Strange heating problem

[samp49]

Hi
I have X3 2.0d Xdrive 2009, automatic A/C. Now in winter when having outside some minus 10-15 centigrades cold I have the following problem:
. the car has been parked for couple hours after a long drive with the motor fully warmed
. when starting to ride again very shortly all the windows get frozen and seems that the A/C control buttons have no proper effect
. when driving 8 to 10 kms more (trying to keep a hole in the windshield for seeing the traffic) the A/C, heater starts to work properly again and the windows get defrozen

I took the car today to the dealer. They checked the software, which they told was ok, and noticed that the fresh air filter was wet - it was changed. But I suspect the above problem persists.

Has anybody of you experienced the same or any idea why this happens and how to fix it?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[AzNMpower32]

This is the first time I've heard of a problem like yours, and generally speaking the climate automatic on X3s isn't a source of many problems.

When you park the vehicle on a very cold day, the interior of the vehicle cools down rapidly. As a result, when you return to the vehicle, windows tend to fog up as your body heat and the heater quickly increase the temperature inside, causing condensation on the inside glass surfaces (like what happens in your bathroom after a hot shower). If the outside temperature is extremely cold, the glass may be cold enough to briefly freeze the condensation. This has happened before to us in the backseat area, where isolation is not very good.

Solution:
When reentering the vehicle, turn on the electric rear defroster. If the front windows begin to fog up, turn on the front defroster button, which will blast heat at the windscreen and front window to quickly reduce the condensation and dry out the air. The defrost fan speed can be manually changed but for maximum effectiveness, I'd leave it at a high fan speed. The windows should slowly clear within a few minutes, at which point you can turn the defroster off.

Note that in cold temperatures, the engine can cool down quickly. As a result, it may take a while for the engine to have warmed up sufficiently to begin blowing heat into the cabin.

[samp49]

Hi
Thanks for the advice which as such are pretty well known after driving in Finnish cold climate for 40+ years.
I tried to describe that when restarting the motor the windows get frozen very rapidly and the windshield defrost fan does not work as it should. The warm air flows down to feet and with no manual operation by using the A/C buttons you can't get the heat to blast up to windshield. As said after driving 8-10 kms the heating, A/C starts to work normally.
I checked the coolant level this morning and found it to be under the minimum (cold motor). If the cooling system is leaking that might cause the problem. I will take the car back to dealer - the warranty is still on.

[AzNMpower32]

If the climate control unit itself does not do anything and/or the air is not redirected immediately when you turn on the front defrost, then you may need to replace the climate control unit itself. Hopefully this is covered under a warranty of some sort in your market since your vehicle is brand new.

[samp49]

Hi
They (the dealer) will take the car in next Tuesday. Let's see what are the results. I will inform you/the forum.

[samp49]

Hi All
It took a while to wait for a climate control unit, which did not work properly and had to be changed. Now it has been changed by a professional local BMW service provider and the heating/air condition works fine. The temperature here has been last couple months nearly all the time below minus 10 centigrate. It has been nice to ride in a warm car wihout frozen windows. In couple months the weather will get warmer and in round 5 months from now also the cooling of a/c will be needed.

[AzNMpower32]

Good to hear that a solution was found.