A/C Compressor failure
 

My A/C blows cold, but a few days ago a grinding sound started. My X5 ate a belt, which I replaced. The tensioner is in good shape, but the noise is only getting worse. I tracked it down to the A/C compressor. Sounds like the pulley bearing is shot. Has anyone replaced the bearing? Is it possible? If not, has anyone replaced the compressor itself? Writeups make it look fairly straightforward, but any insight would be appreciated. Thanks, all.

I saw one person replaced a bearing...and someone else here or bimmerfest said he was going to do the same....

My A/C blew nice and cold until yesterday. I started up the car, A/C was working but I was hearing not so much a grinding but definite metal/metal pinging. I was concerned it was the engine, so I popped the hood and tried to locate the sound. Couldn't tell for sure except it seemed to be coming from either the front of the engine passenger side or in front of that.

Thought I would check for codes, so I put on a code reader, and it was clear (no faults) and all numbers looked good. No misfires or anything of the sort.

Then all of a sudden the pinging stopped, and sadly so did the cold air. Doesn't look like a belt is missing anywhere.

Does the sound seem similar to what you were hearing? This really comes at a bad time, to say the least, but that is probably pretty universal.

If compressor failed after few days of "grinding" or "metal/metal pinging", it's likely some metal shavings got into the system. Not sure of the exact procedure, but I'm thinking the entire system has to be purged/cleaned somehow to remove those metal bits, otherwise they'll damage new compressor pretty soon.

Thanks for the reply, ard. I did a pretty thorough search online, and the only information that I could find concerning a bearing replacement was related to the N52. Unfortunately the N52 and the N62 engines have different A/C compressors (of course!) so I don't imagine that the compressor bearings would be the same.

I put the new compressor on order yesterday, expect it in tomorrow or the next day. $600 plus shipping, so I guess I have a chore on my hands to replace it. Unfortunately, information on the internet is lacking concerning a replacement procedure, so I guess I will wing it and hope for the best. Thanks, everyone.

A/C Bearing replacement - is this possible ? - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums

and

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-30-3-0si.html

;)

Totally agree with this. It is essential to clean and flush if the comp has grenaded...