Sword

[Rory535i]

Hi guys, my heater blower is suck on full blast no matter what position it is on and from reading through the archives it's obviously the sword as my car is an '89 model. Well it's really a late december '88 but i just call it an '89 coz it's easier. My problem is that I have climate control and it appears to be blowing hot through the left side of the car all the time no matter what i have it set at but the right seems to be working ok. Is this also controlled by the sword? Thanks for any help.

[shogun]

Only the blower speed is controlled by the sword. That means the fan speed. But not the temperature.
I assume that that the one side has a stuck heater valve. Maybe you just give it a wack with a plastic hammer.
You can also remove the plug on the heater valve block. If you look from the top of the valve (after you removed the black cover) there is on one side the wire loom with the plug (3 pins). When you remove this, valves should be fully open = heating.

[SRR2]

If you're suitably equipped and moderately skilled in electronics rework, there are repair instructions out there somewhere (sorry, I failed to bookmark them but Google should turn them up) on repairing the sword. IIRC, it's not that bad a job, mostly involving a few TO-220 transistors. You can get a reconditioned sword from Programa at a number of online sources, but that will set you back aorund $200. The components to make the repair yourself are circa $10.

[Rory535i]

Thanks shogun, you're a great help as always. Any chance you know of a write-up or a guide as to how to get to the heater valves? I've never taken the dash apart before and i don't want to break anything trying to figure out how! Thanks very much

[Rory535i]

thanks for the advice. I saw an old post on the board about somone who repaired the sword themselves. I'll be giving that a go before splashing out on a new one!

[JonE]

Try Bruno's site for many E34 repairs, http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/Maintenance/Electrical/HeaterValve.htm for the heater valve.
For the sword replacement try David at Euroelectrics, ameristar@comcast.net or call (931) 455-1266. He gave me very good service and also took the old sword as a core charge. It wasn't $200.

[Rory535i]

didn't realise there was a guide on bruno's site. I saw the one for the sword but not the heater valve. thanks mate.

[JonE]

Hey, didn't realize you're in Australia, guess I'd contact David by email anway and find out cost/shipping, for the "sword".
Good luck!

[Rory535i]

Hey, didn't realize you're in Australia, guess I'd contact David by email anway and find out cost/shipping, for the "sword".
Good luck!

no problem, appreciate the help all the same!