Air Conditioner woes (right vent warm)

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Alan

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Hello,

Got a weird problem with my 2000 323Ci with 100K miles. When A/C is on, I noticed a slight hissing sound coming from the center vents. What's more annoying, the passenger vent blows WARM air while the driver side vents blows A/C COLD air. My mechanic says that I don't need a a/c recharge...the refrigerant pressure is at a correct PSI. No leak in the system. He thinks that it's caused by the doors of internal vent controls (ones inside the ventation on the passenger side) is not opening or closing properly. Or the controller that's opening and closing the door is malfunctioning. I'm stumped...any ideas out there?

Thanks,

Alan
 
Bmw 325i 7803

Bmw 325i 7803

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There might be an obstruction in the vent, or it might be the motor that opens and closes the vents when you turn on the a/c (the one that makes the hissing sound when you press the button). At least your a/c works, mine blows warm air at me on 59F, and I have to wait till June for a service appt. with a loaner.
 
M

MRX

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1. If there's air coming out, then the vent is not obstructed.
2. Hissing sound from vent when A/C is on is most likely refrigerant expanding in the expansion valve > not a big concern, it is an indication that A/C in working.
3. If warm air is blowing, it is simply the temperature control door that is stuck/broken in warm position. It could be the door or the actuator itself.

Don't know much about 2000 323. If it has vacuum-type temperature control door actuators, it could be leaking, causing hiss noise. If it is electric actuator, it will be #3 above.
 
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Alan

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That hissing sound is now getting louder. It sounds like a motor spining with a high pitch noise. The reason I say it sounds like a motor is because when I turn off the A/C button, the hissing sound whines down like a motor. Is there some sort of fan inside the vent? If so, maybe that motor is going bad.
 
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BigWorm

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Alan said:
Turned out that the hose between the condenser and compressor was leaking. Replaced for $560 at the dealer. A/C nice a cold now:)
Click to expand...
I have a 2000 323ci and I'm having the exact same symptons as you.

I just had my Aux fan replaced though 2 months ago and the final stage resistor (irraditic on/off ac problem) along with my passenger side vents being warmer than the driver side.

After the above items were replaced and my system *recharged* the AC was functioning properly for about 2 months but now I'm back to warm air on passenger side and *cool* air on driver side.

I did some readings today and found this..

Lowside was around 30-35 psi at idle AC on max
Highside read around 155-165 psi at idle AC on max

temp near aux fan (outside temp) was 93F
temp inside car left driver vent was only 69F (max speed ac on 59 idle)
temp middle and right side vent of car was 86F (max speed ac on 59 idle)

so I'm assuming I have a leak in my system since 2 months ago when it was recharged everything seemed to be working correctly but now its back to being warm this week.

Does anyone know what the pressure specs should read on the high end for 323ci around 90F outside? Around 200-250psi?

Also does anyone know where (if it exists) the high pressure release valve is located? (not sure what the correct name is but I was told there is a valve to release pressure on high end if it exceeds a certain amount.)

I'm a little upset dealership probably skipped around testing the system for leaks and just assumed the loss of pressure was due to my fan malfunctioning at one point and evacuating the system through the high pressure fail safe valve?

Is it standard practice for dealerships to not check for leaks when recharging a system?
 
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sly

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I'm a little upset dealership probably skipped around testing the system for leaks and just assumed the loss of pressure was due to my fan malfunctioning at one point and evacuating the system through the high pressure fail safe valve?

I think most dealers will do what your dealer did. It's not that expensive to recharge a system and even if there is a slow leak, the recharge should last you through the summer. Finding the source of a leak is time consuming and hence expensive. Also, to make matter worse, in older cars there could be several areas that leak, and if you don't find them all, you are guaranteed to have a very unhappy customer.
When you take your car back to the dealer, be sure to tell them that this is the second time you've had your car back fo the same problem. Most dealers will cut you a break for your follow-up visit.
 
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BigWorm

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sly said:
When you take your car back to the dealer, be sure to tell them that this is the second time you've had your car back fo the same problem. Most dealers will cut you a break for your follow-up visit.
Click to expand...
yeah just setup an appoitment and I'll ask them if they checked the system for leaks the first time.

I'm also curious if they'll charge me again for another *system check and charge* was around $140. Seeing that it took about 1-2 months for coolant to leak out (assuming that is the problem) how difficult would it be for them to detect that there is a leak on the system of that size?

Also, As far as one side of the car's vents being a different temperature than the other side does anyone know when a system is functioning *properly* will there always be a temperature differential on each side or should it be exactly the same?
 
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BigWorm

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quick update (sorry for thread hi-jack but probably better to keep stuff like this goign in one thread to help people out in future).

After dropping my car off at dealership here in Austin (BMW of Austin) I was told that there is a leak in the Evaporator Core and it needs to be replaced along with the expansion valve.

heres the estimate which includes the expansion valve installed as well.

I'm waiting on my warranty to approve so they can go ahead with the work but looking at this estimate it seems pretty high? Anyone confirm or have work done like this before?

Also does anyone know if its normal procedure to ALWAYS replace the expansion valve if your replacing the evaporator core? I would think this would be a normal procedure but around $250 for labor and parts on that seems a bit high??!

Anyone?

LN JB OPCODE DESCRIPTION PART AVAIL |

|* 1. 2 ACDIAG-R134 A/C Diagnosis W/ R134 Freon (1.5 FRU) - All Y 177.53|

|* 2. 6451010 Evaporator Core, r&r (ADD evacuate & recharg Y 2090.63|

| |

| PARTS: $ 560.77 |

| LABOR: $ 1655.12 |

| DISPOSAL FEE $ 6.00 |

| TAX: $ 46.26 |

| ================ |

| TOTAL: $ 2268.15 |
 
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BigWorm

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Bmw 325i 7803 said:
You didn't pay $2300 to get the A/C fixed right? You gotta be kidding...
Click to expand...
no that is just the estimate I got today and it seems REALLY high to me as well.

I have a extended warranty through a 3rd party that I have to wait till later this week for them to confirm if they'll pay for this work to be done, but I thought while I wait I'd get a few estimates elsewhere cause I can't believe it would be this high.

Also, they just did $800-900 worth of work done putting in a new pusher fan, new Final Stage, and recharge on system done a few months prior now to come find out I have *more problems* which they didn't *debug* the first time.
 
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