2008 335d climate control not working- no cold air

Jim Walsh wrote:

An air con specialist would be the best bet (usually)
I would take a look at the the compressor, the drive end has a pulley, the
outside of which will turn with the engine, engaging air con should make the
centre of that pulley also start to turn, if it doesn't then take a close
look at the wiring to the compressor, on some cars that wiring is exposed to
lots of road dirt, it only needs a poor connection and the magnetic clutch
will not operate.  If it does not operate (and the wiring seems ok) then see
if the lead to the compressor has power (engine running, air con switched
on)  If there is no power then it is a question of checking all of the many
interlocks that will stop it running (and a specialist is probably the way
to go)

temperature).

a BMW dealer?

Paragraphs. Wonderful invention.  Improves legibility no end.

Tim

As per subject line, the climate control seems to have packed-in on my car.
All the lights and controls behave as normal. The green light on the
snowflake symbol comes on when pressed and the fan/blower kicks in,
suggesting that the system is trying to control the cabin temperature.
However, the air never comes out at anything less than ambient. The heating
function still works.
I must confess that I cannot be sure whether the aircon failure is the
culmination of a gradual reduction in efficiency, or whether it is a sudden
fault. It came to light about three weeks back, when the missus borrowed the
car for a long trip on a very hot day. I had several, increasingly desperate
phone calls from her, asking how to get the aircon working. I ran through
all the adjustments I could think of, but somehow imagined that she must
have failed to follow instructions. When I got the car back, it transpired
that the system was indeed failing to produce cold air, no matter what.
Hoping that low refrigerant level might be the root cause of the problem, I
took the car to Kwik Fit for vacuum removal and replacement. No change (but
no charge either, since I didn't get my =or>10% reduction in air
temperature).
I have checked fuses 6, 77 and 88 which, according to the fusebox diagram,
are involved in aircon. No problems with these.
So, my question is, where to next? Is there anything else I can easily check
before I resign myself to GBH of the wallet at a garage or aircon
specialist? Incidentally, would people here recommend an aircon specialist
or a BMW dealer?
Advice appreciated.
Regards,

Firstly what level of charge did Kwik fit establish there was initially?
Has the car ever had a top up of gas during routine maintanance?

Reason being, is that I know that upon any abnormal system pressures (high
or low) on these the system locks out the compressor until the fault code is
cleared, so Kwik fit could play about it with ad infinitum and get no-where.

The question is, has it shut down due to a low charge from natural wastage,
or have you got a leak? Or is there another system fault?

Although it will cost, I would suggest you take the car into the dealer for
FCR and remedial action.

Tim.. wrote:

QF would not know, but the machine does, it is fairly hard to get it very
badly wrong with the latest machines.
Interesting that it needs the fault codes clearing before it will go, even
if the fault no longer exists.
Does the air system have self test, some high end vehicles (such as Lexus)
do, usually a key combo will set it off.