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So, I bought my 2011 328i late April, I had an e46 prior to the e90 that had some of the best a\c. Being in Atlanta, I can't live without a\c.. when I test drove the car and got the ppi done, it was fairly early in the morning, around 75 -80 degree, A\c was working awesome. Fast forward to now, the a\c has trouble cooling the car unless I'm going about 80 mph on the interstate for 45 minutes. I went and bought one of those gauges to test pressure in the a\c system, and it said it was high, not knowing much about a\c systems, I assumed it was low on refrigerant, or had too much. took it to my mechanic this morning, and he said more than likely it had air in the a\c lines, vacuumed all the refrigerant and "air" out, refilled it with refrigerant and sent me on my way free of charge. This morning I took it at about 8 am, roughly 75-80 degrees, a\c was so cold on the drive home I had to turn it down. Just took about a 20 minute trip, with max a\c on the whole time, and my back is soaked from sweat. My e46 and my sisters x3 one a 2003, the other a 2004, both have ice cold a\c so cold to the point you only need it on about the 3rd bar on a 95 degree day. what could possibly be the issue here? 75k miles and 6 years old, I can't imagine it could be anything serious... oh and if it helps, I have never seen any water dripping on the ground like every other car I have ever seen, could this be an issue?
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Last edited by Andrewg29; 07-21-2017 at 03:12 PM.
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You might check that the condenser is clean and free of leaves/debris. If the little fins get plugged, the condenser can't shed heat properly. Also be sure your electric fan runs with the A/C on. Sounds like it has refrigerant and the compressor is engaging. Also make sure the little mixer valve on the vents is set to blue/cold, that tricks a lot of people.
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Never understood why BMW decided to include that pointless dial, nevertheless it's all the way to the blue, when I hit the A\c button the fan speeds up a bit, slows back down with I turn the a\c off, I'll check the condenser fins! I hope it's something dumb, thanks for the suggestions!Originally Posted by RocketSurgeon
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Last edited by Andrewg29; 07-21-2017 at 03:21 PM.
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Is there a musty smell from your A/C vents when you first turn it on?
E90 vehicles have an issue with the evaporator leaking out your refrigerant. It's possible your mechanic didn't want to tell you the system was low...
Also "Air" cannot get into your A/C system unless you have had it open when replacing a component. It's more likely it was moisture which is removed by putting the system under a minimum 10 minute vacuum, not by sucking it out and charging it up.
Make sure to close the sunroof when you leave the car and try to find shady spots or get your windows tinted to reduce the sunload especially on black interior cars.
BMWs usually have super cold A/C when compared to most other manufacturers, I suspect you have an issue and recommend getting it atleast looked at by the dealer.
be advised they will want to sell you a recharge again as it's really the first step in diagnosis after the compressor is verified to be working.
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On my sisters x3, when her evaporator quit working, it was blowing out hot air and hot air only, $2600 to fix it. I have cool air, and cold air when the temp is below 80 degrees which is why I don't think it's a major problem... for all I know it's as cold as it's gonna get... from my experience, American cars by far have superior a\c even when my e46 worked great. My friend has a 2014 fusion, and that thing is like a meat locker... I had 2017 320i as a rental and that thing was cold but nothing compared to my friends fusion or my dads silverado
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