2009 X5 A/C Issue - Confused
 

Our X5 A/C air stopped blowing cold air. Stopped by the dealer. They ran a test - the compressor is working fine, the fan belt is running fine, and that there is some Freon. The humidity was high.

But, its still not blowing cold air.

Any ideas??? The dealer wants $150 just to start looking at it (non-refundable). Trying to figure this out before paying.... thanks

Are you saying the air stops blowing when you switch to cold? Or is the air blowing, but not cold (air conditioned)?
If first, then it is computer being confused trying to auto-climate.
If second, normally Freon would be the issue.. but..

Its blowing strong. But not cold when the snowflake button, and the vent settings are 4 bars "blue". Its just "warm" air, not cold. Its warm through both vents. I saw some posts stating that one vent cold / another warm.

Had similar issue a while back. Got freon recharged with colored dye, problem was temporary solved. Mine was slowly leaked in the evaporator, replaced it under warranty a few weeks after the recharge.

Good to know. However my warranty is expired. Any idea how much of a repair this will be at the stealer? They are charging me $150 just to drive in the shop.

I had my Condenser replaced last summer (May or June 2013). Symptoms were, whining sound when the AC was on full blast and warm air blowing.

The low whining sound meant low refrigerant, (confirmed with a quick pressure test). The tech added dye and refrigerant to the system and a week later when the system was blowing hot air again, he check it out and saw a leak at the bottom right of the condenser when you are looking in front of the car.

I think it cost me $6-700 to replace the condenser with an aftermarket Condenser. I think labor was $300 and the part was $3-400.

If the evaporator is bad or leaking, the whole front dash needs to be removed, ~$2,000 to repair.

My condenser replacement lasted until December 2013 and now I think something else is wrong with the AC system. It's hard for me to confirm now since it's been single digits but I think I'm selling this car and getting and MDX.

This is a wild guess based on a $2,000 Indy estimate for an Evap replacement but $3500 to maybe even $4k depending on your dealer's labor rate.

It might be cheaper to have an AV guy dissasemble the dash then have a mechanic change the evaporator and recharge the system. The largest concern I have is that once the dash is taken apart it never goes back the same.

The obvious and inexpensive way to start is have a colored dye freon recharge and go from there, imo. Cost me $120 for that from Indy shop.

Some freon is how much exactly? Spend 20 bucks, get a can, pump it in, and see if it makes a difference.

Made a big one for me. BMW wanted $850, indies were going 150 to 250, and it ended up being this simple solution of an annual refill.



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Good point. That slipped my mind, but the first thing I did when I had AC issues was recharge it myself. If it's a tiny leak, annual fill ups are the most economical way of dealing with a leak. However, if you love the environment, it's probably not the way to go.