Was driving on I-95 and was feeling pretty good, until I couldn't get the air conditioning fans to blow hardly any air. i put it on maximum, lowest temperature, etc. and the fan was making plenty of noise, but cool air was barely coming out. Volume of air just wasn't there, but the fan was so loud, i had to turn it down to talk on the phone. this was a hot day today and i was getting plenty upset (and a bit "sticky"). about 45 mins later, was in a parking garage, and suddenly (without touching any controls) the volume of air increased to what i would expect. On the drive back home, the a/c worked perfectly, BUT, i noticed when leaving the parking garage a "whine" coming from the power steering. it was also more difficult to turn the wheel. it sounds and felt like low power steering fluid. NOTE: this does not have active steering. It does have Navigation. Every time i stopped at a light, the whining sound was quite noticable. (Kind of embarassing with a temporary tag on the bag window!) By the time i got home and pulled into the driveway, it is very loud (my wife even noticed when i pulled up) and steering is getting very difficult. One other complaint, the Sat Radio seems to clip out at times. not sure if it is specific to poor coverage or what....
Am going to the dealer tomorrow morning at 7:30AM. Will let you know more...

P.S. just dropped $6K on my '02 Audi 2.7T (had to replace 2 turbos) and due to no help from Audi (having owned 3), traded it on the 530i - boy, I really got them...right. I just want to stay OUT of repair shops for a while!

 

Had your same AC problem with my 04' 545. problem was the coils were freezing up and when frozen no air can get through. Simple fix is to shut off the A/C compressor but let the fan run . In less than 5 minutes the air will melt the ice and air will flow again. It will still blow cold for a few minutes as it is blowing over/through ice.

Dealer said this was supposed to be fixed with an I-drive update but apparently not.

Just picked up my 07' 550i on Monday and have yet to see this problem yet.

 

Y, no diff than your house on a REALLY hot day if you are a little low on freon.

The new refrigerant is not even close to as good as the old, but better for the environment we are told.

Personally I don't think my E60 is very cold either, and it has not been over 95 deg F yet.

 

thanks Farbton - never thought of frozen coils has happened at home but has never happened to me before in a car. Any ideas on the steering? I don't know where to add fluid (nothing in the manual).
PS, sounds like you have a beauty!! 550 fully loaded! some day...

 

Mullman,
Was only about 85 degrees when it happened today..but seemed a lot hotter!
thanks

 

Personally, it sounds either like the compressor is stalling out or the serpentine belt is loose or maladjusted. The belt drives both the power steering pump and compressor (and other items). Frozen coils won't give the squeeling noise.

The dealer is the answer.

 

You may want to first take a look at the cold air setting in your I-Drive under climate control. You need to make sure that the setting is in the summer mode, colour of setting should be blue. If the setting is on winter setting,(red/orange colour) the fan will blow from now to kingdom come trying to achieve the desired temperature, however if I-drive setting is on warm air, the system will never achieve the desired temperature, hence fan blows warm air.

 

That's why you have a warranty, might I suggest taking it to your local BMW Service Shop? No harm intended.

 

Thanks for the replies. UPDATE ON STATUS:
Two days ago I took the car to BMW service. They told me that they will have to REPLACE THE ENTIRE STEERING RACK! There was fluid everywhere when they took the plastic cover off underneath the front end. Recall, there is only 200 miles on this car!! And, they don't seem to have any idea regarding the a/c as it is now working fine, or was when i left it with them. The steering rack has to come from Germany and I will be without the car for at least 10 days. Is this something i should fight and try to get the car replaced with a new one or just chalk it up to bad luck? Advice is very much appreciated.

 

I would refuse the car and get a new one.

I don't know where you stand but surely at under 200 miles you must have the right to refuse it?