Climate Zones. ac recharge- e53
 

So my e53 2002 x5 was not blowing cold air that much. and it was tested for leaks and there were no leaks found. So i recharged the system with r134A GAS.
and its weird how the center right vent blows hot air and passenger feet area is hot. while pasenger right vent is semi cold. the drivers side is perfect with ice cold ac. So i think this has to do with the cooling zones. this vehicle has the tri-climate. passenger, driver, and rear zones. and i also tried moving the knob to 3 blue. so im stuck wondering why are those vents always hot? Perhaps a clogged vent or it doesnt switch the settings??? if someone had this problem or has any tips please respond below thank you
http://s1229.photobucket.com/albums/...t=untitled.jpg

Does your aux fan come on at all? I'm having a similar problem, my aux fan doesn't work so I'm not getting ice cold air, except on the driver side.

I checked the fan. It comes on slowly and turns on and off when needed. The way it works is the drivers zone gets all the air than it splits to passenger than to rear. That's why you have the most speed of air coming out from the drivers side

same issues here, driver side 2 vents blow fairly cool air. But the pass 2 do not. Def. not cold enough air to keep the windows up on a hot day however.

Recharge it and drive around with the settings on max. It could be the old r134a gas

sounds like you may have a stuck heather valve.Try to give it a gentle tap while someone switches from hot to cold from inside the cabin and see if that cures your AC problem.The valve DO get stuck from time to time i have seen it on my 5 series.When i got it, it was blowing full on hot air even with the ac on on max.Taping on the valve cured it:)
Hope that helps

Thanks for the info. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
So I will open up the vent. Tap the valve inside
While someone switches the knob?

The valve is lockated in the engine compartment next to the driver side suspension tower I believe.Start the engine, have someone sit in the car switching from ac to heating while you tap on the valve with something(I used the handle of my hammer).Be gentle!!once you go tru switching and taping couple of times, switch to ac again and check to see if you get cold air from all vents.That helped me.Hope it helps you to.

BS
Refrigerant does not go bad or get old.

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Are you out of your mind?! ^
Than why do cars need a recharge. If it didn't leak out? Can you explain why they sell refrigerant kits at every store. So why does the ac
Stop cooling?

Because it leaks out. Period, no other reason to add, it doesn't get used up or worn out or old.

A leak is the only reason you would need to add refrigerant. So if your ignoring the leak in your ac system, you can be cheap and grab a can and periodically recharge the system instead of fixing the leak.

That leak in your ac system is also leaking out the refrigerant oil for the compressor too...

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If it you keep recharging when your system is leaking you will eventually lose all the oil in the system unless the recharge cans also add oil. Some very expensive items will eventually fail. Suddenly the $95 -$120 an AC shop would charge will look like a very good deal.

R134a Refrigerant doesn't get consumed nor does it "go bad". The kits are sold so those who replace AC system parts and those who have low refrigerant levels can fill/charge it to the proper level. NO AC system has ZERO leakage, there is ALWAYS small amounts that will leak past the compressor seals over years of useage.

Well said guys.

I always was taught that if you have to add refrigerant on a closed AC system, you have a leak (assuming no parts were replaced)

Even the swelling of flexible AC hoses due to heat cycle and pressure over years of useage will increase the internal volume of the hoses and therefore DECREASE pressure.

heres the scenario...
My system was tested for leaks at a shop....
NO LEAKS FOUND...
never been recharged in the life span...

Possibly theres a tiny leak on cars once they get older?

But than again... you get a recovery machine and pump out all the old r134a and than add new r134a to the right pressure.

No need to evac and refill, you have not replaced ony parts in the system. Get a low pressure side gauge and hose along with a small can of R134a, fill up to the point where you see 45psi on a 90 deg F day with AC running on high and all vents open, including rears. If you were to evac and refill you would need to add 2 oz of PAG oil for proper compressor lubrication along with the 14 oz R134a charge.

The key there is that it is a "recovery" machine. It literally takes the freon out of your system, separates the oil from the freon, and then holds YOUR "old" freon in a tank. When they are done replacing parts, seals / vacuum testing - they will actually put your "old" freon right back in. If the system was low when it came in they will add enough freon to get it back up to spec. If the system was empty, of course you will get all "new" freon.

If ever I have my A/C worked on, I always put PAG oil with dye in. It makes future leaks easy to detect and IMO saves time and money down the road.

Whenever I have a system with over 50k miles evacuated and refilled I always have new R134a and PAG oil installed, this is because the system could possibly have some foreign materials from compressor wear. Cheap insurance.