Thanks Lance,
It's been nearly 20 years since I switched from BMW to Mercedes but I am seriously considering a new E39 if I can find a deal when the new 5 Series comes out.

Bud

...there is also www.bimmerforums.com

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1995 black pearl/black Mercedes-Benz E420 :

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone knew of a good BMW forum like this one?

If not maybe somebody also has a BWM with this problem. Its a 96 740iL and if you put the climate control in any position other then vents the heat blows out the defroster and heater ducts. Cold air comes out the vents but heat everywhere else.

I talked to the helpful BMW service manager and he told me the problem was the control head but I just tried a different one and it does the same exact thing.

Any help would be great,

Thank you!

http://www.roadfly.org/bmw/forums/

That site is no where as good as this one!!

C'mon ..there must be some cross drivers here ...BMW is just as good as Mercedes....LOL

We have a BMW Forum not quite as large as our Porsche forum but its growing. Steve

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=216

there is also www.bimmerforums.com

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1995 black pearl/black Mercedes-Benz E420 :

This is taken from the roadfly - bmw - E39 (5 series) board by Jim Cash dated 20010801.

Maybe you knew this, but if not this might be helpful - especially in this hot weather with the A/C on.
I recently experienced some occurrences of hot air coming out the floor vents - at times.
Well I had noticed it several times in the past, and I have seen it mentioned by several others, but this time it was really annoying so I decided to do something about it.
Did a lot of research, and also referred the issue to a BMW technical source.
I uncovered some info about “hot air from the floor vents can occur if you have the centre dash vents pointed downward, especially if the stratification dial is set to full cold".
Well I did not have the vents pointing down, but the dial was set to full cold (not that we usually have it set there but it was on this occasion)
Just after I found this I got a detailed explanation back from BMW, which does explain what was happening.

I paraphrase as follows - adding detail that I also know:
The A/C compressor (which has a variable output) runs almost all the time when A/C is siwthc on - enough to keep the temperature of the evaporator just a few degrees above the freezing point. This way the A/C system chills all the incoming (or re-cycled) air “as much as it can” - to remove humidity.
Then it uses the heater to “re-warm” the air to the extent required to achieve the desired temperate - as set on the controls.
When the interior temperature is much higher than the requested setting the heater is not used to any extent. But as the interior temperature gets closer to the desired setting the heater comes into play to a greater extent.
This is all logical, and many of us already knew this part of the operation.

What I did not know was that the re-heated air can only get into the vents if that stratification-blending dial is at lest partially open. If it is fully closed (3 blue dots for full cold to the dash vents), then when the cabin temperature sensor (behind that small grill) detects that the cabin temperature is falling below the requested setting it requests the system for heat, but with the manual blending dial closed the only possibility the system has is to dump some hot air through the "floor vents".
And “dump” it does - with alternate blasts of hot air then nothing, with maybe an occasional wiff of coolish air.
Sooooo - to avoid over chilling the forehead, while occasionally scorching the feet it is necessary to have that stratification-blending dial set partially open (BMW said towards the centre setting). I will try it at 1-2 blue dots and see what happens).

This info about the blending wheel was not in my 97 manual, and I suspect it is not in the later ones either.
Hope this helps.
Cheers
Jim Cash

PS - apparently the "manual" blending control is eliminated from the new 7 because of the confusion American drivers have had with this stratification feature.
Europeans, and many long time BMW owners have loved this manual control for years - I suspect there is going to be some concern about taking away some of the flexibility for the sake of making it easier for new oweners to understand.
Just as long as they somehow retain the stratification capability without extremes of temp difference.
Personally I wish they would figure out how to remove heat, at source, from the surround surfaces (dash, windows, etc.) before it radiated into people.

The reason Beemer forums are useless is that most bmw drivers are interested only in bodykits and wheels. This is because the majority (no offence to any beemer owners present) are show ponies.

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Andrew
300e 294,000mi
380sel 185,998mi
380se 309,980mi

I am a BMW freak and I personally prefer a BMW over a MB. I had 12 BMWs and my 190e is my first MB. Never owned any other cars. Never towed one of them, and the 190e got towed 4 times. Please don't think I am offended by your statement. I would have to agree (to some extent) with you about BMW forums. I can only suggest that if one has a BMW and would like to address a problem and get a professional advice, he/she should subscribe to the BMW Roundel magazine. There are true professionals people with a high level of knowledge that can and will help almost always.
Just my 0.02 cents from an experience.
PS. I keep my Bimmers stock and never cared for wheels or body kits.

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Meza
1993 190E 2.6
Advanced Diesel Systems Test and Research Engineer

If it's a 2002 turbo, i might consider a purchase.

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Andrew
300e 294,000mi
380sel 185,998mi
380se 309,980mi

I used www.roadfly.org for all sorts of help with my 1988 735i (E32 body) 5-speed. The people that hang out on the boards for older body styles are very knowledgeable - and their advice save me thousands in repairs. I'll agree that most of the current body style boards are frequented by people looking for body kit sources and lighting upgrades - but the older boards have some real sharp folks on them. Roadfly is definitely the best BMW board out there.

Troy
1995 E420
1988 BMW 735i 5-speed (1 of only 400 imported by BMW 1988-1990) FOR SALE

http://www.unofficialbmw.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

I have always found this site extremely helpful. Most action on the 3 series boards because of more cars. May want to post to both the 7 series and 5 series boards, think the set ups are similiar.

What is a good BMW forum?

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People and entities who violate the American Constitution through legislation or otherwise, should be prosecuted for treason.

www.maxbimmer.com

Why ask this on a MB forum , jokes man, I like BMWs as well. I would mind picking up a mint E30