A/C not putting out cold air

BREK

MEMBER
2003 BMW X5
3.0L
V6
4WD
AUTOMATIC
167,000 MILES

Air conditioner not blowing cold. High side pressure good, low side should be okay as I had system professional recharged at shop. Clutch working. Auxiliary fan not coming on when I turn on A/C. If I unplug switch fan goes into high speed but still no cold air coming into cabin and low side line does not cool. I am guessing maybe compressor is bad.

1 Reply

STEVE W.

MECHANIC
13,577 POSTS

Pressures should not be okay with a bad compressor, but they need to be checked to verify that they are good and that the compressor is working. It sounds like it could be the HVAC control module if the AC is not working and the fan is not coming on with AC request. However, testing the high and low pressures is the first step. BMW did not equip that car with self diagnostics for the HVAC controller so you would need to access a factory level scan tool to see if it has stored any codes in the module as well as to test the system.
If you can test the system pressures with the system running and post them here with the temperature they were taken at, those are a good diagnostic indicator of the compressor and the other hardware like the valving and any flow restrictions. Has anything been repaired/replaced prior to this problem?