whew, serviced the blower motor today

[tim eh?]

[ charge trek XVI ]

So in my ongoing quest to find WTF IS PULLING MY VOLTAGE DOWN WHEN MY CAR IS WARM I dove into the hull today and pulled out my blower motor.

It was a reasonable suspect - Bentley says they draw 12 amps. It made noise (kind of a grinding, moaning sound not in the nice way) and I had a mysterious burnout in my IHKR 'final stage' (sword) at one point - totally fried it... I am forever in debt to Qube for providing me with a refurbished sword that is still working perfectly.

Anyway - not as hard a job as I thought it would be.

I lubed up the moving bits and then I took it to a local 12V motor place where they told me she was working like new even though it was probably the original.

So I put everything back together... the only hard part was getting the strap back on that holds the cover in place. Now the blower works great no noise but I am still trying to find out WTF IS KILLING MY VOLTAGE AT OPERATING TEMP? I'm not so stressed... all these things I'm doing to find it are basic maintenance anyway. Next suspect is ignition wires.

http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6923&stc=1&d=1249351180

http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6922&stc=1&d=1249351180

[stx133]

i may be having a similar issue, sjown with a wierd symptom; my fuel gauge is heat sensitive. when the car is running warm the fuel gauge shows 20L low. is this likely to be related or is there somthing else going.

did you inspect the length of your carbon brushes when you had the motor out. i serviced mine and had to do it all again 3 months later because i didnt check the brush length.

[tim eh?]

i may be having a similar issue, sjown with a wierd symptom; my fuel gauge is heat sensitive. when the car is running warm the fuel gauge shows 20L low. is this likely to be related or is there somthing else going.

did you inspect the length of your carbon brushes when you had the motor out. i serviced mine and had to do it all again 3 months later because i didnt check the brush length.

hmm - you are right, that is a weird symptom - I don't think it is related at all to mine, but I can hazard a guess. The fuel gauge detects a resistance on the line from the fuel level sender. full=3.2 ohms, empty=88.7 ohms. So there is something adding resistance to this circuit when you are running warm, like a corroded wire or connection. Do you get the same reading on your obc? (you have to unlock it --> how to unlock the obc (http://bmwe32.masscom.net/johan/obc_secrets/obc_secrets.html)) Anyway, first thing I would check (and clean) in your case is the connector to the fuel tank which is just underneath the access cover in the trunk (+/- six little screws).

I didn't check the brushes myself but the guy at the repair place told me the brushes had plenty of life left - he said the thing runs like new and he's right... it does!

BTW... not related to blower motor, but this is charge trek XVI... I think I have found the cause of my problem and will be purchasing ignition wires shortly.