AC working intermittently

[MADT]

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[Mafian]

Hi everyone. This is strange as my first post, especially considering I don't own an X5 at this stage, but I have an idea on what may be happening. To set the scene a few weeks ago I took a 3.0D for a test drive and found it strange that the Air Conditioning didn't seem to be blowing cold air no matter what the temperature or "cold face, warm feet" dial was set to. Then about 3/4 of the way through the test drive it started working with a nice cold blast of air. Both the salesman and I were perplexed on why it did this.
Then a possibility hit me. When we first started the car and during the early stages of the test drive the exterior temperature display on the dash was showing around -31 deg C when it really was in the mid 20deg C range. Near the end of the drive when the A/C was working as expected the exterior temp display was showing in the low to mid 20s. It then got me thinking that the car thought it was well below freezing outside so wouldn't engage the compressor clutch to prevent freezing in the lines etc etc etc. I remember my old E36 used to disable the A/C compressor when it dropped below freezing (for real) so I thought this could be the reason in this case.

It may not be the cause of this particular problem but it may be worth checking what the external temp gauge is telling you when it doesn't blow out cold air. Worst case it will rule out another potential cause for the problem!

[MADT]

Hmmm, The issue you experienced is exactly the same as I experience, however my temperature gauge is OK and the compressor is actually running but intermittently just no cold air until about 5 minutes later.

I have been told that in may have to do with the mixing flaps within the AC/Heating unit.

[ArtMan]

Here is my experiance after chasing this AC issue. At first my aux fan died and i didnt replace it bc i didnt know that it had died. after repalcement AC worked intermitently. Then i noticed some issue with the high pressure port ( green built up in the plug tried to clean but to no avail) so replaced that which helped a bit. I then replaced the condenser (Behr) and the ac expansion valve and things didnt change much and in the end my AC compressor finally died. so bottom line the AC compresser was on its way out. However i now have a new compressor, expansion valve, condensor so its a new AC system. If i were you look at compressor really well cuz i spend 112 on condensor, 60 on expansion valve and 45 on the high pressure port, and 120 on ac sys refill and vac (twice at 60 each) so i spent a total of 340 on those parts and in the end the compressor was the final culprit. Which cost with labor 640 so a total of $1,000 + 320 for aux fan = $1,300ish + or - $60 on quality brand name parts all behr things for the AC system rebuilt.

oh btw the shop checked the pressures and since the damn compressor worked at the times the pressures were ok. so go figure....oh also the clutch was engaging and disengaging just fine ther was just no signs of a compressor problems till the last 3 days in a row it just wouldnt blow cold at all. so i and mech checked it and said yea its dead.

[DACL]

It sounds like me and the OP are having the same issue:

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

I still have no idea what could be causing this behavour.

Let me know what your think.

[MADT]

Sounds roughly the same as my prob!

[enigmae12]

i had that same issue, called my indy they said it can be as simple as a AC recharge, turns out it was. for 50 bucks went to autozone bought synthetic freon. by the way i did chec resistor and it was fine. hopefully this helps.

[ashrafkh]

Originally Posted by ArtMan

Here is my experiance after chasing this AC issue. At first my aux fan died and i didnt replace it bc i didnt know that it had died. after repalcement AC worked intermitently. Then i noticed some issue with the high pressure port ( green built up in the plug tried to clean but to no avail) so replaced that which helped a bit. I then replaced the condenser (Behr) and the ac expansion valve and things didnt change much and in the end my AC compressor finally died. so bottom line the AC compresser was on its way out. However i now have a new compressor, expansion valve, condensor so its a new AC system. If i were you look at compressor really well cuz i spend 112 on condensor, 60 on expansion valve and 45 on the high pressure port, and 120 on ac sys refill and vac (twice at 60 each) so i spent a total of 340 on those parts and in the end the compressor was the final culprit. Which cost with labor 640 so a total of $1,000 + 320 for aux fan = $1,300ish + or - $60 on quality brand name parts all behr things for the AC system rebuilt.

oh btw the shop checked the pressures and since the damn compressor worked at the times the pressures were ok. so go figure....oh also the clutch was engaging and disengaging just fine ther was just no signs of a compressor problems till the last 3 days in a row it just wouldnt blow cold at all. so i and mech checked it and said yea its dead.

personally i would go with this suggestion as i have exactly the same symptoms... 5 min to start working and never stops working again now matter how long u drive or how many times you stop and start the engine it just work perfect the whole day .. so its a slow to start compressor because i just have refilled the firion i will start looking for a compressor from now if you have any ideas

[DACL]

I have determined it was a compressor problem. The compressor was freewheeling (not compressing) probably because of bad reed valves. The replacement cost $550.00 and is a pain to install.

[ashrafkh]

I took it today to several workshops today, several “experts” looked into it and checked the compressor pressure, circuit , belt ..etc all are normal .. so keep decided to wait … (don’t fix it if not broken)