Well, as said in title, ac stopped blowing cold at 195K miles.

On last day of a 2,600 mile road trip ac gave up the ghost. Lifespan and durability of ac system would be something to feel good about if r56 w/ n14 did not have so many other less-durable failure prone components under the hood like:

o multiple cooling system failures due to plastic thermostat housing and plastic water-pipe
o timing-chain tensioner and timing-chain
o high-pressure fuel pump

Heck, wife's Honda cr-v ac only lasted 100K miles.

Thing is I still really enjoy driving the car. Still runs and handles great (due mainly to bilstein-b6 structs and shocks) and returns 27mpg hauling-azz on the highway at 75+mph for hours and hours. Fits my un-econimal driving-stye to a T - lol

Cheers

 

Does the compressor clutch engage when you turn on the A/C?

If you have a good scan tool, it should be able to read the refrigerant pressure on the A/C high side. Check the pressure reading first with the A/C off and then compare with A/C on.

 

Hello Maybe-Maybe-not

Thank you for the feedback.

Compressor is still engaging and I get a small amount of cool air which leads my novice ac mind to think compressor is still good but refrigerant is low due to a leak. However, with a 15 year old car w/ close to 200K miles, even if compressor is OK, I'm thinking a minimum to replace condenser, and all o-rings for all ac line fittings in engine compartment.

I continually find myself trying to determine how much more $'s to put in car to keep it running before I junk it - :-)

 

Based on your new information, my recommendation would be to top off the refrigerant and then go from there. If it took 15 years for refrigerant to get low, the leak may be minor. I recently topped off R134a in my 2012 Mini after 12 years. A/C is blowing ice cold again in Houston Texas.

 

My local Indie checked for leaks (found none), added dye and topped up refrigerant. Ac has been blowing cold (back to normal). Hopefully it lasts...

 

That's great!

My MINI has an evaporator leak, which could be easily missed using the dye method. I found the evaporator leak using a sensitive refrigerant detector. I can also smell refrigerant in the cabin with the A/C running.