Climate Control Panel Does not working after Radio Install

[jpy1980]

Hey guys,

I just installed a new radio and now my climate control module does not work. It wont turn on when I press any button. I checked all the wiring and it's all plugged in properly too. Checked some of the fuses and they seem to be ok as well. Funny thing in my vert, fuse 28 is missing. The other fuses are fine. Tried plugging a 5amp fuse in 28 and my blower would automatically turn on so I think it's missing by design.

Anyways, any ideas guys?

Thanks!

Julian

[Slideways]

Double check that all the plugs are fully seated. Other than that, if you have the older style panel pre 03/2003, they can go bad. The older style panel can be swapped out for a used panel from a post 03/2003 E46. Best to write a blank .man file to code all the default settings.

[jpy1980]

Thanks for the message.

after about a week of diagnosing I’m at my wits end with this. My Ikha unit will not turn on when I push any button. Does anyone know anyone in Los Angeles that can help me with wiring cause I think in the end it’s something wrong with the wiring. The unit does light up when turning on the headlights though, just wont respond to any button presses.

so far I tried:

1. replacing the Ikha unit with another and it didn’t work
2. swapping out the final stage resistor and it didn’t work
3. taking out the plugs and making sure they were all seated correctly
4 changing my car battery
5. trying a multimeter using ChatGPT to check continuity
6. Checking the fuses but the hvac related ones all are ok. Btw the convertible does not have a fuse plugged into slot 28 as most people say to check that first.

not sure what else to do. Do I take this to a mechanic or like a stereo shop that is good with wiring?

we are having a heat wave in LA at the moment and I can’t drive the car as it’s too hot haha

[jpy1980]

Anyone have a wiring diagram for a convertible and the Ikha connection? Or does anyone know how the unit gets power off fuse 23 and 28 aren’t present from the factory? Is there another fuse I should be focusing on for the convertibles?

[moproblems]

Anyone have a wiring diagram for a convertible and the Ikha connection? Or does anyone know how the unit gets power off fuse 23 and 28 aren’t present from the factory? Is there another fuse I should be focusing on for the convertibles?

It should just be fuse 28 behind the glovebox.

[jpy1980]

It should just be fuse 28 behind the glovebox.

Only problem is that my car never came with fuse 28

[elrichmeister]

Only problem is that my car never came with fuse 28

Fuse Diagram shows 23, is for Heater, and 28 is for AC.

https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/fuse-diagram.1315817/

not sure why those are not connected maybe someone else with Convertible can chime in to see if they have those fuses

i think you can find wiring diagrams here

https://bmwteka.com/wds/en/e46

under body/HVAC stuff.

EDIT kinda complicated to look through that.

Have you scanned the car for any codes? Youll need to use INPA/ISTA or BMW Scanner 1.4 to see these codes though

EDIT 2
I think this is wiring diagram for the connector at the HVAC Control unit.

https://bmwteka.com/wds/en/e46/01749b11

[jpy1980]

Fuse Diagram shows 23, is for Heater, and 28 is for AC.

https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/fuse-diagram.1315817/

not sure why those are not connected maybe someone else with Convertible can chime in to see if they have those fuses

i think you can find wiring diagrams here

https://bmwteka.com/wds/en/e46

under body/HVAC stuff.

EDIT kinda complicated to look through that.

Have you scanned the car for any codes? Youll need to use INPA/ISTA or BMW Scanner 1.4 to see these codes though

EDIT 2
I think this is wiring diagram for the connector at the HVAC Control unit.
https://bmwteka.com/wds/en/e46/01749b11

Thanks for the reply!

those are good suggestions, but for some reason, if you look at the photo of my fuses, fuse number 23 and 28 are not there. It’s never been there. I’m assuming that the unit gets power from some other fuse I think but I can’t figure it out.

Also, when I load up info and check for codes for the IHKA unit it says I can’t connect to it because there’s no power to the unit. See the photo of what inpa says.

[usdmej]

not accusing you of being as dumb as i am, but maybe a connector fell back into your dash that you forgot about and didnt plug in?

i did a big radio project and after everything was put back together my climate panel turned on and all the buttons/display worked but the car didn't blow any air hot or cold. took it to a shop assuming my blower motor was out but they actually diagnosed it and traced it to a small connector that simply fell back into my dash that i didnt plug into the climate control panel

[karter16]

not accusing you of being as dumb as i am, but maybe a connector fell back into your dash that you forgot about and didnt plug in?

i did a big radio project and after everything was put back together my climate panel turned on and all the buttons/display worked but the car didn't blow any air hot or cold. took it to a shop assuming my blower motor was out but they actually diagnosed it and traced it to a small connector that simply fell back into my dash that i didnt plug into the climate control panel

Also not accusing op of being as dumb as I am but this exact thing happened to me as well and even after checking the back of the unit when it didn't work (fortunately I hadn't reassembled everything at that point) I initially missed that little connector.

[heinzboehmer]

Positive you didn't accidentally remove F28 during the install? Wiring diagrams show it as the supply to the HVAC control stuff. All pictures I can find online of E46 fuse boxes also have it populated.



Also, might be worth undoing the radio install temporarily to see if that's actually the cause of the issue or not.

[jpy1980]

so after more trial and error, I was about to give up and take it to the dealer when after consulting some more people, they just told me to throw in a 5 am fuse in space 28 to see what happens. I never touched fuse 28 before so I figured it was worth a try. After installing the fuse, it worked. I never removed this fuse before and It was empty as that was the first thing I checked when all this started, but since it works now, I'm ok with it. Car ran fine for 3 years without it, unless it was always there and it mysteriously popped out and dropped somewhere, but I looked everywhere and couldn't find a missing fuse.

Anyone know what would be the repercussions if I install a fuse where it was never meant to be? I'm assuming it would just blow, right?

Thanks again everyone for your help.

[jpy1980]

not accusing you of being as dumb as i am, but maybe a connector fell back into your dash that you forgot about and didnt plug in?

i did a big radio project and after everything was put back together my climate panel turned on and all the buttons/display worked but the car didn't blow any air hot or cold. took it to a shop assuming my blower motor was out but they actually diagnosed it and traced it to a small connector that simply fell back into my dash that i didnt plug into the climate control panel

Thanks! I am pretty dumb, but I really did make sure I checked this 100x before putting it back in. I just ended up leaving the IHKA unit out so I could make sure it was all plugged in.

[sapote]

Hey guys,

I just installed a new radio and now my climate control module does not work. It wont turn on when I press any button.

I know it works now, but did you try to revert the setup to before with radio not wired up and see if the climate control module works again?

[jpy1980]

I know it works now, but did you try to revert the setup to before with radio not wired up and see if the climate control module works again?

I did. I uninstalled the new radio and even unhooked its harness. So basically no radio installed at all. Then plugged my ihka back in and it still didn’t work.

funny thing was that the first thing I did when it broke was check fuse 28 and saw that it wasn’t even installed. At this point I’m not sure what happened but having fuse 28 installed made it all work. *shrug *