[2Newts]

I have encountered an odd problem.

On long trips in high temps and high humidity (last Sunday it was 93 and humid), the air stops blowing into the cabin. I can hear the fans, but even if I turn the fan up to the maximum setting on manual, no air comes into the cabin.

I toyed around with a lot of changes.
- It happens whether on auto or manual settings
- It happens in Comfort, Sport, and EcoPro
- It happens regardless of where the air is supposed to come out (feet, panel, windshield)
- It happens no matter the setting of the recirc button.
- It happens whether the temp is set to something reasonable or unreasonable (I tried everything between 65 and 75 degrees)

But if I turn off the a/c via the button on the right side, so that the green light turns off, then the air returns to the cabin. It blows at any and every level as long as the a/c is turned off. Then if I turn the a/c back on, the air continues to flow into the cabin, gets cold and holds for a few minutes. After about five minutes the quantity of air begins to decrease and by ten minutes it's back to no air coming in.

I can then repeat the process with exactly the same result.

Has anyone experienced the same? Does anyone have any thoughts?

Cheers, and thanks.

2N

[rapid64k]

Hi,

Are you saying that the AC actually stop working or the fan stops?

[Billfitz]

Double post. See the F30 forum.

[RJGBMW]

My A/C blows cold air, but interior temperature just too warm. Went to two different dealers who did an evacuation/recharge, even a software update all without any change. Does anyone else experience this problem? I came across mention of an A/C additive to improve performance- has anyone used this? I have a theory as to why there is this problem and it is related to the larger size of the GT interior: the A/C unit is fine for the regular sedan but just too small for the larger GT! What has been your experience regarding interior cooling of your GT?

[stevethegreatgolfer]

Surely the interior volume of GT isn't that much greater than a saloon or touring? If it was I suspect that BMW would have put in an uprated unit (from a 5 series for example).

[Billfitz]

Mine's been fine, but I haven't had to deal with temps much over 90.
BTW, make sure that the temperature control for the back seat AC is set to cold. I only found out by accident that mine was set to warm when I happened to wave my hand in front of the outlet.

I came across mention of an A/C additive to improve performance

Snake oil. If there was a better refrigerant BMW would know about it.

[sushkr]

Now that I've driven when temperatures were hovering around 95F for some days, I can vouch that A/C peters out in those situations. This is especially true when there are couple of additional passengers in the car (due to the additional heat load).

[stevethegreatgolfer]

Can't see that bothering us ex-Europeans.

[BNTLY]

Originally Posted by 2Newts

I have encountered an odd problem.

On long trips in high temps and high humidity (last Sunday it was 93 and humid), the air stops blowing into the cabin. I can hear the fans, but even if I turn the fan up to the maximum setting on manual, no air comes into the cabin.

I toyed around with a lot of changes.
- It happens whether on auto or manual settings
- It happens in Comfort, Sport, and EcoPro
- It happens regardless of where the air is supposed to come out (feet, panel, windshield)
- It happens no matter the setting of the recirc button.
- It happens whether the temp is set to something reasonable or unreasonable (I tried everything between 65 and 75 degrees)

But if I turn off the a/c via the button on the right side, so that the green light turns off, then the air returns to the cabin. It blows at any and every level as long as the a/c is turned off. Then if I turn the a/c back on, the air continues to flow into the cabin, gets cold and holds for a few minutes. After about five minutes the quantity of air begins to decrease and by ten minutes it's back to no air coming in.

I can then repeat the process with exactly the same result.

Has anyone experienced the same? Does anyone have any thoughts?

Cheers, and thanks.

2N

I thought I was the only one! Just came back from a road trip and it started acting up I’m San Diego. I noticed it after it got hot af and I was sweating while the max a/c was going. I turned the a/c off and it came back on eventually.

[B58 parts]

I had the same thing one day on a long trip, it was super hot 95F+ and as humid as possible. We had the max ac cranked. Eventually it quit blowing air despite all the noise continuing. Turning the compressor off blew warm air. My passenger read all the threads on this to figure it out while I panicked.

After 30 minutes with it off and windows down it worked fine the rest of the way at 66. The coil or a pipe in the ac system can freeze when it works too hard and too much condensate builds. The workaround is not to use the max ac button for too long and avoid auto 60 when it is super hot. Auto 65 66 is fine and it won't overwork itself.

Since following that it's been good. I could take it in and complain, but after much aggrivation, nothing would get actually fixed. It's plenty cool enough if I don't overwork it.

[Billfitz]

What can happen when it's very hot and humid is that condensation on the evaporator will freeze, blocking airflow through it. When that happens turn the temperature up, so that the coils can warm enough to melt off the ice. Accept the fact that air conditioning is limited to perhaps 20F of reduction from the outside air temperature, so when it hit's 95 the last thing you want to do is to set the temperature at 65. Set it at 70-75 and deal with it.

Edit: It turns out that there is a problem with the mechanism that's supposed to prevent coil freeze over, see posts below.

[Spitfire007]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

What can happen when it's very hot and humid is that condensation on the evaporator will freeze, blocking airflow through it. When that happens turn the temperature up, so that the coils can warm enough to melt off the ice. Accept the fact that air conditioning is limited to perhaps 20F of reduction from the outside air temperature, so when it hit's 95 the last thing you want to do is to set the temperature at 65. Set it at 70-75 and deal with it.

This makes sense in a way, but really? This is the 21st century. My e90 doesn't have this issue.
American and Japanese cars certainly don't have this issue. What gives?

[Billfitz]

What gives is that the higher the AC capacity the larger its components and the greater the load on the engine. With sufficient capacity and power you can turn the car into a refrigerator, but that's not exactly practical. Keeping size, weight and power draw at a minimum is a priority. So is being judicious with the temperature control.

[2Newts]

Hi, just to follow up on this - though the problem was two summers ago for me it seems to have continued for others. I took it to the dealer who told me that there was actually a recall on this! For whatever reason, it had not been fixed at the prior service, but whatever.

I was told that the recall was for a valve in the system that was known to get stuck. Once stuck, it lead to frost buildup and eventually blockage of the cold air. They replaced it (with a valve they said that is made out of a different material) and, voila, no problems since. Drove 8 hours in 95-105 degrees* with high humidity and no problem at all.

*This is why I don't like I-495 in Massachusetts in July

[B58 parts]

Can you post a pic of the printout .. any part #s or anything would help

[2Newts]

Originally Posted by YuminNuman

Can you post a pic of the printout .. any part #s or anything would help

Yep. Attached. (and thanks for suggesting ... my memory of the cause/resolution was a bit off)

[B58 parts]

Thanks. I will send that number to the guy. It may not apply to my build date anymore, but if I want them to correctly fix anything instead of wasting time and tearing apart (probably breaking) the car for no reason, it's immensely helpful to send them those #s up front.

[scottjua]

We just had this happen... and BMW won't cover the repair under CPO warranty. So for a $1.50 part I have to either pay 176$ diagnostic fee, or $385 repair. Grrrr... super annoying.

[Billfitz]

Buy the part yourself, have an Indy do the work if it comes to that. But if this part and fix are part of a campaign, which isn't a recall but close, it should be covered.

[El Wray]

Experienced this the other day.

Edit: Found the various threads that mention this issue.

Customer States: A/C was blowing humid air intermittent
Refer to SIB 64-06-13
Install spacer into temp sensor

Part number: 64-11-9-350-495
Part description: Adapter, evaporat

[Billfitz]

SIB = Technical Service Bulletin. That means it's been identified by BMW as a problem, a fix has been issued. It is a warranty item. In those cases where the fix was applied prior to the issuance of the SIB and the customer paid for the work the customer is to be reimbursed.

[scottjua]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

SIB = Technical Service Bulletin. That means it's been identified by BMW as a problem, a fix has been issued. It is a warranty item. In those cases where the fix was applied prior to the issuance of the SIB and the customer paid for the work the customer is to be reimbursed.

Not according to my service guy at BMW here. He said, it's just a guide to let them know about it, but it's not covered.