AC problems in the Florida heat! HELP!!!!

[Beamernewbie]

Hi everyone as you can see I don't post on here unless I'm having problems however I do stalk Lol. My wife 2006 X5 is experiencing an AC problem. When you first start the vehicle and the AC comes on 98% of the time it blows hot air. After turning the unit on and off and rolling the windows down a little it starts blowing cold and usually works fine for the remainder of the trip. She works 10 hrs a day and when she gets in to head home she has to go through the same process again however if she is running errands and only leaving the vehicle for short periods of time it will usually work fine. I could really use some help on this as we all know " A happy wife A happy life" Thanks in advance.

[upallnight]

Bring it in. Plenty of AC shops in Florida. Could be something as easy as being low on refrigerant, or if you have a variable compressor the valve might be bad, but since you only come here whenever you need help I would assume you are not a DIYer and you lack the tools to perform any type of automotive AC repairs.

[Beamernewbie]

Thanks for the reply. Would you suggest an AC shop or a foreign auto repair shop

[Zulu95]

Any good AC shop should be able to do what is required.

[Beamernewbie]

Thanks

[ndz]

Is your Aux fan working properly?

[Beamernewbie]

Are you referring to the fan on the radiator? Does it turn on when the ACturns on? I'm not sure at this time.

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Beamernewbie

Are you referring to the fan on the radiator? Does it turn on when the ACturns on? I'm not sure at this time.

A scan with INPA or other BMW-specific OBD tool is best to diagnose a faulty Aux. fan but a simple test you can do is watch the fan through the grill (or with the hood up) while someturns turns on the ignition. You should see the Aux. fan spin up a little, as the DME does it's Aux. fan start-up diag. tests.

It doesn't spin much (mine kinda just twitches and jerks, then spins up slowly then stops) but if it does something, it's probably OK.

Another test is to start the car (stationary), turn on the A/C and blower to Max - the fan should really spin up!

[Beamernewbie]

Thanks I'll give it a look when the wife gets home

[Beamernewbie]

So I checked the aux fan the way ndz described and when turning the car on it starts to spin about 1/8th of a full turn. When turning the AC to MAX the fan only starts to spin about 1/4 of a full turn.