[P1Fanatic]

Picked my nearly new pre LCI 30d up last Saturday and am really loving the whole experience so far. I've got to grips with most things but am a little concerned about my A/C.

Its fine when its cold as nice and warm when set on auto and left at 22c. But on tuesday when we had a warmer day in the UK I was trying to get it cooler. Normally if I turn climate control down (or even up) 2-3 degrees I would expect it to blow a little harder to get to the required temp. This didn't seem to be the case until I went down to 16.0c and then it was fine. Turn it up to just 16.5c and it immediately stops blowing like it thinks its at the correct temp when to me it still feels warm.

I will try it out again at the weekend but does it sound like something is wrong thermostat wise?

Also I assume when left on auto the fan speed indicator only stays on the bottom light (far left) - I was expecting it to rise and fall with the speed of the fans?

Thanks
Simon

[The X Men]

Originally Posted by P1Fanatic

Picked my nearly new pre LCI 30d up last Saturday and am really loving the whole experience so far. I've got to grips with most things but am a little concerned about my A/C.

Its fine when its cold as nice and warm when set on auto and left at 22c. But on tuesday when we had a warmer day in the UK I was trying to get it cooler. Normally if I turn climate control down (or even up) 2-3 degrees I would expect it to blow a little harder to get to the required temp. This didn't seem to be the case until I went down to 16.0c and then it was fine. Turn it up to just 16.5c and it immediately stops blowing like it thinks its at the correct temp when to me it still feels warm.

I will try it out again at the weekend but does it sound like something is wrong thermostat wise?

Also I assume when left on auto the fan speed indicator only stays on the bottom light (far left) - I was expecting it to rise and fall with the speed of the fans?

Thanks
Simon

I assume you had the red/blue dial in blue when you had the AC on.

When the system is in auto mode, there are 5 level of fan speeds, should be 5 bars there. It lets you customize how fast you want the system to cool down or heat up the car. Each level has a range of fan speed, I usually leave it on the mid level. If you are in the manual mode, there are 9 level of fan speed, the display will change to 9 bars. In manual mode, the fan speed will not vary when the set temp is reach.

[P1Fanatic]

Originally Posted by The X Men

I assume you had the red/blue dial in blue when you had the AC on.

When the system is in auto mode, there are 5 level of fan speeds, should be 5 bars there. It lets you customize how fast you want the system to cool down or heat up the car. Each level has a range of fan speed, I usually leave it on the mid level. If you are in the manual mode, there are 9 level of fan speed, the display will change to 9 bars. In manual mode, the fan speed will not vary when the set temp is reach.

You mean the dial inbetween the two centre vents near the hazard lights and central locking buttons? If so I did not realise I needed to change this. Would it be better to leave it in the middle setting?

Will try it out when we have another warm day. Might be a while

[Want the thrill]

Originally Posted by P1Fanatic

You mean the dial inbetween the two centre vents near the hazard lights and central locking buttons? If so I did not realise I needed to change this. Would it be better to leave it in the middle setting?

Will try it out when we have another warm day. Might be a while

If you don't change that dial, then that is your problem. It has to be turned all the way to blue for cold air to blow and all the way to red for truly hot air to blow. Change it and you will see a big difference.

[The X Men]

Originally Posted by P1Fanatic

You mean the dial inbetween the two centre vents near the hazard lights and central locking buttons? If so I did not realise I needed to change this. Would it be better to leave it in the middle setting?

Will try it out when we have another warm day. Might be a while

Yes, that dial controls the temp in the two center vents. You can just leave it in the middle, some people don't like hot or cold air blowing in their face, but if you can turn it to red for additional heat and blue for additional cooling. Also the speed in auto should be in the middle bar, one bar will take forever to heat or cool the cabin.

[Upstate_X3]

That little selector dial seems to confuse lots of people. I was in for service last summer and as I waited for my X3 the Service Advisor was explaining to a person nearby the reason his A/C was not as cool as it should be was he had the temp selector dialed all the way towards hot. Man he looked very embarrassed, the SA continued to explain lots of customers stop in with the same problem.

[araje]

I had the same understanding problem when i got my delivery. I didn't expect it to so dramatically change the temperature of the blowing air even when the AC setting didn't change. But then I learnt.
My real problem is the side vents don't blow air as hard as the center vents. Sometimes when the sun is in my face I see that the center vents do a good job of keeping the temperature okay but the side vent could have done better.
The SA told that's what it is and no way to change it. My VIN shows hot climate version. Don't know what it means. Certainly not helping.

[HighlandPete]

Definitely a lot of confusion with climate control systems. Most is covered in the user manuals.

The intensity setting in auto mode is the first 'mystery', the user ability to control the fan speed range (air flow comfort level). Then the face vent blender, for fine tuning to user preference.

Also worth noting the minimum & maximum temperature settings, where the system goes unregulated, trying to cool or heat the car. For example 16.5C is regulated, so will stabilise at that temperature, whereas 16C will keep cooling, similar to the MAX function.

HighlandPete

[The X Men]

Originally Posted by araje

I had the same understanding problem when i got my delivery. I didn't expect it to so dramatically change the temperature of the blowing air even when the AC setting didn't change. But then I learnt.
My real problem is the side vents don't blow air as hard as the center vents. Sometimes when the sun is in my face I see that the center vents do a good job of keeping the temperature okay but the side vent could have done better.
The SA told that's what it is and no way to change it. My VIN shows hot climate version. Don't know what it means. Certainly not helping.

You can always partially close the center vents halfway and turn up the auto speed, that should sent more air to the side vents.

[P1Fanatic]

Thanks all for the input. Never had a car with climate control that requires manual tweaking in this way. Likewise with auto I would normally expect it to regulate fan speed to reach the temp set as quickly as possible.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by P1Fanatic

Thanks all for the input. Never had a car with climate control that requires manual tweaking in this way. Likewise with auto I would normally expect it to regulate fan speed to reach the temp set as quickly as possible.

I appreciate the benefit in tweaking CC, makes it more flexible and provides added user comfort.

The design intent is to heat as fast as is possible, in a comfortable way. What we have is the option for intensity settings, again to give added comfort. The auto function still allows the airflow to fluctuate as is necessary, but constrains the limits, according to how we set the intensity. I personally run my airflows at the lowest intensity level, but others opt for higher flow rates, just make your choice.

Air flow intensity used to be set in iDrive. BMW have now brought it forward to the control panel, making it easier to adjust we if want to do so.

HighlandPete