Recharge Your AC System In 3 Minutes for less than $20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4ew1FYjNEE
Okay. So it is officially Summer here in the North East and that means two things: It is also Summer across most of the planet (except South America , South Africa & Australia) and the forums will get inundated with tons of
My AC System Is Not Working threads!
Surprisingly there have not been a solid DIY for this yet (at least a DIY that could be found with a search in a the DIY Section) hence the weekly threads about AC blowing hot air on passenger side or hot air all around.
This DIY is for those folks with cars that DO NOT have major AC issues. Last year May on the first hot day of the year I noticed my AC vents were ONLY blowing cold air on the driver's side and hot or warm air out the passenger vents.
It's 80F+ Degrees out...
And your AC is on at full blast setting but...
...no Ice Cold Air is coming thru the vents
PART ONE: 1-3 Minute Troubleshoot
The forum DIY section didn't offer much help and I didn't want to spend my entire Income Tax Return check at the dealership. Luckily for me my friend who lives down south and owns a 2004 325i told me what was up and what I need to do.
On some E46 cars apparently the system can leak a bit of charge over the winter months when the AC system is not used for long stretches of time. You usually won't notice until the first hot day of the following spring/summer season and upon turning on your AC you realized there is cold air (or only cool air) ONLY blowing out at the driver's vents and hot or warm air streaming out the passenger vents.
Your first response is to assume the entire system is broken and something big and really expensive needs to be replaced. If you are a forum member you start one of many threads concerning vents blowing hot air or AC only blowing warm-cool air from the vents.
If your car has similar symptoms, before starting a thread or taking your car to the shop you should try this very quick, easy to do and cheap DIY to see if it will fix your AC ailments.
But even before you try my DIY make sure your center vent dial is set on the blue dots for cold air. I know it seems obvious, but lots of people overlook this simple function on the E46 and other similar BMW cars since the settings are not electronically indicated on the Climate Control Read Out Display.
In fact, you can have your Climate Control set to blow cold air (or even hot air during the winter months), but the setting on this dial takes precedence and the air coming out the vents WILL ALWAYS match what the dial is set on whether it be red dots to blow hot air or blue dots to blow cool air.
Other troubleshoot areas can be the AC Belts. Make sure you have them on your car and they are not shredded or loose. Also the AC Compressor which sits under the engine block may have been susceptible to oil leakage from a bad valve cover gasket, corrosive coolant fluid leaking from a broken hose, and/or washer fluid from a broken washer fluid tank pump (all which sits directly above this expensive to replace compressor).
So check for all these things. Worse case scenario the compressor is bad and you can either pay a ludicrous amount of money ($1,500 to $2,800) to replace it or for less than that you pack your stuff up and relocate to Beaver Creek, Yukon and hang out with my friend Jeb...
PART TWO: Recharge Your BMW AC System
Once that is taken care of and your car is still not expelling ICE COLD air then go down to Auto Zone, Pep Boys, Walmart or any sizable local Gas Station or Auto Store and spend $15 to $30 on a can of R134a freon. If this is your first can you will NEED to get a kit that comes with the indicator gauge. Generally it is cheaper to buy the can that comes with a gauge attached than buying gauge and can separate. Also most likely the gauge will be reusable so next can you buy in the future you will spend less as you will only need the can alone and that costs as little as $9.00 in some places. Also if your friend or neighbor has a gauge already feel free to borrow theirs and just buy the can alone.
Here is my big blue can of 134a + (NOTE: this size asted me two years or two recharges to my car's system)
I don't understand the difference between the technology in my fancy looking $30 can and the cheaper plain looking $10 cans without the tech jargon littered all over the can.
But I just got the can that boasted the most on the label since this was my first time recharging my AC system I wanted it to be perfect.
My can also came with a gauge that was reusable.
And a nice bright and color coded gauge and a nice clear chart perfect for the someone that never done this before. Like I said, this DIY is already in itself so easy it is hard to mess it up and with a can like this it should be a piece of cake.
