Air Conditioning not cooling well
05-15-2011, 05:19 AM
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My Ride: 2005 525i - mo mods...just got it
Members, my air conditioning only starts cooling after about 15 minutes of driving. It cools well if i drive on an interstate, and then when i get off, i can feel that its starting to warm up. Dealer told me its going to be the compressor, but naturally i do not believe the dealers. I see those freon cans sold in stores, does anyone know how to fill up the system with freon and what to watch out for? Or perhaps anyone did it?
05-15-2011, 05:30 AM
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Members, my air conditioning only starts cooling after about 15 minutes of driving. It cools well if i drive on an interstate, and then when i get off, i can feel that its starting to warm up. Dealer told me its going to be the compressor, but naturally i do not believe the dealers. I see those freon cans sold in stores, does anyone know how to fill up the system with freon and what to watch out for? Or perhaps anyone did it?
Two points:
- IF you don't have a dealer you trust, find a qualified BMW indy who has both EXPERIENCE and EQUIPMENT to investigate and fix the real problem.
- IF the system produces cold air on the highway it sounds like the 'compressor' is working ,,, but something else is amiss.
- Check for debris / leaves etc that may be blocking the air intake area in front of the radiator.
- Check the condition of the under-hood micro filters.
05-15-2011, 05:35 AM
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something else to quickly check is the heat setting in the idrive... on the climate control page how many bars and what colour are the bard in the centre of the seated diagram?
Change it to blue and 3 bars and see if that makes a difference...
Change it to blue and 3 bars and see if that makes a difference...
05-30-2011, 06:12 PM
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NEVER, and I mean NEVER use those R134A cans available at the Vatozone or Wallyworld if you don't know what your are doing. The amount of refrigerant, and the ratio of refrigerant to lubricating oil in the system is CRUCIAL. If you get that ratio off, bad things happen. The R134a systems are not as forgiving as the old freon systems were, and they often use different types of lubricating oil (PAG or PAO) which are not necessarily compatible with each other. Further, those cans often have a 'stopleak' put in them, which is nothing more than a temporary bandaid if you really do have a leak, and almost all reputable shops will test the refrigerant before they recover it, and if it has stopleak in it, they will refuse to work on your system.
Unless you are trained and licensed (EPA), and have the proper equipment, then you really shouldn't touch your A/C system other than trying to get it diagnosed. BTW, many systems now come with a UV dye from the factory, so all you need to do to find a leak is use a blacklight on it.
Personally, I've got the EPA license, and I am a professional mechanical engineer and know my way around an A/C system. I've got a pressure lineset for testing line pressures, and I have a vacuum pump. But 19 times out of 20 I still won't work on my own system, because I no longer have access to a recovery system.
Unless you are trained and licensed (EPA), and have the proper equipment, then you really shouldn't touch your A/C system other than trying to get it diagnosed. BTW, many systems now come with a UV dye from the factory, so all you need to do to find a leak is use a blacklight on it.
Personally, I've got the EPA license, and I am a professional mechanical engineer and know my way around an A/C system. I've got a pressure lineset for testing line pressures, and I have a vacuum pump. But 19 times out of 20 I still won't work on my own system, because I no longer have access to a recovery system.
05-30-2011, 08:52 PM
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NEVER, and I mean NEVER use those R134A cans available at the Vatozone or Wallyworld if you don't know what your are doing. The amount of refrigerant, and the ratio of refrigerant to lubricating oil in the system is CRUCIAL. If you get that ratio off, bad things happen. The R134a systems are not as forgiving as the old freon systems were, and they often use different types of lubricating oil (PAG or PAO) which are not necessarily compatible with each other. Further, those cans often have a 'stopleak' put in them, which is nothing more than a temporary bandaid if you really do have a leak, and almost all reputable shops will test the refrigerant before they recover it, and if it has stopleak in it, they will refuse to work on your system.
Unless you are trained and licensed (EPA), and have the proper equipment, then you really shouldn't touch your A/C system other than trying to get it diagnosed. BTW, many systems now come with a UV dye from the factory, so all you need to do to find a leak is use a blacklight on it.
Personally, I've got the EPA license, and I am a professional mechanical engineer and know my way around an A/C system. I've got a pressure lineset for testing line pressures, and I have a vacuum pump. But 19 times out of 20 I still won't work on my own system, because I no longer have access to a recovery system.
Unless you are trained and licensed (EPA), and have the proper equipment, then you really shouldn't touch your A/C system other than trying to get it diagnosed. BTW, many systems now come with a UV dye from the factory, so all you need to do to find a leak is use a blacklight on it.
Personally, I've got the EPA license, and I am a professional mechanical engineer and know my way around an A/C system. I've got a pressure lineset for testing line pressures, and I have a vacuum pump. But 19 times out of 20 I still won't work on my own system, because I no longer have access to a recovery system.
We should all bring our cars to the dealers to get all services done also as they are the only authorized BMW techs who are liscensed to work on our cars. cough cough!
05-31-2011, 03:47 PM
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My mother had a leak in her home air conditioner, had a guy like you come to check it out, he said she needed a new system for $6000. had my cousin come over who was in school for airconditioning and heating took a look at it and said it would cost about $500 to fix......and fixed it for $500. My cousin also told us they give you guys some lines to run like that to get people to buy new systems and spend more than they need to
We should all bring our cars to the dealers to get all services done also as they are the only authorized BMW techs who are liscensed to work on our cars. cough cough!
We should all bring our cars to the dealers to get all services done also as they are the only authorized BMW techs who are liscensed to work on our cars. cough cough!
Second: I don't know what you mean by 'you guys'. I am a licensed professional engineer (mechanical). I do not work in the automobile industry, I work in the nuclear industry. However, I have been turning wrenches on cars for over 28 years now, so I know a bit about it, actually I know more about it than the average technician working on systems like these, since I design systems like these.
Third: I am sharing my personal bad and hard earned experience. You can either take my advice and repair an A/C system correctly, or you can put your little cheap can of Wallyworld R134a with stopleak in it and hope for the best. Taking the cheap way out always, always costs more in rework later on, and if you can't afford to properly maintain your car, then what are you doing driving it?
I never said you can only take the vehicle to a BMW dealer for A/C service. I did say you need to take it to somebody who is trained and has a proper recovery system.
I suggest you Google up "A/C Black Death" to get an idea of what the consequences can be.
05-31-2011, 05:16 PM
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First: There is a HUGE difference between a stationary (home) A/C system and a mobile system.
Second: I don't know what you mean by 'you guys'. I am a licensed professional engineer (mechanical). I do not work in the automobile industry, I work in the nuclear industry. However, I have been turning wrenches on cars for over 28 years now, so I know a bit about it, actually I know more about it than the average technician working on systems like these, since I design systems like these.
Third: I am sharing my personal bad and hard earned experience. You can either take my advice and repair an A/C system correctly, or you can put your little cheap can of Wallyworld R134a with stopleak in it and hope for the best. Taking the cheap way out always, always costs more in rework later on, and if you can't afford to properly maintain your car, then what are you doing driving it?
I never said you can only take the vehicle to a BMW dealer for A/C service. I did say you need to take it to somebody who is trained and has a proper recovery system.
I suggest you Google up "A/C Black Death" to get an idea of what the consequences can be.
Second: I don't know what you mean by 'you guys'. I am a licensed professional engineer (mechanical). I do not work in the automobile industry, I work in the nuclear industry. However, I have been turning wrenches on cars for over 28 years now, so I know a bit about it, actually I know more about it than the average technician working on systems like these, since I design systems like these.
Third: I am sharing my personal bad and hard earned experience. You can either take my advice and repair an A/C system correctly, or you can put your little cheap can of Wallyworld R134a with stopleak in it and hope for the best. Taking the cheap way out always, always costs more in rework later on, and if you can't afford to properly maintain your car, then what are you doing driving it?
I never said you can only take the vehicle to a BMW dealer for A/C service. I did say you need to take it to somebody who is trained and has a proper recovery system.
I suggest you Google up "A/C Black Death" to get an idea of what the consequences can be.
Sorry couldnt help myself after the scam they tried to run on my mom.......but good luck with that!
06-01-2011, 06:54 AM
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Let me provide a more moderate response. I'm not a big wrencher but I've been tinkering on cars for 20+ years. AC issues can be a pain to diagnose and repair, so if you have no experience and are uncomfortable with any car DIY, then I recommend taking it to a certified reapr shop. However it you have some DIY auto comfort, a couple of easy steps to check are
1) make sure your i-drive controls are set properly
2) if you have not replaced cabin filters
2) it is very easy to check A/C pressure levels with a pressure guage on the low side switch ( a good guage wil run less that $25 and is very handy to have....do not rely on the cheap guages attached directly to cans of r134, they are not very precise). This need to be checked with the A/C on and the compressor engaged
3) if you find that the pressure is low, adding a can of r-134 to get it to the proper level is not difficult (do not overfil1). If it is low, but in range, it is fine. You don't need to get it to the upper side of full, anywhere in range is good and the range can moderate with the season.
4) If you continue to have issues and lose r134 pressure after driving for several days, you likely have a leak that will require a certified mechanic to repair (stay away from the stop/leak stuff for a/c systems)
5) If you're pressure is fine, but are still having other issues, it could be one of several things (compressor, blower, sensor, etc), that are all typically more than a light wrencher should handle
Per the note above, do not continue to just add R134 to the system if it has a continueous leak, this can create several other issues, partiuclarly with the cans that have other addittivs (stop leak, lubricants, etc). Excess of these additives can create much more significant problems in the system.
1) make sure your i-drive controls are set properly
2) if you have not replaced cabin filters
2) it is very easy to check A/C pressure levels with a pressure guage on the low side switch ( a good guage wil run less that $25 and is very handy to have....do not rely on the cheap guages attached directly to cans of r134, they are not very precise). This need to be checked with the A/C on and the compressor engaged
3) if you find that the pressure is low, adding a can of r-134 to get it to the proper level is not difficult (do not overfil1). If it is low, but in range, it is fine. You don't need to get it to the upper side of full, anywhere in range is good and the range can moderate with the season.
4) If you continue to have issues and lose r134 pressure after driving for several days, you likely have a leak that will require a certified mechanic to repair (stay away from the stop/leak stuff for a/c systems)
5) If you're pressure is fine, but are still having other issues, it could be one of several things (compressor, blower, sensor, etc), that are all typically more than a light wrencher should handle
Per the note above, do not continue to just add R134 to the system if it has a continueous leak, this can create several other issues, partiuclarly with the cans that have other addittivs (stop leak, lubricants, etc). Excess of these additives can create much more significant problems in the system.