A/C problem

[Dan203]

I noticed that my 08 135i is making a loud sort of fan noise when idling. After playing around I discovered that the noise stops if I turn off the A/C and comes back when I turn it on. The A/C blows cold but the noise can't be good.

A little history.... For the last few years I've had problems with the A/C not working in the summer. When it was under warranty I took it in twice and they said it was a seal that they replaced and recharged the system. Last summer, like a month after the warranty expired, it happened again. This time they said there was a leak in the evaporator and that it was going to cost $1,500 to fix. I was pissed and contacted BMW. They followed through but the best they offered was $300 off the service. Since it was a slow leak, taking about a year to stop working I decided not to do it. This summer it happened again so I decided to just refill the system myself using one of those cans from Wal-Mart. It worked fine and it's been blowing cold all summer but last week it started making this noise.

Did I break something by doing this refill myself? If so what could it be? How much is it going to cost to fix? If I do fix whatever is making the noise do I have to fix the evaporator too?

Honestly if this is going to cost thousands to fix I'm probably just going to trade the car in and get a new one. But if it's only going to cost a few hundred bucks I might just do it and wait until next year for the new 225i.

Any ideas?

[Dan203]

I was just listening to this again and it actually does sound like a fan. In fact it kind of sounds like that fan that runs when the turbo is too hot. But it sounds like it's running at full speed all the time when the A/C is running. Is there a cooling fan for the A/C? Could there be some sort of sensor or something that broke that's telling it to run all the time?

[Dan203]

Found this thread where another guy was having the exact same problem....

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=854392

If you watch his video you'll hear what I'm hearing on mine. So it would seem the A/C is some how causing the main radiator fan to run at full speed.

[Dackelone]

Could be your AC compressor. Why not take it back to your dealer with ALL your old service records of them fixing your AC and see if they will good will the repair?

[Dan203]

I tried that when they said they needed to replace the evaporator. BMW only offered to pay for $300 of the repair. (Even talked to BMW myself) And the dealer was not willing to cut me a deal at all.

What really pissed me off about the whole thing is that i complained about the smell a couple of times even when the A/C was still blowing cold and they told me it was normal. Just condensation because I don't drive it very often. (Only 22k miles in over 5 years) I'm pretty sure they knew it was the evaporator all along and just didn't want to fix it when it was under warranty because it's a PITA job to do.

That being said.... After reading that thread I linked to I don't think this is the compressor any more. I'm 99% sure that something in the A/C is causing the radiator fan to run at full speed. I'm thinking a bad temp sensor somewhere.

[dcaron9999]

My 2011 135i is at the dealer for the whole week for a leaking EVAP repair. The whole dashboard has to come off. The job is estimated at $3600 CAD, and will be handled under warranty. I bought my 135i about 2 months ago, and immediately noticed the weak A/C (not blowing very cold air).

[Xyloft]

Originally Posted by Dan203

What really pissed me off about the whole thing is that i complained about the smell a couple of times even when the A/C was still blowing cold and they told me it was normal.

What kind of smell? I had a weird smell at start up for the last 2 years or so. i replaced the cabin filter thinking it was that. but this summer my AC has got warmer and warmer. now it's pretty much shot.

anyone else have an Evap repair? 1500US-4000CAD is a pretty wide range. I'm guessing thats why my problem is and trying to determine a fix/sell cutoff.

it's so close to fall I would hate to fill up the freon and have it leak out over winter.

[Miko226]

If i park my car in the sun down here in Soflo for an extended period of time the drivers side AC blows hot air for 10 minutes before it even gets sort of cool while my passenger side is very cold.. doesnt really make sense to me not sure if the unit itself is dying or just low on coolant however i am going to see if it needs more refrigerant

[dcaron9999]

Originally Posted by Miko226

If i park my car in the sun down here in Soflo for an extended period of time the drivers side AC blows hot air for 10 minutes before it even gets sort of cool while my passenger side is very cold.. doesnt really make sense to me not sure if the unit itself is dying or just low on coolant however i am going to see if it needs more refrigerant

My old E46 2002 BMW 330xi with leaking A/C system has the reverse problem, when it it was low on freon. Passenger side got warm, and driver side was colder . Dont know if this is an urban legend, but I heard that the driver side was given priority with cold air, when refrigerant was low.

[Miko226]

Originally Posted by dcaron9999

My old E46 2002 BMW 330xi with leaking A/C system has the reverse problem, when it it was low on freon. Driver side was cold and passenger side got warm. Dont knwo if this is an urban legend, but heard that the driver side was given priority with cold air, when refrigerant was low.

I have read the thing about priority as well which leads me to think that it is a leak in the system somewhere which sucks when the days i have to leave it in the sun but what doesnt make sense is it blows cold air whenever its not that hot out so it seems to be just freon hopefully

[Xyloft]

Originally Posted by Miko226

If i park my car in the sun down here in Soflo for an extended period of time the drivers side AC blows hot air for 10 minutes before it even gets sort of cool while my passenger side is very cold.. doesnt really make sense to me not sure if the unit itself is dying or just low on coolant however i am going to see if it needs more refrigerant

that is what mine was doing. but even when i closed the passenger vents, it never really got as cold on the drivers side as the passenger side.

hooked up an advanced auto parts Freon can and it read very low. filled it up and now it's ice cold on both sides. has stayed cold for a week.

I have a different car for weekdays, so I haven't driven it in the last few days to see if it's kept pressure. fingers are crossed though.

[Miko226]

Yeah I have the exact same problem closed passenger and clearly the vents are not connected just stays warm going to add freon this weekend hopefully it holds it and is not leaking somewhere my car was from up north so I'm assuming the AC did not get as much use as it will down here hoping there are no leaks / other problems...

[Iron Man]

Originally Posted by Miko226

Yeah I have the exact same problem closed passenger and clearly the vents are not connected just stays warm going to add freon this weekend hopefully it holds it and is not leaking somewhere my car was from up north so I'm assuming the AC did not get as much use as it will down here hoping there are no leaks / other problems...

You might want to work on using some kind of punctuation and proper grammar because when you type incomplete sentences that flow into each other it can make it difficult to read and understand what you are really trying to say.

[Miko226]

Originally Posted by Iron Man

You might want to work on using some kind of punctuation and proper grammar because when you type incomplete sentences that flow into each other it can make it difficult to read and understand what you are really trying to say.

A. Im at Work on Mobile.

B. You might want to go back to grammar / english class because clearly I don't care and nobody else seems to be having any trouble understanding... i heard they are having an after labor day special on Hooked on Phonics!!

C. I just wasted my lunch time typing this.

[Iron Man]

Originally Posted by Miko226

A. Im at Work on Mobile.

B. You might want to go back to grammar / english class because clearly I don't care and nobody else seems to be having any trouble understanding... i heard they are having an after labor day special on Hooked on Phonics!!

C. I just wasted my lunch time typing this.

Wow, chill. I was just kidding, hence the smiley.

[Miko226]

Originally Posted by Xyloft

that is what mine was doing. but even when i closed the passenger vents, it never really got as cold on the drivers side as the passenger side.

hooked up an advanced auto parts Freon can and it read very low. filled it up and now it's ice cold on both sides. has stayed cold for a week.

I have a different car for weekdays, so I haven't driven it in the last few days to see if it's kept pressure. fingers are crossed though.

Filled mine up last night my pressure was low also. Ice cold now on drivers side now hoping it stays that way.

The R-134 is completely worth the 30$ if it stays cold should have done this months ago when summer started down here

[Xyloft]

Originally Posted by Miko226

should have done this months ago when summer started down here

lol* yeah. after i filled mine I thought to myself "why did i wait so long".

[Miko226]

Originally Posted by Dan203

I noticed that my 08 135i is making a loud sort of fan noise when idling. After playing around I discovered that the noise stops if I turn off the A/C and comes back when I turn it on. The A/C blows cold but the noise can't be good.

A little history.... For the last few years I've had problems with the A/C not working in the summer. When it was under warranty I took it in twice and they said it was a seal that they replaced and recharged the system. Last summer, like a month after the warranty expired, it happened again. This time they said there was a leak in the evaporator and that it was going to cost $1,500 to fix. I was pissed and contacted BMW. They followed through but the best they offered was $300 off the service. Since it was a slow leak, taking about a year to stop working I decided not to do it. This summer it happened again so I decided to just refill the system myself using one of those cans from Wal-Mart. It worked fine and it's been blowing cold all summer but last week it started making this noise.

Did I break something by doing this refill myself? If so what could it be? How much is it going to cost to fix? If I do fix whatever is making the noise do I have to fix the evaporator too?

Honestly if this is going to cost thousands to fix I'm probably just going to trade the car in and get a new one. But if it's only going to cost a few hundred bucks I might just do it and wait until next year for the new 225i.

Any ideas?

So my A/C has been running fine ever since I recharged the coolant. Now recently it has started making this noise now =/ luckily I had BMW check the EVAP last month when they had it and said it was fine and recharged it again.

Was the fan sounding noise coming from the EVAP or is it not related because if its non related im going to have to pay the deductible again on my extended warranty unfortunately.

[Dan203]

I took mine to an independent mechanic and he said it was fine. He said that fan is the one that cools the compressor and disperses the heat generated by the A/C, like the big part on the side of your house for central A/C. So it will run faster when the ambient temp is high or you have the A/C set to a low temp or fast fan speed because it has to work harder. He listened to it and said it sounded completely normal to him.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by Miko226

If i park my car in the sun down here in Soflo for an extended period of time the drivers side AC blows hot air for 10 minutes before it even gets sort of cool while my passenger side is very cold.. doesnt really make sense to me not sure if the unit itself is dying or just low on coolant however i am going to see if it needs more refrigerant

Originally Posted by dcaron9999

My old E46 2002 BMW 330xi with leaking A/C system has the reverse problem, when it it was low on freon. Passenger side got warm, and driver side was colder . Dont know if this is an urban legend, but I heard that the driver side was given priority with cold air, when refrigerant was low.

Originally Posted by Miko226

I have read the thing about priority as well which leads me to think that it is a leak in the system somewhere which sucks when the days i have to leave it in the sun but what doesnt make sense is it blows cold air whenever its not that hot out so it seems to be just freon hopefully

Originally Posted by Xyloft

that is what mine was doing. but even when i closed the passenger vents, it never really got as cold on the drivers side as the passenger side.

hooked up an advanced auto parts Freon can and it read very low. filled it up and now it's ice cold on both sides. has stayed cold for a week.

I have a different car for weekdays, so I haven't driven it in the last few days to see if it's kept pressure. fingers are crossed though.

When I was low on freon it would also blow warmer from driver side vents than passenger. My freon was low and it leaked from one of the high/low pressure pipes/hoses(they're aluminum looking). There are two hoses really close together in the front of the car (on the right side, in front of the engine). One was rubbing on the other, and eventually a hole formed in the hose that carries the freon and that's where it leaked out. It always blew cold from the driver side and warm from the passenger side until one day it wouldn't work at all. I got the hose replaced, they recharged it with freon, and I was good to go.

You might want to check this out just as a precautionary measure. You can simply bend the hoses apart if they are touching and avoid this scenario.

[ilikebmxbikes]

i have an extra N54 AC compressor w/ 45k miles, works perfect, if anyone is looking to purchase.