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      11-17-2014, 12:36 PM   #1
PrazVT
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Question Climate Control Not Working Right (I think)

So I've noticed some weird things w/ the climate control on my 228i. Last night, I was driving home and set both temps down to 68 degrees. I noticed 2 things:

1. The A/C didn't kick in immediately
2. The right center vent output was very weak

I changed it from auto to manual and set the controls to just blow air out of the front vents but only the other 3 vents were blowing hard (max fan speed). After a few minutes and cycling the AC off / on, the right vent started blowing normally.

Then a little while ago, I was driving to work - it's 58 degrees out - and I set the temp on Auto and 73 degrees for both. In my F30 328i, 71 - 73 has always kept things comfortable; 74 if it's cold. My point is, until I set the temperature to 79 degrees, the A/C was blowing cold air. At 78 degrees it's less cold and then at 79, it goes to warm.

Would you guys say something's a bit off w/ the climate system?

Thanks,

Praz
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      11-17-2014, 02:27 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PrazVT View Post
So I've noticed some weird things w/ the climate control on my 228i. Last night, I was driving home and set both temps down to 68 degrees. I noticed 2 things:

1. The A/C didn't kick in immediately
2. The right center vent output was very weak

I changed it from auto to manual and set the controls to just blow air out of the front vents but only the other 3 vents were blowing hard (max fan speed). After a few minutes and cycling the AC off / on, the right vent started blowing normally.

Then a little while ago, I was driving to work - it's 58 degrees out - and I set the temp on Auto and 73 degrees for both. In my F30 328i, 71 - 73 has always kept things comfortable; 74 if it's cold. My point is, until I set the temperature to 79 degrees, the A/C was blowing cold air. At 78 degrees it's less cold and then at 79, it goes to warm.

Would you guys say something's a bit off w/ the climate system?

Thanks,

Praz
It waits for the AC to charge and work up to efficiency before it blows hard. Otherwise it would jsut be blowing hot air at you for 5 minutes. Its actually quite smart.

When you set it to manual you have to tell it where to blow. My automatic works quite well if you just leave it alone haha. Always have to tell my fiance to stop screwing with the dials, the car will blast hot/cold when it is damn well ready!
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      11-17-2014, 03:38 PM   #3
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Agreed - the normal MO for the BMW climate control system is such that

- it charges up
- depending on the temp setting and the current temperature, it increases fan speed + heat to get to the desired temp and then quiets down when it reaches that target

I agree it's pretty smart in its behavior normally. I've always left the climate control on 'Auto' and just set the temp. The issue I have here is that there's no change in the temperature of the air unless you jack it up to 79.

So that can't be right.
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      11-17-2014, 03:49 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PrazVT View Post
Agreed - the normal MO for the BMW climate control system is such that

- it charges up
- depending on the temp setting and the current temperature, it increases fan speed + heat to get to the desired temp and then quiets down when it reaches that target

I agree it's pretty smart in its behavior normally. I've always left the climate control on 'Auto' and just set the temp. The issue I have here is that there's no change in the temperature of the air unless you jack it up to 79.

So that can't be right.
Maybe have the temp sensor looked at? Thermocouples are prone to failure in any application.
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      11-17-2014, 03:58 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Killramos View Post
Maybe have the temp sensor looked at? Thermocouples are prone to failure in any application.
I suspect you're right. I'll have them look at this and the instrument cluster back-light when I take the car in on the 25th.
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      12-08-2014, 05:05 PM   #6
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Update - dealership claims that the climate control is OK. But i'm not convinced. I drove to work this morning (same..55-60 deg. F outside). Climate control set at 76 F; spits out cold air the whole time.

Can ANYONE please confirm that your climate control works the same way? Cold air unless you turn it up to 79 F?

I hope not. But would like to know before I take the car back (or to another dealer).

Thanks,

Praz
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      12-08-2014, 09:12 PM   #7
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OK so I'm a little confused with my ventilation sys too.
I noticed that I can turn it up really hot and it doesn't get that hot until 80.. but there is a dial between the two vents by the lock button that if its on 74, and i turn that to the red, it get really hot.

Why have that knob control the hot cold when there is a digital dual climate knob to do that.

So OP, try turning it to desired temp then moving that lever?

What am i missing with this?
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      12-08-2014, 09:38 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pdubb View Post
OK so I'm a little confused with my ventilation sys too.
I noticed that I can turn it up really hot and it doesn't get that hot until 80.. but there is a dial between the two vents by the lock button that if its on 74, and i turn that to the red, it get really hot.

Why have that knob control the hot cold when there is a digital dual climate knob to do that.

So OP, try turning it to desired temp then moving that lever?

What am i missing with this?
See you're having the exact same issue as I am. While the control knob between the center vents lets you adjust the center vents on demand, 90% of the time you don't need to touch them when you set the temperature. It's just there if you want it even hotter or even colder.

If the ambient temperature is like 60 and you turn it to 74, it should blow warmish air until the ambient temperature is 74; then it'll quiet down and just regulate the temperature.
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      12-09-2014, 12:24 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PrazVT View Post
See you're having the exact same issue as I am. While the control knob between the center vents lets you adjust the center vents on demand, 90% of the time you don't need to touch them when you set the temperature. It's just there if you want it even hotter or even colder.

If the ambient temperature is like 60 and you turn it to 74, it should blow warmish air until the ambient temperature is 74; then it'll quiet down and just regulate the temperature.
Yea... same issue. I swear we're missing something here.
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      12-09-2014, 03:56 PM   #10
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Well, my SA said I can bring the car in again. She seems to think that the center knob is important for the center vent temp control. But that makes no sense based on my experience and based on the climate control design. If you set a temp, all vents should adjust to that temp. Not 50% of the vents adjust and you have to manually warm/cool the center vents.

I may have another dealer look into ..let's see.
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      12-15-2014, 09:42 AM   #11
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Hey guys don't quote me on this but when I got my 235 (end of October) the dealer guy told me the dial under the top-middle vents actually aid in climate control. I've noticed if I have the dial set to hot (red) and the temp set around 70 my car is pretty warm. If I'm higher than 75 I'm sweating. On the other hand I've set the dial to cold (blue) and set the temp to 70 and had more of a lukewarm/cool feeling in the car. Even the dealer questioned why they did that in this car, but I got the hang of it. I normally use the AUTO setting and just adjust the temperature and that middle vent dial.
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      12-15-2014, 10:04 AM   #12
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I've had an E83, E91 and E92, and now F22. In each of those cars, the hot/cold dial between the center vents has always been more of an impact on the cars interior temps than the climate control. If you leave it centered between blue and red then climate control starts to make sense... But if you try to bring the interior temp to either extreme, you must set the center dial to match your intention in order to have any success.
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      12-15-2014, 03:10 PM   #13
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Thanks whoosh, so the 235 isn't the first car to use that dial.
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      12-16-2014, 08:17 AM   #14
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This is a common problem and I've yet to read a good analysis of how this works. I have read before that the blue/red dial is designed so you can have cooler/warmer air directed out of the center vents towards your face while keeping the automatic climate temperature set to what you want the whole cabin to be at.

For example, you could set the automatic temperature to 72 but turn the dial to blue so you don't get blasted in the face with hot air.

In practice, I've never had much luck with the BMW automatic climate control. Over ten years ago with my E46, my CA suggested to just leave the dial "in the middle between blue and red" but during the winter it was too cold. Since then, and across four more cars, I leave the dial all the way on blue during the summer months and all the way on red during the winter months.

I'm sure I'm doing it wrong. I find most automatic climate controls to be less efficient than their manual counterparts anyway. Less face it, these cars aren't that big inside. Do we really need a driver/passenger temperature split?
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