I can only run my AC for a few minutes before I'm cold. And I'm a big sweaty dude. I've never turned it up over the first notch.

 

I have the manual AC - and, I start freezing, after just a few minutes. So much so, that I have to roll the wheel toward warm, every time.

For the sake of comparison...I am not a cold natured person. In fact, I'm just the opposite. I am content to leave my home thermostat at 65 degrees, all winter (I'd gladly go colder, except I have a young son). In the summer, I turn my home AC to "Sub Arctic."

So, it seems that my CM's AC is working just fine.

 

I have the manual, so i have the dial all the way down. It definitely goes below 70 but like others have said, it's not getting cold, just cool air.

 

Anyone have a gauge to check the pressure? I had this issue on my '06 when it was new. It wasn't filled to the proper pressure. Showed the dealer and they topped it right off. It was fine until last summer when it needed a refresh.

 

No gauge here but that's a good idea. Are they available at auto parts stores? I see the refill cans with the gauge but I wouldn't trust that...

 

That is exactly what I used. Not saying it was perfect, but enough to get the dealership to check it out with their pro gauges.

One thing you can do to check and see if it is low, does your car get any colder when maintaining high RPM's/engine load? If so it is low. My next door neighbor had the same problem with his new Audi.

 

The AutoAC units still have recirc as a separate button (though possibly it's enabled when you hit the MAX button come to think of it).

The auto part is all about just setting a temperature for air you want coming out of the vent at you. It'll add heat if it needs to, or colder air as needed (if you have the AC on).

 

I have the manual A/C and also felt it was cool not cold. Had dealer look at it and they said "it was within specs". Note: Tech verified by placing thermometer in one of center vents, never once putting gauges on it. As a former employee of BMW of NA, I've always questioned that technique of testing A/C.
Specs are (low)25psi - 45psi (high) - Once home, I put my gauges on it and it was 27psi. I added just shy of 1lb of Freon 134 (upped it to 43.7psi) and now it's FRIGID. If you have dealer check it (and don't want to invest in gauges) insist they put gauges on it, the thermometer test isn't exactly accurate.

 

That's exactly what they did with me. Would you mind putting a thermometer at your vent, not in it but at it and tell us what the temp reads? I'm going to use that information to go back to BMW and show them the difference.

Sometimes I feel the MA's are just trying to turn and burn, especially with the recall that's going on right now...

Thanks again.

 

OK, so I drove home from work today with AC blowing full blast and when I got home I grabbed a thermometer and tested the temp at the vent. I ran 3 different checks using different speeds and this was the lowest it would go at full blast which was the best performer.

Below is the result, does anyone who says their AC is "frigid" or "cold" mind comparing so I have something to go to the service tech's with?

Thanks!

 

i had my windows tinted on monday (30% ceramic) and it made a big difference in keeping the car much cooler.

 

my cms all4 was delievered 3/31/2012, today was the first day warm enough to run the a/c, it was 89F

i have the manual heater/ac controls

i found i had to up the temp wheel 2 clicks from full cold or it was too cold

scott

 

i have the same situation...super cold.....not a bad thing here in texas

 

My 2011 MCS w. manual heat/AC also never gets cold with AC on full and re-cir set to on. No tint on windows and sunroof is stock tint (kinda light).

Coupled with the leatherette seating getting very sweaty from my back, car was almost undrivable one day last year when ambient was about 85 deg. in stop & go traffic.

Need to find a temp gauge and post results here...

 

thought i should add, no sunroof, no window tint (yet)

also my cms is a march 2012 build

 

I'm glad to here there are examples of cars without this issue...tells me there's hope to resolve it on my car.

I think it's maybe a problem with under hood temps once the Turbo has come up to operating temp range...and perhaps the A/C lines from the compressor are pickuping up too much radiant heat from that. Might be that new models have better thermal shielding of the A/C components.

I do know my air vents blow quite warm (nearly hot) air once the car is up to temp even when the heater is set to lowest position...this despite outside air temp being much cooler. So it's likely drawing in air that gets too much heat from under the hood before reaching the inside vents.

 

Thinking some more on the issue of hot air from vents after car up to temp...perhaps the manual heater control cars have a different heater control valve than the ClimControl cars and there could be cases where the valve does not fully close off the flow of engine coolant into the interior heat exchanger...this would explain why my vents blow warm/hot when it's much cooler outside and the temp setting is all the way to cold...plus it would place additional burden on the a/c, thus rising the temp of the air conditioned air as it enters the interior.
If we could somehow measure the temp nearby the heat exchanger to see if it's warm/hot under these conditions, we'd have the answer.

 

Are you able to test the temp at the vent and compare it to what I posted?

Thx.

 

Today it hit 89 here in Denver. Normally I would roll down the widows and roll back the sunroof. Today though, also happened to be extremely windy. So I opted to crank the AC. I was not impressed to find that having it cranked up all the way would not really cool the car down!! Granted, I have an all black CMS4 but, its a rather small car to try to cool down! :sigh:

 

What ticks me off is that AC is a closed system. If you have to top it off, THERE's a problem.

And if Mini is skimping on the refrigerant, thats bad news as well...
We pay a lot for these "little" cars...

And specs 25 5o 45 lbs? Why not set it to 45 and make customers happy....

Its like Mini thinks nobody will ever figure out what they do.. Hey Mini, Customers are pretty smart people..... If you screw them, they will figure it out... Trust me... THEY WILL!

 

Regarding the temp range in general, not about poor performing systems.

Pressure measurements are dependent on temperature, so it is common to have a range for the correct pressure, but what isn't obvious is the chart that goes along with that range that tells you what pressure is correct for the ambient temp of that day.

Correct pressures are different on a 90 degree day when compared to a 70F day.

Even that is vague. A cold start pressure reading on a 90F day really isn't the same if you drove in bumper to bumper traffic to get to a shop, parked for 10 minutes, then hooked up the system on the same 90F day due to heat soak.

This would be an example of a car that should have 25psi to 55 psi in the low side AC.

These are all low side pressure readings with the AC running on Max AC

Ambient Temp in F--------Low Side Reading
65 ---------------------- 25-35 psi
70 ---------------------- 35-40 psi
80 ---------------------- 40-50 psi
90 ---------------------- 45-55 psi
95 ---------------------- 50-55 psi
100 ---------------------- 50-55 psi
110 ---------------------- 50-55 psi

 

I had this problem with my 2010 JCW twice. Both time it was a leaking valve, the same one they had to replace. I have the manual controls, in my JCW. now it works very well.
My wife's Countryman has the auto system, The other day it was 97, we used "Max A/C", it worked ok on our 20 minuet drive. The car had been sitting outside. It is Royal Grey with a white roof, sun roof, no tint added to the windows.
Ron

 

Do you know what valve was replaced? The heater control valve not properely shutting off engine coolant (when set to lowest point) from interior heat exchanger? Or was the A/C system leaking coolant via the overpressure valve?

 

I just did a long trip in 93F weather in my CM with the auto ac set on 74 and it was chilly inside the whole way.

 

So, I was drawn to this thread because I've been disappointed with the A/C and the cool versus cold air I was expecting. For the past several months, I have been running between our old house and our new house- a 45 mile round trip - and have noticed the AC never really cooled the cabin on really hot (95 +/-) days. Then yesterday, I was running a lot of errands, stop and go/in and out about every five minutes while the outside temp was about 96 and humidity high. Needless to say, I was sweating and complaining about the barely cool air coming from the A/C when I suddenly discovered the solution. Well, a few months ago it was warm and humid while I was driving and I turned up the temp control a notch and forgot to put it down to the coldest position and have been driving with it like that since.

After I corrected my "operator error," my A/C is almost too cold at its lowest setting! I just came back from a bank run - 95 degrees outside - and my cabin was chilly like it hasn't been for months. Oops!!