2006 BMW X5 3.0I AC Condenser and Aux Fan Cause Overheating

[Nick416]

I wish I knew how to do it. I read some other posts that say the front bumper has to be removed.

[Nick416]

I'm not sure how they came up with that conclusion. When I asked them if they can test the compressor they said they couldn't and that the fan was the culprit. It didn't make sense to me either but I'm used to the older systems as well.

[B-M-W]

Well lets hope the shop just doesn't throw a fan on the vehicle because its not coming on.

[upallnight]

Here's a post on fan fault:

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...fan-fault.html

And why the AC didn't work.

Here's another post on a bad fan preventing the compressor from turning on:

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-suddenly.html

[Nick416]

Wow! That post describes and explains my problem perfectly! Thank you upallnight!

[Zulu95]

We ran for 3 weeks without the AUX fan but had AC while driving. When we bought the CPO X5 we had 11 service visits in the first month. It would seem the CPO pre-sale inspection was never performed. The last thing I went in with was the suspension clunk. Told it needed $1600 - $2000 worth of steering/suspension bushes. The SA was a nice guy who had just come over from a Ford dealership. I explained to him that it might be better for his boss and the dealership to "eat" the repair bill as I was sure the legal fees they would pay would come to more. In the end they agreed as their tech had "missed" the suspension/steering problems during the CPO inspection that never took place.
The SA went back to Ford the next week because he could not cope with so many disgruntled customers!
I might add that this was the dealership that provided Toyota loaners because "they never break down".

[Nick416]

I just talked to the mechanic again and he said there is power going to the fan and it is not kicking on. He guaranteed that replacing the Aux fan will fix the Overheating and ac problem. I will post the outcome on Monday evening after I pick it up.

[Nick416]

That makes sense. Before the overheat and no more ac. It sometimes took a long time of driving for the ac to kick on. It never kicked on right away. It was at least a 5 to 10 minute drive most of the time but when it finally kicked on it was immediately cold. On the day it overheated I just picked it up from the mechanic who cleared an o2 sensor code, changed the tie rod ends and did an alignment. After picking it up I drove it about 20 minutes and the ac was not coming on. I left it on in hopes of it finally turning on. On my way home I stopped to grab some dinner for the kiddos. While I was at a stop for a couple of minutes with the ac button on (note still no cold air) I noticed it was Overheating. The needle was in the red and it warned me that the coolant was hot. With that said I am thinking even though there was no cold air coming from the vents the compressor was still functioning which caused the Overheating.

[upallnight]

If your mechanic is not using BMW specific scanners to troubleshoot the BM Trouble U I would look for another mechanic.

[Nick416]

He says he is familiar with the bmw so we will see. I will post the outcome tomorrow