marine8551

So I bought a recharge bottle from Wal-Mart..... anyone foresee any problems with using it to charge up my A/C??

TTuned

Great Q. Dealer probably ask $300+ for that job.

marine8551

Heck even the local nuckle buster down the road wanted $75... and that's a dirt road, i might add, so for $15 it seemed like a reasonable option. Unless of course BMW's are alergic to Wal-Mart, then i'm screwed I guess, LOL..

tonyb635

You put that stuff in your car and you will be screwed... Is your system leaking or leaked out? If so, you will need to repair it first before adding freon, otherwise, it's just gonna leak out again. But for sure if you use that stuff you will trash your system and if you think your repair cost is a lot now, just wait.

marine8551

Alrighty then. So here's the issue Im having. Its going to be 100Deg outside soon, and when i turn the car on and hit "Max A/C" it takes about 10min worth of blazing hot air until the air starts to cool. My choices are either sit in the sauna with the windows down and sunroof open, or stand in the hot outside, plus sunshine, for 10min till it cools off. It eventually does work so that tells me theres still refrigerant in the system, and enough to get good and cold after a bit, so i know theres not an active leak. Im thinking the systems never been recharged so i thought Id top it off. What is in the can thats so bad? Its not a leak fixer or anything, just a recharge kit. Not that you saying that surprises me one bit, I just want to know why it'll thrash my system and why i'll be sorry. Even my indi guy told me to try it and see whether it fixed my issue or not, said if it didnt i could pay him $100 /hr after i tried the cheap way.

roskinc

r134a is r134a, its all the same weather from the little 15 dollar bottle or the 30lb bottle the dealer uses with their very expensive machine to add it.

the problem i see here is why it needs to be topped off? A/C is a closed system, it doesn't run out or need to be topped off UNLESS theirs a leak. look at it like your home refrigerator ... how often do you have to call someone to come by and top it off...never, unless it has a leak. so your first problem will be finding why its low, use that 15 dollar bottle, and check the pressure with the gauge that you should have gotten with it, its read from ambient pressure so if its 90 out, you set the dial to 90. turn car on, a/c on full blast and then test the pressure to see if it even needs freon. more is not always better, if its says it has enough....putting more wont make it get colder.

using the A/C often keeps the seals lubricated and swollen...if you never use it, the seals dry out and cause leaks. the A/c bottle with stop leak helps swell those seals back up. but i always let my a/c system run for the most part of my drives...one thing i like about it always turning on when i start the car, which is why i probably why i never see people posting about leaky systems.

if you test it and the pressure is fine, im guessing it could be the compressor taking a while to build pressure, if it blows cold like normal after 10 min, my guess is that its something else and not low freon.

marine8551

I wanted to check here first, but my way of thinking is that its the same reason why you pump up a basketball before thebseason starts. My car being a 2007, if almost 7yrs is a season i dont have a bad leak, just seapage from a closed system. Ill chexk the pressure with said guage that came w/the botgle

tonyb635

My car and several others that I know personally has the same problem. I personally think it's just something in the system. Many on this site have also complained about the same and some have gone to the dealer. When you read through the post you will see that some are satisfied and other not after the dealer visit. Just be aware if you do this yourself, that BMW's have a very sensitive system and the slightest hint of moisture entering the system will not be nice to you. This moisture is in the air and the tubing that you would most likely be using. If you feel it needs something, then maybe a local shop that has AC capabilities and ask them to see if it needs topping off. My feeling is that what you are experiencing is rather normal in the e60. I know you may not be able to avoid the sun/heat as I can't either. One thing I did where I noticed a improvement was to put in sunshades when I leave the car while at work. Otherwise it's in my garage and the AC there is instant! The shades will not fix the problem just makes it a little better. In fact, I will be getting mine out of my trunk in the next weeks. BUT, if you decide to by that little can, make sure to stay active on the forum and report back if any thing does happen. My guess is that will be the beginning of your ongoing AC nightmare.

marine8551

.... so i bought a sunshade for the windshield, fear won over. My indi said he'll give me a complimentary pressure check 7K miles from now at my next service. I did use the can from wally world however to charge up the window unit in my garage, made a helluva difference too!!! Things like 10yrs old. Now i get to wax in a semi-cool garage compared to a tolerable one. Life is good.

KyleB

http://www.polarbearinc.com/Articles...Compressor.pdf

http://mastertechmag.com/pdf/2009/Au...ompressors.pdf

compressor is on the way out, or you're low on refrigerant. don't put that walmart stuff in your car; you need to hook the car up to a set of gauges so you can correctly measure how much R134a you're placing in the system. $75 to have someone evacuate and recharge the system is money well spent. have them inject tracer dye into the system and check for leaks. if your AC is working, you probably don't have any.

BTW, this is a very, VERY common complaint with E60s. my advise is to do what I do; get used to waiting a few minutes, and replace the compressor when it completely fails.