Air con slow to cool on passenger side - Page 3

FRANKIEP · #1 07-10-2012, 06:04 PM

hello all, 2006 x5 30. 70k mi. never had a problem until this spring when my pass. side started to blow warm. after reading all the posts i decided to try a shot of r134. went to pep boys and bought a can of AC PRO COLD. part number acp100. it is foolproof as it comes with a pressure gauge and 20 inch hose. problem solved ! after 6 years i finally had to add some r134. this was so easy and foolproof stevie wonder could do it with his eyes closed. pass side now blows ice cubes as does driver side. go online to ACPROCOLD.COM you cant go wrong. hope this helps, frankie p.

fatboyoz · #2 08-21-2014, 09:13 PM

Hi All,
Just had this problem of one side taking longer to cool and always warmer than the other side. The L/H side cools, R/H side less so.
Turned the aircon off and cycled L/H side first from coldest to warmest and it responded correctly. Tried the same on the R/H side, this also responded correctly. Decided that, in view of this correct operation, that the hotwater valves were okay.
Then took the car to an aircon shop, and the Tech' confirmed that this problem is normally due to low gas in the aircon system. He charged it with the correct weight of gas, and it is now back to normal.
Some observations that he made in respect to the X5 aircon:

the amount of gas in the system is not large,
gas will eventually seep through the hoses given enough time,
gas will eventually escape from the compressor seals over tme,
the returning, still cold, refrigerant is used to cool the compressor during the aircon cycle, so the system should really not be run with low gas.

My X5 is 8 years old and I have, to my shame, never had the aircon serviced. So I have had a pretty good run out of it so far.
The tech also put some dye in the system so that if there is a leak, he can track it down.
Cheers All,
Colin.

victell · #3 08-16-2016, 08:13 PM

Another owner here to chime in...

Low refrigerant in my system (0.5lb, spec=0.98) caused right dash vent to be warm, center right barely cool, center left cooler, and left vent the coldest.

Check your system charge level first before doing anything else.

X53Jay4.8is · #4 08-16-2016, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by victell

Another owner here to chime in...

Low refrigerant in my system (0.5lb, spec=0.98) caused right dash vent to be warm, center right barely cool, center left cooler, and left vent the coldest.

Check your system charge level first before doing anything else.

The X5s suffer from the common evaporator leak. Normally one side cold and the other warm is an indication of low charge due to a system leak = evaporator leak

Emory39 · #5 08-16-2016, 09:35 PM

Its Low refrigerant charge> it has happend inother BMW that i have work on< recover the refrigerant vaccum it to make sure there is no leak and carge. this should do the trick

AV8R4AA · #6 08-17-2016, 06:53 PM

I didn't notice that the passenger side was warmer.
I don't sit on that side. I did notice the Spousal Unit always
had the blower cranked up. I refilled the R134 and that AC will
freeze your eyes wide open. That's in Texas and its bone chilling.

Working properly, the X5 AC is (I hate to say this) almost too cold for me.
I leave it at 60 both sides and regulate the blower.
After the X is cooled down, I have the blower on the first or second digit.

Anything more is too much.
Any AC in Texas that's that good is what we need and want.

jsoto · #7 08-17-2016, 07:03 PM

Go figure. Why would low ref. cause the pas. side to be warmer.
Blower Motor has 2 squirral cages - 1 per side..but the evap is the same no ?

AV8R4AA · #8 08-17-2016, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsoto

Go figure. Why would low ref. cause the pas. side to be warmer.
Blower Motor has 2 squirral cages - 1 per side..but the evap is the same no ?

I think there is one speed blower. Both sides get same air flow.
The temp can be changed.
I'm guessing that the evaporator has a bias, and cools the driver side, before
the passenger side. Prolly by design.

jsoto · #9 08-17-2016, 07:22 PM

Never really tested air flow but I'd be curious...to see if I was to set fan on high, then set drivers side to ambient air temp, will I notice the the pass blower is high and driver on low...Just Kurious...with my recent aux fan repair, I'm keen on the in-outs of the AC system

David.X5 · #10 08-17-2016, 09:33 PM

2 sides is really a lie. Only one evaporator, one temperature sensor in the dash (I know there are two tiny inlets, one is a dummy), and one fan. The Ihka can adjust the doors based on the two set points. And there are separate left and right heater valves to mix to reach the set point. I suspect that people that see this left / right issue have leaky heater valve AND low refrigerant. When refrigerant is full, the car can compensate for the leaky heater, as it gets low, the heater wins.

Another way to test the heater valve is to measure the left and right temps when the engine is still cold, then compare your measurements when the engine is all warmed up.