A/C Problems

tom

Hello, I have a 2000 323i, and have started to really have A/C problems. For a while, the air blew semi-cold on the drivers side vents and warm on the passenger side vents, but didnt think much of it untill last week, when the whole car started to just blow out warm air. Before, when just the drivers side would blow semi-cold, there would be a short hissing sound, then it would stop after about 20 seconds. Now the hissing sound is continuous. I do know for sure the compressor is still working because when I turn on the air, I can here it turn on. Anyone know whats going on here? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank You  
I have ~50K miles on my '02 330cic and I just had the A/C repaired. The symptoms I had before it all went pretty much mirror yours. The unit started to blow semi-warm and then all warm. I took it to my BMW repair guy who tested it and told me all the refrigerant had leaked out (this is why it stopped cooling). He suspected it was the compressor (he had seen this before) but to test it, he charged it with more refrigerant, told me run it for a while and see what happened. Sure enough, it started blowing warm again within days. The compressor was shot. He replaced it (and maybe some other things) and its running fine. IIRC, the repair cost was ~$1,100 and he had the car for a couple of days (the dashboard needs to be removed to get at everything). He told me that before '04-'05, BMW was using a compressor that really wasn't suited for the work an A/C gets in places like Florida.

Hope this helps.

Tom  
Read this from the wiki:

wiki/index...senger_side.3F

It could be that you're refrigerant is just low. Get it charged up and test it like I did. Anyway, hope that it's that and not a bad compressor like mine.  
same problem here....guess i'm screwed on the compressor too  
Mine did the same thing, I charged it my self, 6 months later its still blowing ice cold.

EDIT: my car is a 2001 325xi  
Apparently, the AC system is designed to reserve the cold air for the driver if there is a shortage of freon. Once the freon is gone, the driver is out of luck as well. I would charge it up...to 37 psi. Buy a can from walmart for 18 bucks with the guage on it and run your car at idle when warm, charge it into the low pressure fitting towards the back of the engine bay. Shake the can while pressing the button down. How long will it last? If it lasts 1 month, then $18 a month for air conditioning, or $216 dollars for 1 year of service. If it lasts longer than that....it is a bargain compared to $1100!!!  

Originally Posted by Nov99328iit is a bargain compared to $1100!!!

Except that you don't have to pay $1100 for just a compressor. It is an easy DIY and a used one can be had for $150 (like me) or a new one for under $400. No reason to remove the dash for just a compressor.