Air Con not cold - Advise required

[bigshout]

Repoman, thanks for your advise.

Just one thing I have noticed today, car is ideling, when I press the AC button the rev go up ever so slightly, press the AC button again to turn it off and the rev drop to normal. Would this suggest the AC compressor is coming on?

[Repoman]

Originally Posted by bigshout

Repoman, thanks for your advise.

Just one thing I have noticed today, car is ideling, when I press the AC button the rev go up ever so slightly, press the AC button again to turn it off and the rev drop to normal. Would this suggest the AC compressor is coming on?

No, this does not mean that the AC compressor is coming on. What it does mean is that kick-down is working properly which is seperate from compressor function. Mine was also kicking-down everytime I pressed the AC button but no compressor lockup. It will still kick-down even if compressor is not working properly.

The only way to verify is to put your eyes on it. There's no other way I can tell you verify it and can't really help any further if you can't verify it.

Find the compressor, push the AC button and look at the part in the center of the compressor pulley to see if it is spinning or just sitting still. There's no other way to tell!

[bimmerboy12]

When the shop recharged it did they vacuum out the existing contents? In climates where vehicles see hot-cold-hot-cold (like in Northern Indiana) oxygen and water can form in the AC system. Then when people buy the bottles of R-134 from Walmart and charge their systems nothing happens, and the compressor kicks in an out or not on at all. Adding a charge may not fix your problem. A full vacuum needs to be applied (this is when they do a leak test) then a full charge. Just got done doing this on my F-150 and will do the same on the X5.

[bigshout]

picture one in this post shows the socket. If looking into the engine bay it on the top right of the innner fan. The picture shows the cable missing, unplug the cable and test the voltage when the AC is turned on and off from the temp controller in the dash.

[gu4u2]

Ok guys, I have a slightly different problem with my A/C. When I start the car in a hot day and the climate control is set to AUTO, the fan blows at the highest setting, as it should, but no cold air comes out while idling. The cold air comes out five minutes into driving, specifically when the engine/car speed picks up. In the highway, the air feels really cold as it should. I checked the refrigerant levels, and it is normal/to almost high pressure levels. While measuring the refrigerant pressure, you can definitely see when the compressor comes on and the pressure drops. Although, this happens without cold air coming out of the vent (just that sort of humid air that is charecteristic of no cooling happening). The RPM does drop when the compressor comes on. Do you have any ideas what could be causing this?
Thanks

[sprocket1200]

is the temperature the same coming out of all the vents? mine wasn't and fixing the water valve fixed the issue. indy said water valves are common replacements for him.

[bigshout]

You should be able to get your hand in to feel if the pully is free, Take off the air duct and air box if required.

My AC issue was resolved not by replacing anything but in fact plugging in the power cable to the AUX fan which had not been plugged back in by BMW!! when I had the waterpump replaced ealrier this year, I was going to take my X5 to a car electrical specialist as these faults tend to be more electrical than actual AC releated.

[rhambus]

Yikes! Is that safe to do while the engine is running? (putting my hand in?) When I get home I will try to look at the box and duct you are talking about and get them off.

Would it be easier just to get under the car, I wonder?

[bigshout]

No, the engine will be off, once you have your hand in you should be able to manually move the compressor pulley, This will only tell you if the compressor is seized or not. There is plenty of reading on this forum for the 3.0i engines and AC issues and fixes. Also allot easier to get your hands in to check things compared to the 4.4i lump, might be worth unplugging the AUX fan power lead, cleaning and reseating. It might be this, if not check it has 12v going to the AUX lead.

[sic06]

Were can I find the AUX fan power lead on a 06' 3.0 ?