BMW Repair: 1997 BMW 740i, valve cover gasket, 1997 bmw 740i

Question
Evan, I have read numerous questions regarding intermittent blower motors on this site, but have not found one pertaining to a 97 740i. The problem I am encountering is that the blower will work fine at startup, but once you turn the ignition off and then restart later (lets say, a short trip to the store), the blower usually does not come back on at restart.
All else seems as normal including the compressor running normally. Can I safely assume that the most likely cause could be a "final stage resistor"? Is there also a relay on this model? Location of parts? Any help would be appreciated. I am a former ASE Master Tech. I also was a Nissan parts dept manager for 19 years. I could tell you the most common problems and parts that fail on a Nissan but know little to nothing about BMW's, although I did just complete a valve cover gasket replacement on this vehichle.Thanks in advance for your kind assistance.

Answer
Jack, the final stage resister is the relay. The final stage is located on the blower motor itself and can be replaced seperately from the blower motor. I do not recommed this as the top half of the dash needs to be removed to access the motor and resistor. My theory is if you are going that deep into the dash, you would only want to do it once and you should replace the motor and resistor together. Decision is yours to make. Just make sure you have signal to the resistor from the A/C control unit.
-Evan