Quote:
Originally Posted by Rockhound89
Happy Sunday everyone! As the temps rose in my locality I turned the AC on for one of the first times since I've owned the vehicle and noticed that the air blew hot. I've used the cheapo r134a cans with an included gauge and low side connector many times on the clunkers I've had over the years but decided to do a better job on my X3. Got a low end AC manifold from Amazon and grabbed some r134a cans from HD. I had a pressure/temp chart handy and hooked up my manifold only to see that the low pressure was around 35-40psi while the high side was hovering around 50psi  .
This was with the vehicle on, blower turned up to max, and AC button on. I checked the compressor to see if it is engaging, and after pressing the AC button, it would begin turning along with the pulley. When pressing the flow flake labeled AC button I'm pretty sure I can hear the AC clutch engage. My question is why would my high side pressure be so low? Could there just be so little refrigerant in my system that the pressures on both the low and high side are on the lower end of the PSI scale? Like I said earlier, I've used cheap DYI kits and cans with gauges before and never checked the high side. I would assume if there was very little refrigerant in the system then both high and low PSI values would be low but I've never measured the high side of a system while I topped off the r134a.
Should I try to add some r134a or is my compressor shot? I've done some research and found some posts on non-BMW sites which say equal pressures in an AC system signify that the compressor isn't working while other posts suggest there simply isn't enough refrigerant in the system to be compressed. The posts I found were not X3 or E83 specific, so I thought I would ask you guys before I over charge or damage my system. I have no A/C related codes, no EVAP codes. I have a friend that I can borrow a vacuum pump from if need be. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks guys!!  |
I'm having similar issues with my 04 X3. I hose in and out from warm to cool.