Cooling the CD Deck (weird)

[Airborne001]

Well, since Qsilver7 did such an awesome job on my last stupid question, here is an every weirder one.

I live near Washington DC, and for about 2-3 months out of the years it gets hot as hell here. When the temps gets much over 90 my 6-CD deck in the trunk starts throwing Err codes at me. It says right in the manual for the deck that this is caused by over heating and to just "listen to something else for a while" Needless to say this is a bit annoying.

Rather than just replace it, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about where I could pull off a small duct line from the AC vents that supply the back seats, and have it blow discreetly on the deck. I don't think it would take a LOT of cold air to keep it in range, any fresh air in that closed envirnment has got to help.

I want this car to stay as original looking as possible, so whatever I do it has to be totally inconspicuous. I was thinking about trying to find some flexible plastic vent type stuff that was maybe 1.5 inches by 1/2 inch, easy to sneak it around unnoticed.

Like I said, this may be my dumbest question yet, but I appreciate any sugestions you have.

[pyro]

actully I have a good idea... in the trunk in the side where the factory amp is theres a flap that alows water to get out of your trunk if you get flooded. SO mabe you could rig up a airduct that makes outside air circulate in the trunk... just an idea.

[Jon K]

You could try heatsinking it. Strap a couple 1/4" piece of aluminum to the housing of the cd changer, see if that helps.

[BillionPa]

i remember seeing a post of someone hooking up 2 120mm 12V computer fans, and making a little enclosure out of something around the changer, so one would blow in, with a vent going to the panel above the back seat, and the other would blow out, into the truck.

apparently it worked perfectly.

[Alexlind123]

You could try heatsinking it. Strap a couple 1/4" piece of aluminum to the housing of the cd changer, see if that helps.

I agree, this situation could probably be brought under control through the use of passive cooling devices. Find some old computer heatsinks and attach them to the device in question.

[tgrandahl]

the cooling situation in the trunk is horrible and i as well as friends have had trouble with things over heating. There are holes under the rear deck so it seems that bmw wanted heat to flow out of these and cold air come in through the vents pyro mentioned. I actually watercooled my amps but thats a bit exotic, passive cooling could probably help.

find the side that the electronics are attached too any transistors and things that produce heat are probably heat sunk to that side of the case already. Get yourself a low profile heat sink and some thermal epoxy, stick on and heat up.

But all this is going to do is spread out the heat in an already broiling trunk. If you want to hook up a fan it would be easy as you already have ground and turn on leads going to the cd player, constant at the amp if you feel the need for a relay.

One other idea as this is only for a few months, take the wood/carpet back of your trunk out for the sumer. Get a hammer or a foot or a big rock and punch out the perferated metal for the ski bag. The flap is held on by velcro, leave the arm rest down. Yes this is half assed but does not really modify anything and will help.

~Tyler

[joshua43214]

There is a trunk vent, its on the left side if I remember correctly. it has a flap on it that can get stuck, dig arround behind the carpet until you find it and make sure its not stuck closed. then just turn on the ac and it will cool the trunk after a bit.

[Airborne001]

Thanks all, I will look for the vent first. Is it on the side wall or on the back of the seat?

If all else fails I like the fan idea, one to pull cooler air into the trunk from the cabin, one to blow out the hot.

[tgrandahl]

just pretend your replacing your left or right parking light, the right will be easier to see because the amp is not in the way. Now look down into the hole and you should see the plastic rectangle with a few rubber flaps on it.

[Airborne001]

I think I understabd, but if anyone has a pic it would be greatly appreciated. No big hurry, the temp here is supposed to stay under 90 all this week here. :0

[VentoGT]

Interesting that I haven't had this problem and Atlanta has had awful temperatures lately [every day for about the last month has been 90+]...I will keep an eye out to see if I run into this problem at all [at least until I replace my stereo with my Alpine]

[Mike-AZ]

I have a black '94 540i with the original 6-disc changer in the trunk. I live in Phoenix where it is not uncommon for it to get up to 110+ degrees during the day, and lord knows how hot it is within the trunk, and I have never had an error code. Maybe it's something else. -- Mike





Well, since Qsilver7 did such an awesome job on my last stupid question, here is an every weirder one.

I live near Washington DC, and for about 2-3 months out of the years it gets hot as hell here. When the temps gets much over 90 my 6-CD deck in the trunk starts throwing Err codes at me. It says right in the manual for the deck that this is caused by over heating and to just "listen to something else for a while" Needless to say this is a bit annoying.

Rather than just replace it, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about where I could pull off a small duct line from the AC vents that supply the back seats, and have it blow discreetly on the deck. I don't think it would take a LOT of cold air to keep it in range, any fresh air in that closed envirnment has got to help.

I want this car to stay as original looking as possible, so whatever I do it has to be totally inconspicuous. I was thinking about trying to find some flexible plastic vent type stuff that was maybe 1.5 inches by 1/2 inch, easy to sneak it around unnoticed.

Like I said, this may be my dumbest question yet, but I appreciate any sugestions you have.

[Airborne001]

Strange as it seems, now it is running just fine, regardless of temp. I'm happy, kind of. If the damn thing is going to break I wish it would just break so I can get it replaced.

[chris_e34]

i remember seeing a post of someone hooking up 2 120mm 12V computer fans



i live in annandale va, i have no problems like this...strange... in alexandria there is a computer shop called www.advanced2000.com i buy 120mm computer case fans for cooling all kinds of stuff...12v these suckers push more air than an airplane engine. just mount upthe fan behind the deck with paper clips or something. it keeps a 2 ghz p4 cool from 2 feet away with only a heatsink on it. (this is an amazing feat) if that dosnt solve your problem i dunno what will. i mentioned advanced 2000 because they have 120mm fans for like 3 bucks...neweggs cheapest is 11$ shoot me a pm since we are both in the dc area i would love to see your car.

[Airborne001]

Thanks for that link, we had a place like that in Mountain View CA that was awesome, been looking for something like them out here. At the old place you could Franekstein together a Battlebot for about 200 bucks.

[genphreak]

Strange as it seems, now it is running just fine, regardless of temp. I'm happy, kind of. If the damn thing is going to break I wish it would just break so I can get it replaced.It is probably a component going out of spec. The decks are old, have seen massive changes of heat too many times. If it annoys you get a new or bench test it under a meausred 50 degree heat. When it fails, use a car of freon to isolate the component on the PCB that prefers to be cool. Could easily take 2 hours to do, maybe you are better off to replace it. :) Nick

[mikell]

I have a black '94 540i with the original 6-disc changer in the trunk. I live in Phoenix where it is not uncommon for it to get up to 110+ degrees during the day, and lord knows how hot it is within the trunk, and I have never had an error code. Maybe it's something else. -- Mike


Same here in Houston - my car is Orientblau (dark blue) and my changer has never had the problem you describe, Airborne. I agree that it's probably a component in your unit.

[Airborne001]

The problem has been intermitent at best, gonna replace the deck when I can, I'd like to get a 12-disc changer, but have to talk to my steroe guys about a deck to run one.