Hello all,
I just recently worked through an issue with my R56 Mini Cooper Base Hatch. About two weeks ago I was on my way home from work and my AC started acting strange. It would randomly stop blowing cold. The following day, it stopped blowing cold completely. I ran through all of the usual checks making sure my fuses, relays, fan, and compressor clutch worked good. I even hooked a manifold up to it and verified that the system was not evacuated. It was turning into a real head scratcher. I pulled the codes and amazingly, it had 57 codes! Most of them relating to the buss system. Why I didn’t pull the codes first, is beyond me. The only codes relating to the AC system had to do with bad feedback from the outside temp sensor. I found, with research on this forum (thanks again!) that it was located in the right front behind the bumper. Well as it turns out, about three weeks ago, I hit a dead animal in the road and it ripped the bottom portion of my fender liner right out. Somehow, over the next week, the wire leading to that sensor wiggled it’s way out and started rubbing against the tire. The tire removed every bit of insulation and caused a short. I cut, soldered, heat shrinks, and taped the connection. I then cleared all of the faults and was back up and running.
After doing a bit of reading, my car has the automatic AC and heat system so it was keeping the AC from coming on. The car thought it was 32 below or something and was protecting the system.
I thought I would share this in case someone else has this issue. I searched but did not find this on the forum.

Thsnks!

Ah I see. I wondered if the info I found was a little skewed. Would you mind telling me what scanner you use? I am planning on keeping this car forever and will need something decent in the future. Thx!