BMW E36 Blog

Do you want to upgrade your BMW E36 lighting to HID Xenon fast and cheap? I’m sure that almost everyone wants to do that. The HID lights are way much better than the usual lights besides, they give the car a very cool look as well. So, in one shot, you can upgrade your lighting to make your night driving as easy as daily driving. At the same time, you are doing an upgrade for the car looks as well.

The idea for today’s post is not mine. Chris who’s a reader of BMW E36 Blog contributed with a video showing a BMW car with HID 10000K kit installed (thanks Chris).

Take a look.

So, what do you think? Is that awesome or what?

Alright, now how you can do this? I’ve posted a DIY (Do It Yourself) before about how to install HID in your BMW E36. Take a look at it. the procedure is really simple and you can use the XenTec HID conversion kit H1 10000K Single Beam Xenon (sky blue) to do the upgrade. It’s really worth every penny you will pay for. Have fun!

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 M3 information source.

I’ve found a website which contains a list of the BMW color codes. Check it out here. In case you are interested in determining the color name for your car, simply get the color code number by looking in the engine bay then, look it up in the table in the website above. The website has a PDF version of that list as well in case you’re interested in downloading it for offline reference.

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate E36 information source.

I’ve found a collection of tuned BMW E36 cars. Take a look at the video below. But I’m warning you that you’re about to see some seriously messed up cars here.  As a matter of fact, some cars look ugly as hell and it makes me wonder about BMW E36 car owners who keep updating their cars until they look exactly like a E46 BMW Or a Peugeot!! What the hell? Why not buy a BMW E46 or a Peugeot 😆 right away? I’m almost sure that you will end up paying much more for the upgrade than just buying that car directly.

Take a look.

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate E36 information source.

It has been two weeks since my blower fan stopped working correctly on the low speed options (1, 2 and 3 ). It only works on high speed (Option 4). At first, I thought that the problem was in the fan speed switch because I’ve seen this problem before and when I told my electrician about it, he disassembled the switch and tried to clean it. Of course this solution didn’t work. So, I’ve decided to dig for the solution myself and I found that this is a pretty common problem among E36 cars. The problem is that speed 1, 2 and 3 are controlled by something called (Final Stage Unit on digital climate control units, Blower Resistor Pack on analog climate control units). The 4th speed is actually uncontrolled, so, it simply bypasses the final stage or resistor pack units. That explains why the fan works on the 4th speed and not the other lower speed options. Anyway, I tried to find a DIY (Do It Yourself) procedure on how to fix this problem and I found one that was written by "Deem3" on bimmerforums (thank you Deem3 for the great write-up). Now take a look below. It’s a really simple procedure. I will be trying it this weekend to see how it goes. I will post more details about this job soon (hopefully) 🙂 .

Disclaimer: Use this info at your own risk!! I’m not responsible if this didn’t work for you :-).

Symptoms (2 cases):
– Digital Climate Control: All the lights on your digital climate control are working and the buttons respond but the blower doesn’t blow any air.
– Analog Climate Control: The blower doesn’t work except on the highest speed (4th position)

Tools:
– Phillips screw driver
– Torx 20 driver
– 10mm socket, rachet and extension

Parts:
– 64.11.6.929.540 New
– 64.11-8 380 580 Old
Note: if you have analog climate control (with the knobs), the part numbers here maybe incorrect.

If you have digital climate control we need to buy a final stage unit. Costs about $100 at the dealer if you have the discount, otherwise it’ll be about $125. Apparently there are two part numbers for this part they both look the same but I’m guessing the new one has been improved. Anyway you only need the new part the old one is the one you’re replacing. Here’s what it looks like:

If you have analog climate control (with the knobs), what you’ll need to replace is the fan blower resistor pack. Take a look:

To replace it, we need to take off the driver’s side knee bolster. This only requires you to remove two screws,one on the right side of the bolster and one on the left. Using the phillips screwdriver remove the following screws:

Now remove the speaker and footwell light.

Using the 10mm socket remove the 3 bolts holding the metal shield. And using the phillips screwdriver remove the obd2 port.

Now you should be able to see the footwell air duct. Remove it by pulling it.

With everything out of the way you should now be able to see the defective final stage unit. Remove it using the torx-20 screw driver.

Replace it with the new part and before you put everything back turn on your car and test the blower. If everything is ok proceed to put everything back, and enjoy the benefits of having a blower in your car again.

Are you looking for more do it yourself procedures (DIY) ? I recommend the Bentley BMW 3 series service manual for you. I got it and I think it’s a gold mine for us -BMW E36 Owners-. If you didn’t grab your copy yet, get it right now! I’m sure you’ll find this book worth every penny you’ve paid for. Get the Bentley BMW 3 series service manual

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 information source.

Have you heard about a car that doesn’t need a driver before? I know I did hear that before and it was like many theories about how to control the car and how the car can determine the path that it’s going to take … etc. Today, I’ve found a video of a real BMW car (not a theory) that can drive by itself. I know it is crazy!. I’ve seen BMW cars that can park without the need for their driver intervention (driverless parking) like these videos:

But this new technology is really cool! I absolutely LOVE it. This makes you wonder about the future and how it’s going to be. I think in the near future a BMW car will wake up in the morning, go to work while you’re sleeping in your bed, and at the end of the day, it will come back home and just hand you the money 😆 wouldn’t that be great?!

Take a look:

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 M3 information source.