https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfHmgM-GRo4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNx0X4INfiw

not sure about the air gap fixes on some of the videos I've found. is there a spec to check by? At this point, we have replaced the X5 & need to sell it & so I'm weighing out selling it w/ the fouled up AC clutch or repairing that & selling it. I'm not sure there's a vast difference in value. Otherwise, it's a wonderful machine as you'd expect!

My X5 compressor clutch failed last month. I just replaced the entire compressor, the clutch is hard to find. $400 for the compressor and good as new. Mine also had high miles at 145,000.

where did you get and/or what brand compressor did you use? I'm contemplating doing it myself & having a friend who has a shop do the purge/refill of the system for me. I don't want to sell a bomb of a car & it's otherwise quite nice so....

I didn't have the proper tooling to recharge the system so I just took it to an indy for the replacement. I am not sure what unit they put in it but it was probably an aftermarket unit that SSF carries. Stealership wanted $1500.00 just for the compressor.

$400 for a hired out replacement job? For that, it's a no brainer not worth my time to hassle with it & go back & forth to have the system cleared & charged

I should clarify that the indy charged me $200 for installation and recharging the system. The total bill was $600 ish. For the $200 labor it definitely wasn't worth my time and energy. I shopped around and $400 for a new compressor was about the cheapest I could find so yeah, no brainer. :thumbup:

ok, still...less than the nickel & dime billing I would have expected randomly walking into a repair shop. So you purchased the compressor & took it to the shop to install it?

No, I scanned it with INPA and got the same error as you so I took it in and told them to replace the compressor assembly. My indy did give me a slight discount on the compressor but he still made money.

got it. guess I need to find a good shop. THIS is the downside to being a fierce DIYer on all things mechanical...when you do want to hire out some work to save hassle it can be hard to know where to go w/o going down that rabbit hole that is part of the reason you became a DIYer in the first place...