Weak aircon

Hi, would appreciate any help with this. The aircon in my 2000 E38 has been weak (not cold enough) for over a year. My dealer once told me it needed a new condenser, but when I tried to book the car in a couple of months later they decided it just needed a re-gas, which they did.

The re-gas helped but I don't think it was quite cold enough. Anyway, as the summer was coming to an end (this is the UK!), I just left it.

Now with the weather getting warmer, the aircon has been struggling again, so it went in to the dealer again. They re-gassed it again and did an 'aircon service' (at my expense). They didn't notice any leaks though. When I got the car back, the aircon was better, but still not right - on a hot day it will struggle. The dealer said it is performing within spec, but I can have the aircon on 'maximum' (16 degrees and full blowers) and keep it like that for an entire half hour journey and it certainly isn't freezing. I seem to remember that using 'maximum' was unbearable after 5 or 10 minutes.

So, could it simply be the condenser not performing?

LaTerciaReal

Reply to
LaTerciaReal
Loading thread data ...

--- AntiSpam/harvest --- Remove X's to send email to me.

Reply to
Josh Assing

Reply to
paul craig

Check the condenser isn't blocked with leaves etc and that the aux fan if it has one is working.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

There is a filter for the cabin air that can get clogged. When this happens, the air flow through the system will be slow, and your inclination will be to service the AC. I suggest they (or you) install a new microfilter to improve the air flow, this ought to make the AC work stronger.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

I seriously doubt there is a connection between the head gasket and the AC servicing. This would be sort of like saying, "I just finished a load of dishes, and the front door fell off my house."

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Thanks for the replies...the microfilter has been changed recently, so it's not that.

I'll see what it's like if and when we get some warm weather (come on....!).

LaTerciaReal

Reply to
LaTerciaReal

Cool. The filter is overlooked, and people spend countless hours and dollars trying to get cold air from a system that can't even move air.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

An A/C tech can easily determine if the compressor and condenser are working properly simply by monitoring the freon line pressures. Poor air flow will show up as a higher than normal return pressure .... or icing.

One other possibility ... Confirm that when you switch to A/C that ALL the A/C vents are blowing cold air. My wife's X5 was barely cooling the car and we thought the A/C unit was at fault. It was fine. The air control damper that directs the cool air or warm air was bad. Of four A/C vents, only one was blowing cold air. The other three were blowing warm air.

Good luck.

RCE

Reply to
RCE

Talking of aircons. I had mine re-gassed last summer (on my E34), and it worked fine. Engine revs picked up a bit and it blew nice and cool. It was working well at the start of this summer, and then oneday it didn't. The engine revs don't pick up like they used to either, and there is absolutely no cool air coming out.

My instinct tells me (perhaps wrongly) that if it needed re-gassing again (I'd expect a small leak on a car this old), I wouldn't just suddenly lose the aircon overnight? Unless there is something that causes it to cut out when there isn't enough gas in the system?

Any ideas?

Reply to
James Bossard

There is. It's a low pressure switch and it causes the solenoid clutch to not engage when the pressure is too low.

Take it in for a diagnosis at least to see where the leak is. Maybe it isn't an expensive fix...

Reply to
Fred W

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.