E34 Fan Works, but the air coming out the vents is no more than a light breeze...

[kastigeer]

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction before I start to rip the whole fan/heating box out ...

The fan works fine - you can hear it from low all the way through high and it sounds like it's doing what it should be doing, but theres barely any air coming out the vents (any of them). I'm assuming something is jammed (a flap of sorts?) rather than the fan itself having a problem (like the blade coming off?!) as it sounds like I would expect it to.

Even switching the recirculation on sounds correct, you can hear the internal flaps close and the blowing strength increases a tiny amount.

Does anyone have an ideas or clever suggestions (apart from take the fan box out and look at it...)

thanks!
Barry

[DaveVoorhis]

Your pollen filter (aka microfilter) is probably plugged. See http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/mainte...ce/filters.htm

[BillionPa]

so... when did you replace the interior cabin air filter?

if you answer is something like "...huh?" or "the what?" then REPLACE IT NOW!

[Montreal525]

I cleaned out mine yesterday... Was overdue... I even stuck the vacuum in the the filter housing... Can you say dirt ...

System works better now. If all else fails, check if the cables go all the way when selecting vent ports. They could need to be adjusted.

Jeff

[Qube]

Could be cabin filter... could be blower itself not working. Then again, it could be the sword. We'll never know until you FILL OUT YOUR PROFILE!

[Russell]

What year is your car? Early models did not have cabin filters.

Also fill out your profile and/or create a descriptive sig. That way everyone can know critical info about your car. There were many-many changes from 1989-1995 on the e34 5-series.

[semiretired]

I started changing my microfilter last night. First attempt doing it myself (all other changes done by Stealer)

What a PITA.

After finally getting the glove box off (my fingers are just not quite as nimble as they use to be and my eyes certainly aren't what they were 20 years ago)and the top cover above the glove box and partially removing the aircon duct I could SEE the place where the filter is housed. Still havent got the aircon duct fully removed.

What a design

Then comes the Torx wrench part -- Where the F&*% are my wrenches? Off to AZ for a new set. I started removing some torx screws from some piece down there (about 6 or seven screws) and realize I need an angular wrench to get the last one out.

After an hour or so I decided that I'll contine the next day.

I pray I can get all that stuff back together again.

[mikell]

Hold on, it sounds like you're working too hard. You should not be removing 7 torx screws - just one on the cover of the filter housing - then you turn a green plastic blade to loosen the cover the rest of the way. All of the others are phillips, unless somebody changed yours. If memory serves, there are 2 for the heater duct, and about 4 to take off the plastic panels above the glove box.

Take a deep breath, then retrace what you've done. check out bmwe34.net for a pretty good illustrated step by step.

Perseverance pays.

[BMWCCA1]

A small screwdriver can replace the Tor-X tool in this application. They're not in that tight. I do have the proper tool but, not having worked on an E34 in about ten years, when I helped one of my daughter's friend's dad change a headlight and micro-filter over the summer on his '95 525i, I'd forgotten to bring the Tor-X tools along. A junky small flat-blade he had worked fine. He still thinks I'm a genius. (BTW, dead mouse skeletal remains had to be pulled out of his filter cavity. The vacuum he had wouldn't budge it. Nice!) He's the nuclear physicist who couldn't figure out how to remove the headlight!

[Alexlind123]

HOld on, people are blindly telling you that your cabin filter needs to be replaced when it hasnt even been established that your car HAS a cabin filter! It could also be leaves or other debris on the upwind side of the heater core. It would be easiest to remove your fan and check that first, unless you know you have a cabin microfilter.