Climate control stopped working again... A/C, heat, everything... (More)

[Mayhem]

This hasn't happened to me in a few years. When I first got my 2012 35is, the Climate control stopped working suddenly a couple of times. There was no air, no response to pushing any buttons, nothing. But the climate control would be working just fine a couple of hours later when I went out to start the car up again. It hasn't happened in several years so I assumed that one of the dealer updates fixed the issue.

However, tonight when I started up the car after dinner, the climate control wasn't working again.. No A/C, no heat, no dash lights, nothing. I'm hoping that it starts working again in the morning.

Anyone ever figure out definitively what causes this issue? The last time it happened, I could never replicate the problem at the dealership.

[Mayhem]

And as I had predicted, I just went out after letting the car sit for an hour, and the A/C and climate control fired right up. This is maddening... Never know when the climate control is going to go down.. Not great for summer driving.

[Lurcher]

Search for my post on this - the 3rd time BMW finally replaced the switch panel - no problems since.....

A video may have convinced them as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmsHmWDZmv4

[jparnes1]

I recently had this problem. A search on here brought up two possible solutions. One from a former BMW service manager who said to disconnect both battery cables and touch them together, wait 10 minutes and reconnect. He said they did this all the time and nothing bad will happen.
The second was to start the car by first pressing the start button and then pressing the brake or clutch pedal (which is the reverse of what must of us normally do).
I'm going to try the first suggestion as it comes from a more reliable source.

[Mayhem]

I tried to start the car by depressing the brake pedal, and this solution did not work. However, I did some further research and someone suggested that the issue could be related to low battery voltage. I admit, it has been a couple of weeks since I drove it. So just to be sure, I threw the battery on a trickle charger overnight. I'll have to start tracking to see if this happens when I don't drive it in awhile. Might even do a battery load test. Better yet, put it on trickle charge if I am not driving it for awhile.

[jparnes1]

Originally Posted by Mayhem

I tried to start the car by depressing the brake pedal, and this solution did not work. However, I did some further research and someone suggested that the issue could be related to low battery voltage. I admit, it has been a couple of weeks since I drove it. So just to be sure, I threw the battery on a trickle charger overnight. I'll have to start tracking to see if this happens when I don't drive it in awhile. Might even do a battery load test. Better yet, put it on trickle charge if I am not driving it for awhile.

I drive the car daily so I doubt it's a battery issue. I'm going to try the battery cable fix as suggested by the former BMW employee.