Seeking help: Air Conditioner issue
Hi,
I have 1993 525i Touring (e34) and was hoping someone could offer some quick problem solving. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
The problem:
When the Air Conditioner is on (and snowflake AC button is pressed) the fan works but there is very little (if any) cool air. I tried running the AC for the first time this spring and was unable to get any cool air after running it for 1 hour (while driving). About 6 months ago I replaced the resistor pack and that seemed to correct the fan issue I had. Would you have any idea of what is causing the AC to not work properly?
Not sure if this is related but during the winter every time I put the heat on I would hear an initial click (once) and then the heat would go on perfectly fine. Is this related to the AC? Compressor related?
Possible solutions:
* Refrigerant - maybe the solution is as easy as simply replacing/recharging the refrigerant. The car is old and i'm not sure when the last time the refrigerant was replaced (or indeed if the refrigerant has to ever be replaced).
* Low freon?
* Replace the compressor - maybe the problem is with a faulty compressor (might this account for the initial clicking I hear when I put the heat on?). Perhaps the compressor clutch is failing to engage when i turn the ac on?
* fuse?
Not to get picky or anything but freon is a registered tradename for
a group of cfc's not just one refrigerant.. virtually all of dupont's refrigerants carry the tradename freon such as r12,r22,r500,r502 etc, etc. And actually the compressor will run if its cold out such as in the defrost mode for the windshield, it will just short cycle since the suction pressure will be so low at a lower ambient and the head pressure will also be way down
Quote:
Originally Posted by SRR2
Does the compressor run when you turn on the a/c? You know that if it's cold outside, the thermostat in the plenum won't turn on the compressor. I'm not sure the exact set point, but it's probably somewhere around 50F.
Refrigerant does not wear out. Freon is a Dupont brand name for one type of refrigerant.