Has my car got air-con?

[Deluded]

Seems a stupid question but I'm a little confused.

Car is a bmw e36 316i compact. There was no mention of aircon when I bought it but tbh, I never asked.

It has a little button on the heater controls with a snowflake symbol on it. Pretty typical to symobolise aircon, however, when I press it, it lights up, yet nothing happens. Could be a duff system but looking around the engine bay, I can't find anything that looks anything like any air con components.

Anyone have any idea if said snowflake logo means aircon or if its something else?

[Defcon5]

Got to ba aircon, its just broken! There should be a rad for it though I think

[Swoxy]

Yes, it does.

[Deluded]

So where does the compressor run from? All I can see that the main belt runs is the power steering and alternator.

[MikePCG]

Silly question, but did you have the fan control turned to blow? Sorry just asking as you need this on and if you haven't used aircon before.........

[steve_bmw]

the a/c runs on a belt of its own, goes down to the left if looking at the front of the engine.
the a/c compressor looks like a big power steering pump, if you dont see this then your car may have had the instrument cluster replaced with another in the past from a car which had a/c.

Edited by steve_bmw on Saturday 22 May 21:41

[Defcon5]

Could the car have had a replacement engine at some point? One without aircon.

[Dracoro]

Put all settings to full cold blast.

Wait a little while.

Now push the snowflake button.

Does it get colder?

[steve_bmw]

Defcon5 said:

Could the car have had a replacement engine at some point? One without aircon.

possibly, but you wouldnt ditch the a/c, you would just swap the engine and connect everything back the same.

[Kinky]

I had a Mazda 626 years ago, which didn't have A/C. But it still had the A/C button, which lit up when pressed. But it was taped over - so I removed it. Didn't mean I had A/C though!

So I guess that everyone who had the car after me assumed it had A/C

[Deluded]

Will have to have a proper look tomorrow but there is definatly only one belt on the front of the engine

Not that fussed if the car has it or not tbh but it makes a difference to my previous thread (about the fan switch) as according to some sites, the switch is different if you have air-con...