[war72]

My air conditioner has not been cooling when idling for over a year. Had the refrigerant replaced last year without improvement at the dealer.
This year I took it to the dealer again, they said it was the auxillary fan, needs t o be replaced. Would cost 1700.
I took it to an indie, they said the auxillary fan is fine, need to replace the condensor and compressor. 1600 bucks!
WTF, why 2 such conflicting diagnoses? I dont want to end up replacing 1 thing, then come back and replace the other..
This is a 2011 335D with 127,000 miles. I am not sure I want to spend 3000+ on it at this point..
Thanks for any advice.

[BashShah]

So it does not cool at idle.
what about when you are driving?
At idle, is the fan blowing in the vents?
Can you hear your flaps moving?

Talk to the dealer and ask them.
Exactly how much r134a did they put in?
It should be 1.3lbs no more no less.
Did the suck it all out and put it back in?

[labrador]

If it cools fine at speed then it is probably an airflow problem. If the charge is correct. So I understand why they say that. They are doing the two steps when they should have checked both together last year.

Put a high speed fan in front of the car and see if parked performance increases. Maybe carefully hose water on the condenser to cool it too. If improves then it’s likely your fan. How fast is the fan turning? And the ambient temperature?

Also if it cools fine at speed you probably do not need a condenser or compressor. I would get them to tell you the high and low pressures. You paid for that. Get in the habit of asking “what are the pressures like?” They hear that you are less likely to get victimized. The low should be about 30, and high should ybe about ambient in F degrees x2.5, approx.

Is the indie an AC specialist? Consider an AC specialist. Dealers are usually quite clueless about AC.

You are right otherwise trade it in.