diagnosis help for 2001 E46 320D with Air con problem
Discussion
I bought my car a few weeks ago and everything seemed perfect, obviosuly I could only do a short test drive but the air con was working fine and it does work fine driving around town, proper cold and adjusts level automatically to maintain temperature fine.
Anyhoo on the first motorway run I found the air con plays up. With the aircon left on auto 20 degrees (temp doesn't matter) after probably 20 miles no air comes out of the vents, I try;
> turning off the air con button, leaving the auto blower on still no air
> changing the recirculation button, still no air
> any combination of the three buttons to direct air at feet/face/windscreen, still no air
If I press the button to turn up the vents (taking it out of auto) to full there is a noise like air is blowing behind the dash, still no air coming out the vents and this is the same with the con enabled or not. After a few seconds the blockage (only way I can describe it) clears and the air blasts back out of the vents, normal temp and proper cold with the aircon enabled.
things I know to mentions I've seen in google searches causing air con problems
> The external temp sensor works fine, it registers a proper external temp (not -40 or something) and air con does adjust automatically around town.
> I'm guessing it doens't need regassing, when aircon is blowing around town it is realy cold air
I've done a long motorway run and used the air con by leaving the blower on Auto and only enabling the air con for short burts to bring the temp back down, this worked, the air never stopped coming out of the vents.
today a local specialist did the inspection 1 service, I told them about the problem, about how intermittent it was, and everything I've said here. They said that it would definitely be the "heater output resistor" which part costs £53 and fitting £50 plus VAT. I said if you guarantee this will fix my aircon problem as described please replace it during the service.
You can probably guess that driving home the air con did exactly the same thing hence my posting for help :-(
Does anyone have an idea what could be happening?
Obviously I will call the garage in the morning and see what they say but where do I stand on a refund for the £120 spent?
Anyhoo on the first motorway run I found the air con plays up. With the aircon left on auto 20 degrees (temp doesn't matter) after probably 20 miles no air comes out of the vents, I try;
> turning off the air con button, leaving the auto blower on still no air
> changing the recirculation button, still no air
> any combination of the three buttons to direct air at feet/face/windscreen, still no air
If I press the button to turn up the vents (taking it out of auto) to full there is a noise like air is blowing behind the dash, still no air coming out the vents and this is the same with the con enabled or not. After a few seconds the blockage (only way I can describe it) clears and the air blasts back out of the vents, normal temp and proper cold with the aircon enabled.
things I know to mentions I've seen in google searches causing air con problems
> The external temp sensor works fine, it registers a proper external temp (not -40 or something) and air con does adjust automatically around town.
> I'm guessing it doens't need regassing, when aircon is blowing around town it is realy cold air
I've done a long motorway run and used the air con by leaving the blower on Auto and only enabling the air con for short burts to bring the temp back down, this worked, the air never stopped coming out of the vents.
today a local specialist did the inspection 1 service, I told them about the problem, about how intermittent it was, and everything I've said here. They said that it would definitely be the "heater output resistor" which part costs £53 and fitting £50 plus VAT. I said if you guarantee this will fix my aircon problem as described please replace it during the service.
You can probably guess that driving home the air con did exactly the same thing hence my posting for help :-(
Does anyone have an idea what could be happening?
Obviously I will call the garage in the morning and see what they say but where do I stand on a refund for the £120 spent?
Edited by glint on Thursday 3rd September 22:11
Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff