E53 AC cold @ %50 warm Thermostat?

[Cadesto]

My X5 wont blow cold until the thermostat Guage in the cabin is right in the middle.
Any known causes for this?
Thanks
PC

[andrewwynn]

The temp indicator on e53 is not a gauge. "noon" on the dial is a temp range of about 40C.

When heat is requested the fan won't blow until the ECT is high enough the sort coming out will be warm so I'm wondering if some confusion is happening with the snowflake button.

Do you get air just not cold? It could be a coincidence that the temp hits "normal" when ac makes cold and it's just time.

You need a high/low pressure reading for a baseline

[Cadesto]

Thanks!
My “spring cleaning” has been to get her back on the road before the weather turns blistering hot!
The expansion tank blew about September 2020 thanks to forums like this, that part is all good now!
So I redid the upper and lower radiator hoses with that, coolant flush, new “expansion tank thermostat”(sp?) , new engine thermostat
I took her by Firestone by my work for registration yesterday and a look over, good guys at this one...
Anyway, they said that it was a (valve) or (gate) perhaps (dial) type of situation were one side is blowing hot and one is blowing cold IDK?!
“Freon” was good.
This is my 2nd X5 and it does have a little sponginess to turn the dial all the way to 3 BLUE dots.
I have taken the NAV out to replace the screen and inspected the cable, twist it a bit. I didn’t want to mess anything up too bad.
I also took apart and reassembled the digital cabin buttons and sensor part, that was a NIGHTMARE to get back together without little gold pieces and plastic buttons popping loose!
Since the new thermostats a few days back it seems to “warm up” and stay right in the middle faster but the A/C isn’t getting colder faster
You are definitely correct on the coincidence timing.
In the summer, it would help to roll the windows down I suppose to release the hot air.
Sorry to babble on and on but while I’m all up the guts I want to get everything 100%
Thanks Again

[andrewwynn]

My scanner (foxwell nt-510) will show three status of the heat valves the temp of each heater core and the balance of the hot/cold vanes.

To start with, set your HVAC to full auto and use temp to set how cold. When using AC the standard starting point is 74 not "max ac".

Get a stick thermometer put in the different vents and measure.

Get a scanner that can read important details like the evaporator temp.

Is your low pressure line under the hood greeting ice cold? It should be.

[andrewwynn]

Most often if AC compressor/evaporator doing their job, and no joy on cold air, either the heater valve is stuck open or the hot/cold balance vane is struck hot. Usually in either of those cases, one side will work ok since left/right have their own hardware and controls.

The vent mix to dash is "both" however so that will throw you off. To determine if that is the issue send air only to feet and measure temp down there

[upallnight]

Very little info to go on only that it starts to blow cold air once the temp gauge is in the middle. It would help if you gave a model year and engine, but since you didn't the only thing that we can do is take a Wild Ass Guess (WAG).

I don't think it's a heater valve that is stuck open since you do get cold air eventually. I'm guessing you have a variable compressor and it takes a while for the rotary screw to decrease the displacement or is it increase the displacement for the compressor to pump enough freon R134 or refrigerant as the people in the trade would call it to make the magic of AC working. The only real way to tell is to hook up a set of gauges and tell us what the low side and high side readings are when the system is turned on.

[andrewwynn]

+1. Very often the culprit is variable compressor.

You said the freon "checked out" but what were the high/low pressure values and what temps to you eventually get in the vents?


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