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View Full Version : Help!!! Aircon Compressor Problem


pong
10-17-2005, 09:07 AM
the aircon compressor has been switching on and off...
even if the temp is still not as cold as desired...

u can hear it clicking... what do i do to prevent this?
what is the problem? the compressor or the switch?

thanks
billb
10-17-2005, 09:15 AM
the aircon compressor has been switching on and off...
even if the temp is still not as cold as desired...

u can hear it clicking... what do i do to prevent this?
what is the problem? the compressor or the switch?

thanks

it'll do that if the charge is low.
pong
10-17-2005, 09:17 AM
it'll do that if the charge is low.

i actually thought that was the cause, checked it... not :(
SRR2
10-17-2005, 09:55 AM
How did you check it?
pong
10-17-2005, 11:03 AM
since i have mechanics here that specialize in aircons, we had enough equipment here to check these... we have gauges that monitor the pressure... therefore we know its full...
SRR2
10-17-2005, 11:54 AM
If you're sure that charge isn't the problem, the cause could be a gunked-up evaporator. I used to have an '89 535 and the HVAC was a chronic problem. There was ALWAYS crap getting into the blower, housing, and evaporator. It required opening the blower housing on the firewall and cleaning it out several times a year. What a colossal PITA that was.

Anyhoo, one of the typical symptoms of a partially-blocked evaporator was short-cycling of the compressor. Since the crap blocked a large portion of the evaporator, it got cold too fast and the thermostat on the evaporator outlet simply shut off the compressor. The consequence was poor cooling and poor humidity control.

If you've never cleaned the blower housing and evaporator out, and you have any reason to suspect that gunk (leaves, critters, cigarette butts, confetti, debris from exploding car bombs, etc.) could have gotten in there, then I recommend that you open it up. It's not a very difficult job, but it's kind of a nuisance since you need to remove the coolant reservoir, and you know what that entails.

This chronic problem with the HVAC system ingesting crud and clogging itself up was one of the reasons I decided to move on to an E39 with its effective and easy-to-service cabin filtering.

How, BTW, did you manage to find an '89 vehicle with only 27000km on it? That's kind of amazing.
pong
10-17-2005, 12:26 PM
has anyone tried the MOC (R) evaporator cleaner? does it work?

i think ill change it soon... its already 28000 :D
the guy has a hell lot of cars... that explains it :D