD3/20210615-175128.jpg https://i.ibb.co/RYv2r8F/20210615-143538.jpg https://i.ibb.co/gFNsWPx/20210615-143656.jpg |
Last step is to disconnect the IHKA Assembly of all the wiring inside the car and wiggle it out. Try to take pictures of how the wires were before and where you're cutting all those zip ties. There is really a lot of things to disconnect overall in this project, it's truly mind boggling.
As you already did the job under the hood, nothing else is holding the assembly. You can do the whole disassembly in 1 day. Just take your time. Sorry my pictures are not the best and not step by step, I didn't feel like I knew exactly what I was doing beforehand. I can take way better and more detailed pictures when putting it back together. With everything out, I'm just taking the opportunity to soundproof the floor and firewall with 3 layers of soundproofing materials - rubber butyl foil, closed cell foam and 'noiseblock'. This will probably add about 8mm of thickness, so hopefully doesn't lift up the carpet too much. The reason I decided to go all the way is I'm switching interior from beige to black, and I did not want to cut the front carpet. Without taking apart everything, there's no way to do it. Probably that's why I have not found a single tutorial online on replacing the front carpet on E53. I took this opportunity to replace the blower motor which was squeaking. I will preemptively replace the A/C evaporator and heater core inside the IHKa assembly and install new rubber rings of course. The evaporator and heater core are major reasons that people have to rip the dash apart at some point, and for a 19 year old car, which was owned by me for only last 2, I think I will make sure I don't ever have to open the dash again. I used Hella brand for the heater core and Spectra for the evaporator, which I heard good things about. I'm also proactively replacing the A/C expansion valve with Denso. Probably a good time to delete the EWS and install a remote starter as well, with such an easy access to all the wiring. Maybe upgrade 4 stoke steering wheel to 3. I dont know what else I could do while in there Feel free to post any questions, concerns, suggestions! |
Thanks,
This is why I always set my blower motor as low as possible (1-3 notches from Min) to prolong the life of the blower motor. - 1998 528i with 185K miles: blower motor still stock. - 2006 X5 with 138K miles: blower motor still stock. Later BMW models and most Volvos: blower motor sits under glovebox, making replacing very easy: about 1h job. This kind of engineering is crazy, hours and hours to replace the blower motor... |
Nice work,
I actually replaced my carpet from beige to black as well. I did however cut the front carpet in the middle (don't have the space/time to disassemble all of it), and pushed the 2 halves under the IHKA, can't really tell it was cut until you want to remove it and see the cut. Question: 1. what are you doing with the trim parts? like kick panels, scuff plates the pillars? 2. did you get new carpet? Otherwise looks good. keep us posted! |
Crazy work. I though my old GMC Jimmy and a Dodge I did once were bad. These are a lot of work. Nice of you to take so many pictures to help others. Hope it all turns out great!
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CN90
Buddy this car is about 400 000 km I think, lol! No wonder the blower was out! Agreed, absolutely atrocious design! Magister88 I'm not sure I understand your question about panels. Everything is removed now. As for a, b and c pillars, I'm reupholstering them with red and black diamond material. I also made a huge project for the headliner. I reinforced it with fiberglass and then reapholstered it with the same black and red diamonds. I then fed 450 fiber optics through it. It looks amazing but too early to show off. Gotta get all interior done first. My new carpet is ready. I cleaned it a few times with a drill brush. You will see little marks, I wasn't careful and the plastic side of the brush did damage is slightly. It won't be much visible after install. I just added a couple of layer of carpet paint to make the black color pop more. Then I'll go at it with a brush again, to separate whatever fibers got stuck because of the paint. In the meantime I'm finishing soundproofing of the floor and firewall. Firewall is a pain to get under stock soundproofing, all wiring along the firewall has to come off. https://i.ibb.co/3M1HYtj/20210617-175446.jpg https://i.ibb.co/fYQqg9t/20210617-175817.jpg https://i.ibb.co/wYRwsnT/20210617-175945.jpg https://i.ibb.co/Nrb2Rnr/20210617-180324.jpg |
I repainted the rear carpet as well with black paint to refresh it.
The rear carpet is actually supposed to go in first. You see some extra wire following the factory loom, that's aftermarket audio. I have completely removed all stock wiring, totally all wires between stock amp, sub, radio, speakers and sweaters. The red wire is simply an extra wire I ran from the main fuse box in the trunk. I'll use it for something later. The 3 holes I circled in red, I believe they are simply for a handbrake in right hand vehicles. I didn't take pictures when I took this apart, but the bolts inside these holes did not hold anything and are parallel to the bolts on the other side securing the handbrake. I'm happy to report that my extra sound deadening did not cause any issues and the carpet does not appear raised or uneven. I bought this stupid aliexpress carpet, it's kinda ok for the money. Does not have cutouts for leg lights https://i.ibb.co/BZ89Vm6/20210618-210721.jpg https://i.ibb.co/z4XQZwZ/20210619-104334.jpg https://i.ibb.co/wJk8YVj/20210619-104340.jpg https://i.ibb.co/Y8w2cr5/20210619-170737.jpg https://i.ibb.co/4pLJ2f1/20210619-170748.jpg https://i.ibb.co/zfz6k0m/20210619-170758.jpg https://i.ibb.co/2WhMmXH/20210619-173859.jpg https://i.ibb.co/C8g4KKJ/20210619-173912.jpg https://i.ibb.co/yP6sPbL/20210619-174024.jpg https://i.ibb.co/KGCWRjt/20210619-174118.jpg https://i.ibb.co/kmXB6Ph/20210619-174221.jpg https://i.ibb.co/ZmTZXP6/20210619-174253.jpg https://i.ibb.co/QJg4ngL/20210619-182155.jpg https://i.ibb.co/LpWTD6Y/20210619-182207.jpg https://i.ibb.co/V2q194m/20210619-170733.jpg https://i.ibb.co/Thc2x7B/20210619-161647.jpg https://i.ibb.co/YpydJSz/20210619-173327.jpg |
Could you post some pics of how the evap temp sensor sits in relation to the evaporator?
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I am posting a video for E39 5-series Blower Motor car in case others may need it (see youtube link below).
PS: It is very important to make the correct diagnosis of defective blower motor and not defective FSR. I posted the FSR trouble-shooting guide in bimmerfest E39 forum... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3CP9RXiX0M |
Thanks for the evap sensor pics :) I might try to get mine right into the evaporator at some point instead of out in the airflow to help prevent the freezing problem that can happen if all is not perfect.
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I'm not sure what you mean?
The sensor is inserted directly into the evaporator :) |
Ok, I didn't see the earlier pic before it was pulled away. I would have sworn that mine didn't go into the evaporator but just was in the air flow, I also think it was shorter. I might have to look into that further. Thanks again for checking! :)
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No problem buddy! What's going on with your sensor?
I received the heater core, at least there's still something thats not made in China! https://i.ibb.co/Rpxd8km/20210621-233836.jpg https://i.ibb.co/Gxcxzhm/20210621-233927.jpg https://i.ibb.co/M71CZ7j/20210621-233940.jpg I'm just considering if I should replace the evap temp sensor and resistor or if these components don't really go bad. It is quite annoying with shipping to Canada more expensive than the sensor itself! |
https://i.ibb.co/qRJkBDL/20210625-110450.jpg https://i.ibb.co/NmjG8qZ/20210625-110614.jpg https://i.ibb.co/5kzRXrP/20210625-110426.jpg https://i.ibb.co/1GG8hj1/20210625-110438.jpg https://i.ibb.co/JxK4S3X/20210625-102344.jpg
So when putting things back, make sure that the rubber boot and the shift selector go ON TOP of the carpet. Very easy to do it the other way around. Then it's a pain to change it, you gotta lift the carpet again... The two wires coming from between the two carpets, one is for power to the rear blower motor, and the other is for the hazard button I believe. Make sure you find them, very easy to lose them under the carpet and forget about them. Or feed them somewhere else by mistake. In these pictures, they're where they're supposed to be. I also suggest pulling the wires for heated rear seat connectors to the rear, like I did. Originally they're under driver's seat carpet. Even if you don't have heated rear seats, I believe most E53 are pre wired.So in case you find cheap heated rear seats (I've seen a few) at a junk yard, all you'll have to do is connect the seats and they will work. Just get the connectors for the center console. |
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if you have black carpet now, did you get replacement kick panels in black or you repainted the ones you had if they were in beige ? hope this is not confusing. I got used ones in black and refinished them. just wanted to see what other people are doing. Also a lot of great pictures you posted, this will come in handy for many of us in the future, thanks!. |
All the kick plates/panels were beige. I got them all in black and will re-spray with black upholstery paint like I did the carpet so that it looks new. I got a new black dash from a junk yard. Have yet to install it. The top of the original dash was black, but the bottom was white. As it's one piece, I had no choice but to replace the whole thing.
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Time to start putting things together.
Took forever to get the pedal clip and the temp sensor. I tried removing the under pedal plate from other cars buy it always broke right away. I also decided to change the evap sensor since it cannot be done without removing the whole assembly. https://i.ibb.co/W2Kf5mJ/20210710-112127.jpg https://i.ibb.co/R65nwWM/20210710-111852.jpg https://i.ibb.co/hXKhxmS/20210710-110824.jpg https://i.ibb.co/PDY78qC/20210710-110828.jpg https://i.ibb.co/bWmkbjq/20210710-110722.jpg |
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I'm putting the underdash cage back in place and connecting a steering wheel is kinda tricky.
I dont remember the position it was in, I didn't mark it, and my wheels are not straight. So I got lucky. When I was removing it, I tried to stick in a screw driver to remove the shaft. https://imgbb.com/RYv2r8F Accidentally I ended up marking the steering column, which is good. I can now align it according the the same mark on the piece that inserts inside https://i.ibb.co/bQsShLp/20210713-172640.jpg |
Hardwiring camera. I kept the cigarette lighter of the camera to plug it in because it had an extra fuse inside.
I hardwired it to Fuse #14 which always has power It's pin 16 on the connector Fuse 14 is Multifunction control module 1, whatever that is https://i.ibb.co/nwt6GkN/Screenshot-...556-Chrome.jpg https://i.ibb.co/74VCDnc/20210713-154314.jpg https://i.ibb.co/xsHtyNC/20210713-154954.jpg https://i.ibb.co/ccP4N6y/20210713-160507.jpg https://i.ibb.co/kH9S98Y/20210713-162657.jpg https://i.ibb.co/H71X1Db/20210713-160916.jpg https://i.ibb.co/8dvP5wW/20210713-162703.jpg https://i.ibb.co/NYTy51D/20210713-160921.jpg https://i.ibb.co/whyj5T7/Screenshot-...134-Chrome.jpg |
Installed the cage back
https://i.ibb.co/fvcfHhP/20210713-172526.jpg https://i.ibb.co/gtwT3jt/20210713-172459.jpg https://i.ibb.co/ZKWqPYZ/20210713-172441.jpg https://i.ibb.co/KmNqjD3/20210713-172408.jpg https://i.ibb.co/djR661R/20210713-172331.jpg https://i.ibb.co/9VStQdF/20210713-172215.jpg https://i.ibb.co/bWywGMJ/20210713-171857.jpg https://i.ibb.co/RhPsxCf/20210713-171955.jpg https://i.ibb.co/2jvXMf5/20210713-172155.jpg https://i.ibb.co/Rb7zD1x/20210713-172145.jpg https://i.ibb.co/YWQV9b5/20210713-171831.jpg https://i.ibb.co/984YKVT/20210713-171844.jpg I want to test everything now before moving on with the center console and the dash. I screwed something up. Cannot remove key from ignition and no crank no start condition. Probably forgot to connect something |
Forgot to connect this cable
https://i.ibb.co/jkfFSX1/20210714-110719.jpg Now I can remove the key and change gears. New challenge. No crank no start condition. Probably loss of sync between EWS and DME was my first thought. So I disconnect EWS and put a fuse in ews connector, pin 1 and 2. Car cranks. Now is the perfect time to delete EWS from DME, update DME firmware and install the remote starter. |
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