Does anyone have this problem... The air conditioning does not seem to make the car cold unless I am going at higher speeds on the freeway. Any ideas?

 

First of all, take a thermometer and place it in one of the dashboard vents (With the A/C running) and see what temperature the air is coming out at the vents. The reading should be between 40F and 50F at the most.

Next, be sure that the fan is churning out the air at the dash vents according to the selected fan speed. Make sure air is coming out from all the vents.

If your A/C temp at the dash vents is above 50F you could have a problem either with an undercharged system (Read: Not enough R134a Freon refrigerant due to a leak somewhere in the system), a failing A/C compressor, bad evaporator unit, etc, etc.

The only thing you can do is check the air temp at the vents. Beyond that, take the car back to the dealer and let them hook up the correct equipment for A/C diagnostic. It all of course should be covered under warranty.

Let us know how it goes.

 

I live in Miami, FL and we have had 90F-95F days with 100% ambiental humidity... In other words it has been hot as hell here this summer.

Both of my MINIs cool down the cabin quickly and efficiently, specially the 2004 MCS with the revised HVAC fan from the factory. My other MINI is a '02 Cooper CVT.

Take it back to the dealer and let them check your A/C system with a fine tooth comb.

 

Mine 04 MCS A/C seems to work well. My only complaint is that the fan is very noisy at higher speeds... but this really isn't a problem.

 

Not hot here often this summer,last was unreal hot,the a/c worked great in the heat,helps clear the windscreen in the cold,so far my a/c works fine

 

I don't usually have that problem.

I do the following to help cool down the interior ASAP.

Once I get the MINI moving I roll down both windows, turn on the AC full with a high fan setting and blow out as much of the "hot" air stuck inside for a short time. Then I roll up the windows and push the recirculate button on that allows the cool interior air to come back to be cooled again.

This works for me in "hot Hawaii".

 

I think that would work anywhere when it's hot.Does for me

 

Okay, time for a little bit of preemptive diagnostics that may help prevent having some MINIs sitting on the side of traffic puking their antifreeze out (like mine did).

If your air conditioning seems to work fine tooling down the road, but becomes non-existent when stopped, do these simple checks:

If you have auto a/c, check the light in the a/c ('snowflake') button. Is it flashing, or have you seen it flashing before? (Note that it would sometimes take almost a minute of non-movement of the car first)

With the a/c on, open the bonnet and check the radiator fan. Is it not running?

If either or both of these are true, your car has most likely suffered a failure of the infamous power steering fan assembly. In many cases you would be completely unaware of this occuring until you were to sit immobile in traffic or parked and encountered an eventual overheating of the engine. Even moving slowly can push enough air through the radiator to keep the engine from overheating, at least right away. The a/c, however, needs to have a constant flow of air through the condensor in order to work properly and not be damaged. The MINI has a device which measures the refrigerant pressure in the condensor. If there is no airflow through the condensor, the pressure will begin to rise dramatically and quickly. If the pressure goes higher than a set amount, the a/c compressor is shut off to prevent damage. In this case the light on the a/c control panel flashes (with auto a/c). The air coming through the a/c vents will stop being cool as well.

Check the 5 amp fuse in the underhood fuse box, if it's blown, most likely you have the seized power steering fan. This is covered under warranty and is one of the most common problem with these cars.

 

I've noticed that when I turn on my air conditioning in my 05 mini cooper it takes a long time to start blowing cold air. Alot longer than my other cars (GM and Mazda). Once it does start, it cools OK. but takes a long time to get cold.
Does anyone know if this is normal ?
I do not have auto A/C.