E90Post
 


 
BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > BMW E90/E92/E93 3-series General Forums > General E90 Sedan / E91 Wagon / E92 Coupe / E93 Cabrio > Aircon stopped working, and concerns about electric cooling fan!



Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
      10-27-2024, 01:08 PM   #1
Three_thirty_I
Lieutenant Colonel
Three_thirty_I's Avatar
South Africa
375
Rep
1,927
Posts

Drives: 2010 BMW E90 330i M Sport
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Cape Town, South Africa

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
Aircon stopped working, and concerns about electric cooling fan!

So this past Friday I was driving and decided to turn the aircon on, immediately realised that things weren't working as normal, no change in air temperature, and didn't feel the effect of the aircon compressor on the engine. When I got home I started paying attention to what was relevant. The compressor wasn't engaging, and the electric cooling fan wasn't switching on. But then I was also concerned by the fact that with the engine getting warmer from idling in my garage, the electric cooling fan wasn't coming on to cool the engine.

A bit later I checked all relevant fuses for the aircon and all were fine. I then went for a drive with the hidden cluster menu on coolant temperature to see what is happening there, everything seemed to behave as normal with the temps climbing and dipping as I am used to. But once again, when idling in the garage, and the coolant temp finally sitting on 102 degrees Celsius, I was concerned that the electric cooling fan was not coming on at all, so I switched the engine off, worrying that it had failed somehow. I then got my laptop going and was able to test activate the electric cooling fan via INPA, so the fan DOES work, let it run the three different speed profiles, 15%, 50% and 90%.

So I am going to get the car to an aircon specialist this week, my suspicion is that it has simply run out of gas, possibly has a slow leak. When I bought the car at the beginning of the year, the previous owner did mention that he felt that the aircon wasn't making as cold on the one side as the other, typically an indication that the gas is low. But why on earth would the electric cooling fan be so reluctant to come on, or come on at all?
__________________
2010 BMW E90 330i M Sport (M)

Ex: BMW E90 330i (M) '05 (His) | (Hers) BMW E46 320i f/l (M) '03

Appreciate 1
      10-27-2024, 01:29 PM   #2
StradaRedlands
Brigadier General
StradaRedlands's Avatar
United_States
6406
Rep
3,833
Posts

Drives: 2006 BMW 330i MT
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: SoCal

iTrader: (3)

Garage List
2006 BMW 330i  [8.45]
2009 BMW 328i Touri ...  [8.00]
2013 BMW X5 35i  [7.80]
2011 BMW 528i  [8.70]
2006 Mazda3  [5.50]
Shot in the dark, but check your battery as well. Our AC quit working when the battery was going bad. I believe it threw a code though, something about device cutoff due to voltage. Not sure on that , just my recollection.

As for the fan, maybe it just wasn't needed. If you're running 102C, isn't that the target operating temp?
Appreciate 1
      10-27-2024, 04:31 PM   #3
eljay
Colonel
1776
Rep
2,320
Posts

Drives: ///M + E91
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: NS

iTrader: (1)

Check the refrigerant pressure in INPA
Appreciate 1
      10-28-2024, 07:53 AM   #4
Three_thirty_I
Lieutenant Colonel
Three_thirty_I's Avatar
South Africa
375
Rep
1,927
Posts

Drives: 2010 BMW E90 330i M Sport
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Cape Town, South Africa

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
Quote:
Originally Posted by StradaRedlands View Post
Shot in the dark, but check your battery as well. Our AC quit working when the battery was going bad. I believe it threw a code though, something about device cutoff due to voltage. Not sure on that , just my recollection.

As for the fan, maybe it just wasn't needed. If you're running 102C, isn't that the target operating temp?
Quote:
Originally Posted by eljay View Post
Check the refrigerant pressure in INPA
Quick update: I took the car to an aircon specialist this morning to have a quick look, no issue with aircon refrigerant gas, he suspects the coil in the aircon compressor. So I have booked the car in so that they can sort this out. As for the battery, it is still fine, hasn't let me down, and I am often maintaining it with my Ctek charger when necessary. As for the coolant temperature, I am still perplexed - I purposely had the temperature climb to 106 degrees Celsius and the fan still didn't kick in. I then disconnected the temperature sensor which then triggered the cooling fan to kick in, the hidden menu temperature then showed as inactive. After a minute or two I plugged the sensor back in and the temperature reading returned and fan switched off. So this tells me that the sensor and fan are working still as normal, same with the coolant pump and thermostat, but something is still preventing the fan from running. Weird!
__________________
2010 BMW E90 330i M Sport (M)

Ex: BMW E90 330i (M) '05 (His) | (Hers) BMW E46 320i f/l (M) '03

Appreciate 1
Reply

Bookmarks


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:33 PM.




e90post
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
1Addicts.com, BIMMERPOST.com, E90Post.com, F30Post.com, M3Post.com, ZPost.com, 5Post.com, 6Post.com, 7Post.com, XBimmers.com logo and trademark are properties of BIMMERPOST