I was driving one day & the climate control started flashing, then after a bit, the display went dim, like something-electrical-is-frying-dim. None of the control buttons worked. I pulled over, turned off & restarted the car .. nothing, the climate control computer unit was dead.

I called the dealer. $600 for a new climate control unit. Checked Ebay, where the going price was $200 to $300. Did some more searching online & found www.bmw-repair.com where you can get it repaired for $50. Did some more searching & found a great website that shows you exactly how to do the repair yourself (see link below) with photos.

http://www.macadamizer.com/bmwfix.html

The repair took half an hour start to finish, was really easy, & worked perfectly. The website doesn't mention this, but from reading forums about this problem, a lot of people don't even need the new capacitor. Mine was just a bad solder joint on that capacitor. I touched it once with the soldering iron & was back in business. No problems since.