640D Gran Coupe air con not working

640D Gran Coupe air con not working

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London GT3

Original Poster:

1,025 posts

241 months

Wednesday 15th April 2015
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Anyone else had a complete failure of their air conditioning. I normally run with it on but turn the temperature down today and no air con. 13 plate 640D GC with 18,000 miles. Checked all the settings and all seems OK. Could it be a holed air con radiator or are there any other known faults?

CMJ

201 posts

247 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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Same age car similar mileage no issues. Haven't read about any issue on 6 series forums in the US so suspect you have a one off fault and need the dealer. Car will still be under warranty luckierly.

Dryce

310 posts

132 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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London GT3 said:
Anyone else had a complete failure of their air conditioning. I normally run with it on but turn the temperature down today and no air con. 13 plate 640D GC with 18,000 miles. Checked all the settings and all seems OK. Could it be a holed air con radiator or are there any other known faults?
Odd coincidence.

Mine is similar age / mileage and the aircon failed about 10 days ago - though it wasn't obvious at the time as the ambient temperatures were not that high. I figured about three days later that there was definitely a fault.

On the day I now believe it failed there was an odd smell inside the car for about 15 to 20 minutes.

What little I can see behind the grill indicates looks pristine to me. The radiator looks well protected on the 6er - and the grill slats close at speed.

It's going in shortly to be looked at. I'm assuming at this point it's a component failure in the system so will be covered by warranty.

London GT3

Original Poster:

1,025 posts

241 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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Thank you both for your replies. It is booked in next Wednesday so I will report back the outcome. Haven't noticed any odd smells. Hoping that the cooler hasn't been holed.

iSore

4,011 posts

144 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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There has been a spate of 5 Series F10 air con condenser failures - same part?

Edit: yes, it is.

Edited by iSore on Thursday 16th April 20:41

Atmospheric

5,305 posts

208 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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Sounds expensive, and I would say, unacceptable for a car of that age and possible value.

cringle

397 posts

186 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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My 640d coupe had a failed AC condenser. Part was on back order and I ended up having to sell it with no AC! apparently very common

iSore

4,011 posts

144 months

Friday 17th April 2015
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Atmospheric said:
Sounds expensive, and I would say, unacceptable for a car of that age and possible value.
On the F10's they were replacing them FOC.

Dryce

310 posts

132 months

Friday 17th April 2015
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Well my car is back. No evidence of a leak apparently. It's been regassed.

It's a bit like being sent out by your GP and told to come back again if it's not cleared up within 5 days. If the fault recurs and it's warranty then I'll be refunded the regas charge.

I have mixed opinion at this stage.

I have some sympathy with the dealer if there's no sign of how the leak occured and they have to manage the cost to be eventually attributed to the manufacturer or customer. So the approach they're taking is covering the risk until there is a recurrence presumably with the hope there will be more evidence from the UV dye.

The cost of the regas is a bit of a smack in the face - minor but it still smarts a little - my feeling on a car at this supposed quality level is that there should be no charge with no cause or fault determined. I'm the customer and this has inconvenienced me and the chances are it will further inconvenience me when it recurs. A 2 year old car shouldn't need a regas.

As to cause ? If it was the condensor then on the assumption it's the same part as the F10 (very likely) then they'd have probably spotted it. So my money is currently on the evaporator.





anonymous-user

54 months

Friday 17th April 2015
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Dryce said:
Well my car is back. No evidence of a leak apparently. It's been regassed.

It's a bit like being sent out by your GP and told to come back again if it's not cleared up within 5 days. If the fault recurs and it's warranty then I'll be refunded the regas charge.

I have mixed opinion at this stage.

I have some sympathy with the dealer if there's no sign of how the leak occured and they have to manage the cost to be eventually attributed to the manufacturer or customer. So the approach they're taking is covering the risk until there is a recurrence presumably with the hope there will be more evidence from the UV dye.

The cost of the regas is a bit of a smack in the face - minor but it still smarts a little - my feeling on a car at this supposed quality level is that there should be no charge with no cause or fault determined. I'm the customer and this has inconvenienced me and the chances are it will further inconvenience me when it recurs. A 2 year old car shouldn't need a regas.

As to cause ? If it was the condensor then on the assumption it's the same part as the F10 (very likely) then they'd have probably spotted it. So my money is currently on the evaporator.
You've been stitched up. There is NO way a two year old car, of any make, needs a regas unless there's a fault. No way at all.

theboss

6,913 posts

219 months

Friday 17th April 2015
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Funny... my brand new F10 isn't blowing 'very cold' and instead of being happy with stratified air on blue and ~20c on climate I've taken to winding the temps down to 17-18c and cranking up the blower to stay at what I think is a moderately cool temp.

It did cross my mind it might be faulty.

Dryce

310 posts

132 months

Friday 17th April 2015
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REALIST123 said:
You've been stitched up. There is NO way a two year old car, of any make, needs a regas unless there's a fault. No way at all.
My aircon charge is rather low on the overall scale of things. I can shrug it off given my current low expectation of the marque. TBH I put the car in half-figuring I might get screwed for some time as well as the regas. Yes that's how low my expectation of BMW has become in the last two years. They've conditioned me to the basic principle that the customer is always to blame. I've had two run-ins with BMW on our other car and basically I don't think much of the product quality and not much of the customer service.

So you think I got stitched up. The've got me thinking I came out ahead!!!

The real issue here isn't the charge - that's a minor irritant - but the hassle. Basically I've been given back a car that I can only assume is faulty. It's left for me to be inconvenienced by that again - probably at the least opportune moment. And then I have to go the hassle of trying to get them to fix it again.






iSore

4,011 posts

144 months

Saturday 18th April 2015
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Dryce said:
Yes that's how low my expectation of BMW has become in the last two years. They've conditioned me to the basic principle that the customer is always to blame. I've had two run-ins with BMW on our other car and basically I don't think much of the product quality and not much of the customer service.
I was thinking about this the other day. A mate of mind has a 330d E92 Coupe (lovely car) but has taken out an extended warranty that costs about 60 quid a month. WHHAATT? I take the view that if a car needs a £700+ a year warranty as an insurance against it sh*itting itself and giving matey a huge bill, it's not really worth having.

About time someone like Kia moved into this market and told the Germans how it ought to be.

London GT3

Original Poster:

1,025 posts

241 months

Thursday 30th April 2015
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Well, it went in last week and was diagnosed as needing a new condensor. The part was on back order so there was a week delay but the car was fixed yesterday and returned. All sorted and under warranty.

Dryce

310 posts

132 months

Thursday 30th April 2015
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London GT3 said:
Well, it went in last week and was diagnosed as needing a new condensor. The part was on back order so there was a week delay but the car was fixed yesterday and returned. All sorted and under warranty.
Thanks for the update.

Given the weather mine hasn't shown any signs of not working as yet, or signs of working for the matter. It'll probably show up again when the weather warms up.


TimboCD1

69 posts

127 months

Friday 1st May 2015
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Coincidental that this thread should appear.

Air con on my 2013 530d with 18k on the clock decided it didn't want to work over
the last couple of days. Is this a pattern?
Got to wait for over a week until dealer can look at it mad

Second issue in as many weeks - EGR valve failed giving drive train warning - another 'known' issue.

Other than this had the car 12mths now and love it - just don't use it enough.

moffat

1,020 posts

225 months

Wednesday 6th May 2015
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I think I may have had an air con issue in my 5 month old 640d.

I usually always have the temp on 22C with the fan on the lowest setting, but this morning on a 2 hour drive I had to set it to 20.5C with the fan up a notch and the middle vent set to cold too.

Then randomly towards the end of my journey it went ice cold until I changed back to 22C and one on the fan... WEIRD!!!

RicksAlfas

13,396 posts

244 months

Wednesday 6th May 2015
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moffat said:
I think I may have had an air con issue in my 5 month old 640d.

I usually always have the temp on 22C with the fan on the lowest setting, but this morning on a 2 hour drive I had to set it to 20.5C with the fan up a notch and the middle vent set to cold too.

Then randomly towards the end of my journey it went ice cold until I changed back to 22C and one on the fan... WEIRD!!!
It's a shame a lovely car like yours doesn't have climate control.
biggrin

thatdude

2,655 posts

127 months

Wednesday 6th May 2015
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Just wondering, did they put the aircon gas in with a dye at all? As well as lubricante for the seals?

The dye is usually a green colour, and shows up using a UV lamp (black light). I had a massive leak on my honda civic and the dye left a nice puddle where it spewed out from, easy diagnosis!


TimboCD1

69 posts

127 months

Monday 11th May 2015
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Well just got mine back and yes it needed a new condenser.
Got to be a faulty batch out there - no sign of a recall though.

Still a great car to drive and life would be boring if everything were perfect!