Are you sitting in your BMW X5 with the keys out of the ignition and your interior heating/cooling fan is still running? Are you Googling “BMW X5 FAN WON’T STOP” trying to find a solution so that your battery does not die while you are at work for the day?

I was in exactly the same situation a week ago.

1. My first thought was to pull the fuze for the fan except that the factory owners manual does not have any information on which fuses do what.
2. My second thought was to disconnect the battery, but the battery is in the rear buried below the spare tire and a number of large tight bolts and the factory included tool kit does not have the proper sized wrenches.
3. Third thought? Call the dealership. They told me over the phone there was no fuze to pull that would make the fan stop but they could pick up the car later in the afternoon and look at it. My BMW is out of warranty so I knew this would be a $500 + Solution.
4. Fourth thought? Get on line on my smart phone and Google the answer. Google told me it was most likely a bad Final Stage Unit and by removing a panel near the passenger footwell I could disconnect the unit which would turn off the fan.

Google was correct. Luckily I had a leatherman tool on hand with a phillips head screwdriver. Two screws removed and I had access to the connector plug to disconnect the Final Stage Unit. After unplugging this connection the fan stopped.

Later that evening I did a little more research on line and found out this is a fairly common problem with the BMW X5. A quick trip to Ebay and I purchased a replacement for just under $100.00 There were replacements as low as $39.00 but they were not OEM.

Replacing the BMW X5 Final Stage Unit took less than 15 minutes.

Only two Philips head screws needed to be removed to obtain access.

Unplug this connection and the fan will stop running.

Here’s what the new final stage looked like. Cost? About $100.00

Old Unit vs. New Unit.  Problem solved for now. Everything is running as it is supposed to.